Earlier this year, word began to spread about potentially devastating funding cuts to Ohio public libraries. While there was not yet anything in writing to show this possibility and the governor’s budget included budget increases to public libraries, as of this week, the reality has set in.
The Ohio House’s substitute budget bill introduced in the House Finance Committee would fundamentally change how libraries are funded, slash over $100 million dollars from their budgets, require public libraries restrict access to LGBTQ+ books in order to receive their new meagre budgets, and change the term limits of library trustees.
Each of these budget provisions is intentionally designed to shuttle power of local libraries away from their communities and into the hands of state-level elected officials.
Ohio funds its libraries through a percentage of the state general revenue fund (GRF), designated as the Public Library Fund (PLF). This ensures that in a predominantly rural state like Ohio, small towns that may not have as large a tax base as suburban and urban areas still have a strong library. In some communities, the PLF comprises the entire budget, while in others, some of the budget is supplemented locally.
House lawmakers are now proposing that public libraries be funded through a budget line item, and that those funds would be distributed to counties through a per capita formula. This would crush library services in rural areas.
As written, the House budget proposal would cut $46.7 million dollars to libraries in 2026 and $54.1 million in 2027. Where the original budget showed an increase in funds available to libraries, the House proposal would leave over $100 million in cuts.
By changing how libraries are funded in the state, shuffling it from a portion of general revenue to a line item in the budget, power now lies in the hands of the next Ohio governor to determine whether or not to fund public libraries at all.
Another provision added to the state budget bill requires that libraries abide by new requirements related to LGBTQ+ materials.
All public libraries in Ohio would be required to relocate and remove any and all materials “related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” into a place in the library that would not be in view of those under the age of 18.
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The vague language is intentional. The goal is, of course, to eradicate any and all LGBTQ+ themed or LGBTQ+ adjacent titles from anyone under the age of 18 throughout the state. It ties directly into other additions in the House substitute budget, which would codify that the state only identifies two sexes, “male and female,
which are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Much like in other states where similar bills targeting LGBTQ+ materials in libraries, this would impact small and rural libraries the most. Without space to relocate materials, some may face the reality of needing to go adult-only, as we have seen in Idaho.
The term length of Ohio public library boards would be changed under this budget bill as well. No longer would trustees serve for seven years. The length would be four years, and for newly-created county library districts, those terms of service would be even shorter.
By changing the lengths of service trustees can have, republicans are creating the playbook for where and how to take over boards and where and how those trustees who serve the good of their community–by supporting the intellectual, educational, and entertainment needs of the whole community, rather than its whitest and wealthiest members–can more easily be removed.
The Republican-penned bill also strikes a blow to public education throughout the state and paves the wave for the state to pass a voucher scheme program, which would funnel taxpayer money into private schools. Lower and middle class families are poised to be hurt the most as their libraries lose money, the materials available in those public libraries is sequestered and restricted, and public school budgets are wiped away so families who can already afford private education are able to cash in with vouchers.
The cruelty of this bill is the point, and it is not only a punch in the throat of libraries. It’s a budget bill that oversteps its role in funding state services and institutions by leaning into right-wing, unscientific rhetoric about gender. Ohio republicans behind this bill are not thinking about what will happen in the next year or two. They’re creating the mechanisms to fundamentally destroy public institutions of democracy for generations to come.
If you live in Ohio, it is imperative you get on the phone and into the ears of your representatives. You can find your state House representative here and your state Senate representatives here. When you talk, mention that the bill would cause irreversible harm to one of the most celebrated public library systems in the country and that it does so while also actively harming young people and queer people in every community. Ask pointed questions about what the purpose is of such restrictions and where and how the state will help support those rural libraries most likely to be ruined by the budget.
For Ohioans who are on social media, get loud. Between the closure of IMLS and this budget, your shining example of what public libraries can be will become an example of what happens when extremism takes over: destruction and devastation, particularly for marginalized people.
You can read a side-by-side comparison of the Governor’s budget and the House’s substitute budget right here.
