Legal Fight Looming Over Library Funding - Updated

A dispute over scarce funding that has simmered since last year may boil over as a lawsuit in West Virginia's largest county, The Charleston Gazette reports today.

Kanawha County's public library system may take the county school board to court over its decision to end annual payments from property tax revenues.

These revenues fund more than a third of the library system's budget, including $2.5 million this year. But school officials cite legislation passed during this year's session that they say gives them "discretion to decide whether schools have extra money for libraries," the Gazette reports.

(Update: the school board apparently hatched its plan to yank the funding in a secret meeting, the Charleston Daily Mail reports. "School Superintendent Ron Duerring defended the closed session, saying it was permissible under provisions of the West Virginia open meetings law," that article said. "County Commission President Kent Carper said it may have been legal, but it was certainly unnecessary. Carper said the board and Duerring had an obligation to conduct open discussions on such a controversial action.")

Property taxes are also a key source of school funding. Kanawha and eight other counties operate under special laws that have dedicated some of these revenues for libraries.

In a separate article, leaders of the state Senate and House education committees tell the Gazette that the move by Kanawha County schools "was not their intention. They believe the Kanawha school board needs to pay the library system the money collected from county taxpayers."

Some of the other counties with special library funding laws have expressed concern over the recent development, The Journal of Martinsburg reports today.

“If the Berkeley County school board interprets the law the same way, then we could have one-third of our funding cut without any advance notice,” Pam Coyle, executive director of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library, told The Journal.

The Gazette also earlier set the stage for today's meeting of library officials.