Arkansas State Library Board Member Lynlee McMillan of Benton (left) speaks during the board’s quarterly meeting while State Library Deputy Director Kristen Cooke (right) listens on Feb. 13, 2026. (Photo by Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
State Library Board, Department of Education, attorney general’s office plan to meet to clarify the rules
By Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate
Arkansas libraries’ services ranging from summer reading programs to the ability to transport books between facilities are in limbo after the state Library Board declined to distribute more than $1 million in quarterly funding Friday.
None of the board’s six members moved to approve the distribution after they said they needed clarity on the rules for libraries’ required financial audits.
“Just passing out money with no set rules” is not good stewardship of public funds, board chairman Clay Goff told the Arkansas Advocate after the meeting.
Tabling the disbursement of $1.37 million came after Goff and other board members expressed concerns that a multi-county library system in north Arkansas has not been audited in years.
Withholding funding has been a frequent topic of discussion since 2024 for the board, whose entire membership was replaced under a law passed by the majority-Republican Legislature last year.
Friday’s meeting was the second in which the new board was able to vote on libraries’ state aid funds; the board approved the funding in November with little discussion.
The next regular meeting is May 8, and Goff said the board might call a special meeting before then after meeting with the state attorney general’s office and the Department of Education to clarify the funding rules.
Until then, library directors “have some hard decisions to make if this doesn’t sort itself out really soon,” Calhoun County Library director Allie Gosselink said.
She and John McGraw, the Faulkner-Van Buren Regional Library director, both said the delayed funding limits their ability to pay for their libraries’ summer reading programs.
Deb Meyer, who runs Van Buren County’s libraries, said the county’s smaller population compared to Faulkner County means its libraries have less tax revenue to cushion the shortfall.
“Some of the money from our county budget went into finishing the final payment on our building this year, so that means I have a little less money for operational expenses and funding throughout the year,” she said.
One regional library’s issues
The board’s lack of action Friday stems from the decision by Cleburne and Sharp counties’ governing bodies to withdraw from the White River Regional Library system in late 2025. The system now consists of Fulton, Izard, and Stone counties’ libraries.
Libraries receive extra state funds if they are part of a regional network. Cleburne and Sharp county library administrators were unaware that they were entitled to extra funds and had not been receiving them, State Library Board member Jack Fortner of Yellville said.
Fortner is one of two members from the 1st Congressional District, which includes all five counties currently and formerly in the White River Regional Library system.
In response to board questions, State Librarian Jennifer Chilcoat said the system’s regional bonus funds paid the system director’s salary, but the system has not had a regional director since the previous one retired in June 2025.
Regional library systems are required to have governing boards composed of representatives from each county in the region. The White River Regional Library board has not been meeting to distribute funds, and how the system’s money is spent is unclear because it has not been audited in “a number of years,” State Library Deputy Director Kristen Cooke said.
Arkansas Legislative Audit, which regularly reviews state agencies and local governments, does not have jurisdiction over regional library systems, and hiring a private auditor might exhaust the White River Regional Library’s meager savings, Chilcoat said.
State law requires regional library systems to have annual audits, but it does not say which state agency should receive those audits or if library systems will be penalized for noncompliance. Board member Lynlee McMillan of Benton called this a loophole that needs to be closed.
“If there aren’t any standards, it honestly doesn’t seem like we are necessary because we just come in, they get the money and it doesn’t matter how they spend it,” McMillan said.
Withholding funds from all public libraries because of one system feels punitive, Arkansas Library Association President and Garland County Library Director Adam Webb said.
State aid can be used for capital improvement projects, including the ongoing construction of a new Garland County Library branch in Hot Springs Village, Webb said.
“The only folks who are losing here are the libraries who do everything right and their patrons who get the funding,” he said.
Ongoing funding debate
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law last year to dismiss the State Library Board’s seven members at the time, including three she appointed. She later appointed six new members and has yet to appoint a seventh.
The overhaul of the board followed fights at the state and local levels over efforts to restrict children’s access to books, especially ones that included topics about sexual orientation or gender identity.
One of the previous board’s final decisions was to recommend a 10.39% across-the-board cut in state aid to public libraries in fiscal year 2026. The cut allowed 20 previously ineligible libraries to receive state funds.
Goff said scheduling conflicts between state agencies prevented the rules from being ready before Friday’s meeting.
Librarians have repeatedly asked the state for clearer funding rules, said Misty Hawkins, director of the four-county Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System. The delay in state funding might not impact the rural system’s seven libraries this quarter, but a prolonged delay might make transporting books between libraries difficult to afford, Hawkins said.
She said she hopes the board understands the urgency.
“[As] librarians, we love accountability, and what we don’t love is uncertainty,” Hawkins said.
The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.
Have a news tip or event to promote? Email White River Now at news@whiterivernow.com. Be sure to like and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to download the White River Now mobile app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Get up-to-date local and regional news/weather every weekday morning and afternoon from the First Community Bank Newsroom on Arkansas 103.3 KWOZ. White River Now updates are also aired weekday mornings on 93 KZLE, Outlaw 106.5, and Your FM 99.5.
