Carey Elementary - Bucks for Books

This Donation will buy a book for Carey Elementary in Carey. Their Librarian says "Our students' obstacles that interfere with reading include our limited and outdated selection of nonfiction books and our limited supply of high quality early reader books. Students need a good selection of nonfiction books to help them learn about the world around them and use that information to create new things. Once students reach 3rd grade, they stop learning to read and begin reading to learn. A good nonfiction section would help our students gain the knowledge they need to become college and career ready. Our nonfiction section contains several books that are outdated and worn, but new nonfiction books can cost 30 to 40 dollars per book. Our library budget is approximately twelve dollars per student. We use this budget to buy books, but we also have to use this money to pay for materials to repair, label, and cover books. We usually end up buying 60 or fewer books per year with our limited school budget. We collaborate with classroom teachers to help improve student learning outcomes. Our classroom teachers have requested more early reader books that are engaging and diverse. Many of our younger students are struggling with reading. Thirty percent of our elementary school students are reading below grade level. Having a high quality early reader selection would help motivate our students to want to read. We want to increase our early reader selection, but high quality early reader sets can cost thousands of dollars. Funds from this program would help us support our students by allowing us to introduce them to books that are engaging and informative."

In 2019, the Idaho Lottery learned 28 percent of Idaho elementary schools had a library budget of less than $100 per year for book procurement. In reality, it would take nearly $8,000 every year per school to maintain the library collection students need to succeed. With that in mind, the Idaho Lottery worked with the Idaho Commission for Libraries to start Bucks For Books. Literacy has been a focus of Idaho Governor Brad Little since he took office in 2019. Getting all Idaho students reading at grade level by the third grade is imperative as that is the point where students transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn. Having a well-stocked library and the ability for all students to take books home is crucial in getting all Idaho students where they need to be.