California school libraries blindsided by ‘catastrophic’ budget cut

California school librarians were surprised by a last-minute budget cut that cancels $5.5 million funding for online research materials, including Encyclopedia Britannica and New York Times, impacting 10,000 public schools. The Compass program, which provides vetted educational resources, faces termination by 2027, raising concerns about student access to reliable information and privacy risks from unvetted online sources.