Idaho libraries seek ongoing state backing to implement federal digital-access grant

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard a presentation on the Idaho Commission for Libraries’ budget and grant activity, including implementation of the federal Digital Access for All Idahoans program and library reimbursement authorized under the Education Opportunity Resource Act.

The agency told the committee it has begun issuing competitive subgrants and expects to distribute most funds to local organizations for digital navigators, device distribution and digital-skills training; staff asked the committee to consider ongoing spending authority to match expected future notices of award from the federal program.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries provides planning and grants support to 850 libraries across Idaho. Brooke Dupree, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the commission expects to increase its base to about $275,000 for Education Opportunity Resource Act broadband reimbursements and is requesting additional authority tied to federal awards. Dupree said the commission expects more libraries will be eligible for reimbursements than the current base provides.

Why it matters: committee members raised concern about converting a federal program into an ongoing state-base obligation. Several lawmakers said making a federal grant an ongoing item in the base can create an expectation that the state will continue funding when federal money ends; analysts and agency staff said ongoing authority would be reduced once the federal funds are expended.

What the agency said • Stephanie Bailey White, state librarian and director of the Idaho Commission for Libraries, said Idaho was "the third state in the nation to receive our allocation of funds" and described delays in receiving federal funding that pushed spending into the current fiscal year. She said about 80% of the Digital Access funds are planned for subgrants to Idaho organizations, including community colleges, school districts and nonprofits, to hire digital navigators, provide tech support and buy devices.

• The commission described the grant as a multi‑year federal award administered through NTIA and said the period of performance was described to the committee as running through February 2032; staff asked the committee for ongoing spending authority because the agency expects additional notices of award during the grant period.

Summer reading and materials • Committee members asked how summer reading programs are funded and how materials are selected. Dupree and Bailey White said summer reading activities in recent years were supported by federal ESSER funds that flowed into the miscellaneous revenue fund and by small donations; Bailey White said the commission provides manuals and inexpensive paperback books as incentives and that 107,000 children participated in summer reading last year — a roughly 30% increase from the prior year.

• On content selection, Bailey White said the commission’s youth-services consultant (a librarian with a library science degree) works with vendors and applies collection‑development criteria when selecting books for distribution, and that the commission has clarified its policies after previously removing a small number of items it deemed inappropriate.

Requests for follow-up • Committee members asked the agency and the analyst for an itemized spending plan showing how Digital Access funds and past ESSER funds were and will be distributed, and for detail on summer-reading distributions and titles. The analyst and state librarian said they would provide more detailed budgets, grant‑by‑grant spending and program plans to the committee.

No formal vote was taken on the requests during the hearing.