HUNTINGTON BEACH : 2 School Libraries to Go to High Bidder

Leaving no page unturned in their quest for education dollars, officials in the cash-strapped Ocean View School District are offering two surplus school libraries for sale to the highest bidder.

Trustees, who last week declared the libraries at Crest View and Haven View elementary schools surplus property because both schools are scheduled to close in September, expect to open bids on the libraries on July 7.

Each library has about 9,000 children’s fiction and reference books and could bring a bid of $30,000 or more, officials said.

Money generated from the sale is expected to be used to update reference collections in other school libraries in the district or to buy new books in literature that reflect cultural diversity, as emphasized by the state Department of Education.

Before the sale, all books donated to the library in honor of a pupil’s birthday, as well as other donated books, special purchases by parent-teacher organizations and current reference encyclopedias, will be removed from the shelves and sent to the new school that Crest View and Haven View children will be attending.

Trustee Carolyn Hunt said she believes that the Ocean View district will find buyers from among districts that have climbing enrollments, possibly the Santa Ana and Garden Grove unified school districts.

Hunt said Ocean View has previously sold libraries at other district schools that were closed.

School Board President Carol Kanode said that Ocean View schools are tentatively facing cutbacks of nearly $400,000 but it is not known specifically at this time how deeply the budget ax will slice.