Cy-Fair ISD community in an uproar over superintendent’s plan to cut librarians amid budget crunch

Sampson Elementary School librarian Kelli Smith felt blindsided when she found out that she and 49 other Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District librarians won’t have their same jobs next year.

To address a $138 million budget shortfall for the 2024-25 school year, Cy-Fair ISD leaders plan to cut half of the district’s librarians and more than 600 other positions — a decision that’s struck a nerve in the roughly 117,000-student district.

“I’ve been very emotional. I cry at the drop of a hat,” Smith said. “I dreamed of being a librarian.”

At a spirited school board meeting Thursday, dozens of community members protested the plan and rallied for librarians. Some held poster boards with demands — “leave librarians alone” and “Gov. Abbott pay our schools” — while others urged district leaders to publicly denounce state lawmaker’s failure to significantly increase public school funding during the 2023 legislative session.

Cy-Fair ISD’s 2024-25 budget has not yet been solidified — trustees have until July 1 to approve it. Superintendent Doug Killian said district officials have notified employees whose positions are impacted by their plans.

The move to cut librarians is the first decision that has prompted widespread backlash in the Houston-area’s second-largest school district since it experienced a major leadership shakeup late last year.

Cy-Fair ISD’s board selected Killian as superintendent late last year, just weeks before voters ushered in three Republican-backed trustees and flipped the board to a heavy conservative majority in the November 2023 election. Trustees voted unanimously to hire him roughly one month after the election.

Many school districts across the Houston region are grappling with projected budget shortfalls as they face inflationary costs and the end of pandemic-relief funds. Though they had a $33 billion surplus, state lawmakers did not significantly increase public school funding in the 2023 legislative session while locked in a debate over education vouchers.

Cy-Fair ISD is the fourth large Texas district to slash librarians to save money. The plan would leave 42 librarians in a district with 88 schools. District officials have not clarified how librarians would be dispersed across the district.

“The community has been blindsided by this sudden decision that will only harm our students,” said Moe Hartfield, a student at Cy-Fair High school. “Mostly I’m appalled by Dr. Killian’s lack of communication to the community regarding this decision. I hope this decision will be reversed … My librarian is part of the reason I come to school every day.”

Killian and trustees did not respond to concerns about the cuts at the Thursday meeting.

District leaders plan to offset $70 million of their $138 million deficit with their fund balance, or rainy day funds. The rest will come from cutting costs, such as eliminating the roughly 670 staff positions.

“We are not laying off people,” Killian wrote in an email to families Wednesday. “We will use vacant positions that have not been eliminated to move staff into. We have prioritized filling open teacher and paraprofessional positions to help campuses meet their classroom needs first.”

Smith and McFee Elementary School librarian Mary Lovelace said that they were notified that their positions were being cut by an email from an administrator sent at 11:36 p.m. on Tuesday night.

District leaders across Texas have frequently placed public blame on state lawmakers as they whittle their budgets. In his message to families Wednesday, Killian did not do so — prompting frustration from several meeting attendees Thursday.

“It is time to defend this district and stand up publicly to Abbott, the Texas legislature and the TEA,” said parent Aly Fitzpatrick. “There’s no excuse for your silence and continued dishonesty with the people of this district regarding Abbott’s refusal to fund public school. … Your voice should be the loudest and clearest echoing through the halls of power in Austin.”