JFAC hears plan to continue federal digital-access grants, questions about summer reading materials

The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on an unspecified date reviewed budget requests from the Idaho Commission for Libraries including a request to make an existing federal "Digital Access for All Idahoans" grant an ongoing $2.5 million item in the state base budget and a $42,400 ongoing reimbursement for libraries under the Education Opportunity Resource Act (Chapter 56, Title 33, Idaho Code).

The request matters because the digital-access grant — currently an NTIA-administered federal award authorized through IIJA and administered alongside Idaho Broadband Office activities — has funded subgrants, devices and digital navigator positions intended to reduce barriers such as affordability, device access and digital skills. State analysts told the committee the commission expects additional notices of award that can be spent through 2032 and is asking to fold $2.5 million into the base to sustain implementation.

Committee members pressed for more detail on how the federal grant monies have been spent so far and how the commission will distribute future subgrants. “I do have kind of an overview of what that digital access plan is used for and how that's supposed to be implemented,” said Brooke Dupree, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, and offered to provide a more detailed, itemized spending plan at the committee’s request. State Librarian Stephanie Bailey White (Stephanie Bailey White, state librarian and director, Idaho Commission for Libraries) described the program’s goals: hiring digital navigators, buying laptops for subgrants, and supporting community organizations’ digital‑literacy and tech‑support efforts. White said about 80% of program funds are planned to be subgranted to Idaho organizations, and the commission received 39 applications in the first round.

Several legislators expressed caution about making the federal grant ongoing in the state base. “Anytime we have federal money that sets up something and it goes for some period of time and then it stops, there seems to be an expectation … that the state will cover it,” said Chairman Groh. Senator Wintrow and other members noted that making funding ongoing can improve predictability for local recipients but also risks creating an expectation that the state must replace expiring federal funds. Committee members asked the commission for a follow‑up showing how the grant has been spent to date and a plan for the remaining award period.

The committee also discussed summer reading programs and the materials distributed as incentives. Dupree and White told members that summer reading programs have been funded in part with ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds deposited to the commission’s miscellaneous revenue fund and that the commission’s contribution to summer reading has been modest (materials, manuals and discounted paperback books). White said summer reading programs have long run through public libraries and that the commission received a $17,500 donation this year from the Scottish Rite Foundation used to supply paperback books as incentives. She said the commission’s youth services consultant follows the agency’s collection development criteria when selecting giveaway books and that libraries choose how to use the donated materials.

White said the commission supports 850 libraries statewide with about 35.5 full‑time equivalent positions in the agency and that the commission has used ARPA/IIJA‑related funds (ESSER and ARPA Capital Projects) in recent years for summer and after‑school programming and for a $3.5 million capital project in fiscal 2024. Dupree explained smaller line items in the request: a $42,400 ongoing request to reimburse eligible libraries under the Education Opportunity Resource Act (raising the base to $275,000) and a $2.5 million ongoing request tied to the Digital Access for All Idahoans grant; the governor recommended the enhancements.

Committee direction: analysts and the commission agreed to provide a detailed accounting of how digital‑access funds have been spent to date, an itemized plan for the remaining award period, and more information about how summer reading materials are chosen and distributed. No formal committee vote or decision was taken at the hearing.

The commission said it will follow up with documentation the committee requested, including an itemization of past expenditures, rubric and scoring details for subgrant awards, and a description of safeguards used when providing materials for youth programming.