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Idaho budget panel reviews library digital-access grants and summer reading funding
Summary
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard from the Idaho Commission for Libraries on federal digital-access grants, a $2.5 million multi‑year program the commission is implementing, and longstanding summer reading supports after legislators raised questions about program details and materials provided to children.
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Thursday heard from the Idaho Commission for Libraries about its plans to use federal funds to expand broadband access, digital literacy and local library services across the state.
Brooke Dupree, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the commission expects to spend about $2.5 million a year under the Digital Access for All Idahoans grant authorized in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. "Some of this money will be used to buy laptops to then subgrant to those libraries," Dupree said, and other funds will support "digital navigators" and community organizations that provide training and tech support.
The request presented to the panel would add $2,500,000 ongoing to the commission’s base for the Digital Access initiative and…
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