2025-2026 School Library Access Grant Early & Elementary Literacy Final Report

Grant Closeout and Final Report
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Grant Award Number: {grantNumber}

Award Recipient: {nameOf}

ICfL School Library Consultant Review:
- The grantee fulfilled the programmatic requirements of the grant.
- The grantee sufficiently answered the final report narrative questions.
- The book list has been reviewed.
- The grant is ready to be closed.
School Library Consultant Signature:

ICfL Fiscal Review:
- The grantee fulfilled the fiscal requirements of the grant.
- The grantee provided sufficient documentation of grant expenditures.
- All funds have been expended or returned.
- The grant is ready to be closed.
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ICfL Comments:
2025-2026 School Library Access Mini-Grant Early & Elementary Literacy Final Report

Due: April 24, 2026
Thank you for participating in the School Library Access Mini-Grant Program sponsored by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and coordinated by the School Libraries staff. This grant project has three primary goals (see Appendix A). Your feedback on this report will determine whether the goals and desired outcomes of the program were achieved and help us identify strengths and challenges in order to improve the project for future participants.

Please review the questions on this report to ensure the appropriate data has been collected. Submit this report by April 24, 2026.
PART I: CONTACT INFORMATION
Grant Number:
Located in the subject line of the Grant Award Notice email and on the first page of the Grant Application/Agreement PDF.
Name of School:
Name and number of school district:
Name of person submitting this report:

First NameLast Name
Title of person submitting this report:
Best email address to reach the person listed above:
example@example.com
Best phone number to reach person listed above:

Area CodePhone Number
Authorizing Official Name (Principal):
Authorizing Official Email. This person will receive a copy of the grant report upon submission.:
PART II: NARRATIVE AND DATA REPORT

As part of the mini-grant program, you agreed to meet the grant requirements outlined in your school's Grant Application/Agreement (see Appendix B). Please answer the following questions which are related to the activities and requirements of this grant program:

1. How many books per week is each student in your school allowed to check out from the library to take home? Please use 000 in the "Grade Not Served" column to indicate the grade level is not served by your school. Note: this question is about your policy rather than the actual number of books checked out out by individual students.

Rows	Spring 2026	Grade not served
PreK
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6

2. Please describe any feedback you've received from faculty, parents, administrators, or any other stakeholder as a result of checking out books for students to take home during the 2025-2026 school year.
3. Students showing excitement about all the new books is also very exciting for librarians! Other than student reaction to the books, what has been the biggest success of the grant project so far? Did student excitement translate to more reading? More students in the library on their own? Stories related by teachers and/or parents that showed greater interest in reading?
4. Did you organize a family literacy event at your school after submitting your Interim Report? Please describe your event, with approximate attendance numbers, any feedback you received, and the overall result. Were there lessons learned or things you'd do differently next time? If you've not yet held your family literacy event, please provide a brief description of your plans to fulfill this requirement. If your literacy event was reported in the Interim Report, please indicate with "Interim Report" here.
5. Please list the additional reading- or library science-related professional development you attended (the School Library Access workshop in September 2025 does not fulfill this requirement). Examples of acceptable PD might be a webinar, an online or in-person class, a qualifying school-sponsored PD event, or the 2025 Idaho Library Association Annual Conference. If you've not yet fulfilled this requirement, please describe your plan to complete it. If your PD requirement was reported in the Interim Report, please indicate with "Interim Report" here. If you are a first-time grantee, this requirement does not apply to you. Please enter First-Time Grantee below.
6. Please describe the outcome of your plan to increase students' out-of-school reading time that you described in Q11 of your application.
PART III: FINANCIAL REPORT
The financial section of the report details the original grant amount, actual expenditures, unspent balance, and includes a place to upload spending documentation. Documentation must be provided in the form of a spending report generated from your school district's accounting software/program. Please work with your school district office or school office manager to obtain this spending report. This report must show that documentated expenditures total or exceed the full grant award amount. The accounting system spending report is the only financial documentation you are required to submit; you do not need to submit invoices or receipts. You are however, required to retain these receipts and invoices, along with your other grant records, for three years following the end of the grant period.

Unused or undocumented grant funds must be spent immediately or returned to the ICfL. If you have questions about eligible or ineligible expenses, documentation requirements, or need to obtain your original grant agreement please email libgrants@libraries.idaho.gov.
Please read the financial report instructions carefully and initial here that you understand the requirements.
7. Grant Award Amount:
7a. Expenditures. Please enter the total amount spent, as shown on your accounting system spending report. This must equal or exceed the grant award amount:
7b. Unspent balance of grant (automatically calculated). Grant award amount minus total expenditures. This number must be 0 or negative. If this number is positive, you have grant funds remaining that must be spent immediately or as a last resort, returned to the ICfL.
7c. Spending Documentation. Please upload a spending report generated from your school's accounting system showing all grant expenditures. This type of report should be requested from your school/district accounting department or the staff member tracking school expenditures.

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8. How many books have you purchased with your grant funds so far?
9. What percentage of your grant funds have been spent on nonfiction books?
10. Please attach an order summary, packing slip, or other document list showing the book titles with authors that you have purchased so far. Please use a pdf; a photo image is too small to read. Please include only those titles that were not reported in the Interim Report.

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11. Additional Details. Would you like to provide additional information regarding your grant spending? For example, if your spending report doesn't show the full grant amount as spent, explain why. Did you encounter challenges ordering books or using grant funds? Did you have enough time during the school year to spend the funds?
12. Has more than 5% of your total grant award been spent processing expenses like supplies, vendor processing, or labeling fees?
13. If more than 5% of your total grant award has been spent on vendor processing or labeling fees, please explain:
14. Are you a first-time grantee? Not sure? Check the list at https://libraries.idaho.gov/school-libraries/elementary-school-grants/ under the Grant Application banner to see if your school has received this grant before.
15. Please verify that your school or school district contributed the 10% match to your book budget. This could be indicated by a transaction in the financial report that is attached to this report, or you could attach another report showing the funds available to you to spend on books. Please indicate here where we can find the transaction showing the 10% match.
Your signature verifies the accuracy of the information in this Interim Report.
Appendix A: SLA Mini-Grant - Early & Elementary Literacy Program Goals
1)    Increase the amount of reading done in the homes of Idaho's elementary school students, particularly those in PreK, kindergarten, and 1st grade.

2)    Increase access to age-appropriate, quality, nonfiction and fiction titles in elementary school libraries, especially primary students.

3)    Increase the number of children reading on grade level.

4) Increase school libraries' financial support from their school districts.
Appendix B: SLA Mini-Grant - Early & Elementary Literacy Program Requirements
My school is:
For first-time grantees that serve any combination of PreK, kindergarten, and Grade 1:

The following requirements must be met by your school during the grant period (September 1, 2025 - April 10, 2026).
- All kindergarten and Grade 1 students (including developmental PreK if they are served by the school) will be allowed to take home more than one book per week starting in the first semester of school.
- Students in all grades will be allowed to check out nonfiction books.
- All grant funds will be spent on age-appropriate books for preK, kindergarten, or grade 1 students. Funds can be spent on fiction or on nonfiction books, but at least 40% of the funds must be spent on nonfiction books. Age-appropriate titles for these grade levels must take into account the interest levels for young children and include primarily good quality, read-aloud titles for family members to read to students in these grades, not necessarily reading levels of K-1 students. Book purchases may include books with interest level up to Grade 2.
- Accelerated Reader tests, library software, library shelving and signage are not allowable purchases with these funds.
- Up to 50% of grant funds may be spent with any single publisher.
- Grantee will complete both an interim grant report (due January 16, 2026) and a final grant report (due April 24, 2026). Grantee will be well-prepared for both grant reports by working with their school district personnel and tracking grant information throughout the grant period. Interim and final reports will require a list of fiction and nonfiction titles, a summary report of grant expenditures, circulation statistics by grade level (when possible), and feedback on changes in circulation practices.
- All schools must hold a family literacy or other outreach event during the grant period. Some possibilities include Idaho Family Reading Week, a celebration of Read Across America, and El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros. These events can be in-person or virtual, as circumstances permit. Some grant fund may be used to support this event:
  
  -Up to a total of 20% of the grant funds can be used for allowable purposes other than the purchase of books for the collection. The funds used for book processing will be considered part of this 20%.
  
  -Up to 5% of the grant award may be used for book processing and related supplies (i.e. MARC records, labels, barcodes, processing fees with vendors, protective laminant covers, etc.).
  
  -Give-away books for students to encourage summer and/or out of school reading are allowable.
  
  -Bilingual books for English-learning students to keep and take home to read with their adults are allowable.
  
  -Food is not an eligible use for grant funds.
For grantees from schools that have received an SLA Mini-Grant in a previous school year or who do not serve students in any combination of PreK, kindergarten and/or Grade 1.

The following requirements must be met by your school during the grant period (September 1, 2025- April 10, 2026):
- All students in all grade levels will be allowed to check out and take home more than one book per week starting in their first semester of school, including preschool students, if applicable.
- Students in all grades will be allowed to check out nonfiction books.
- Grant funds will be spent on age-appropriate fiction and nonfiction books for the grades served by the school. When selecting age-appropriate titles for all grade levels, librarians should consider the interest level for students and include high-quality titles for family members to read aloud to students and for students to read independently. The reading level (ATOS, AR, Lexile, etc.) should be a secondary consideration, if considered at all.
- Accelerated Reader tests, library software, library shelving, and signage are not allowable purchases with these funds.
- A maximum of 50% of grant funds may be spent with any single publisher.
- 40% of grant funds must be spent on age-appropriate, high-quality nonfiction.
- All schools that are not first-time grantees must provide a 10% match with the grant funds to be spent on books for the school library collection within the grant school year.
- All schools must hold a family literacy or other outreach event during the grant period. Some possibilities include Idaho Family Reading Week, a celebration of Read Across America, and El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros. These events can be in-person or virtual, as circumstances permit.
  - Up to a total of 20% of the grant funds can be used for allowable purposes other than the purchase of books for the collection. The funds used for book processing will be considered part of this 20%. Some allowable uses might include:
  - The required family reading or other outreach event to be held during the grant period. Partnering with the public library to encourage students and their families to hold library cards, giving them access to public library services, is strongly encouraged.
  - Up to 5% of the grant award may be used for book processing and related supplies (i.e. MARC records, labels, barcodes, processing fees with vendors, protective laminant covers, etc.).
  - Give-away books for students to encourage summer and/or out of school reading are allowable.
  - Bilingual books for English-learning students to keep and take home to read with their adults are allowable.
  - Food is not an eligible use for grant funds.
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Grant Closeout and Final Report

2025-2026 School Library Access Mini-Grant Early & Elementary Literacy Final Report

PART I: CONTACT INFORMATION

PART II: NARRATIVE AND DATA REPORT

PART III: FINANCIAL REPORT

Appendix A: SLA Mini-Grant - Early & Elementary Literacy Program Goals

Appendix B: SLA Mini-Grant - Early & Elementary Literacy Program Requirements