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Explanation

(This amendment increases state aid to public libraries to be used for summer reading materials and programs and STEM instructional materials. In a companion amendment, $1.5 million is appropriated in Item 138 to be transferred to libraries to be used exclusively for expanded library summer reading materials and programs. This $1.0 million may be used for either summer reading materials and programs or for STEM instructional materials. Students who participate in summer reading programs have been documented to outperform non-participating peers on literacy fundamentals screening in grades K-12 and SOLs for grades 3-12. After returning from summer break K12 students who participated in summer reading programs at their local public library outperformed those who did not in tests after returning from summer break. State aid to public libraries has been reduced over the last 15 years, declining by over $5 million in constant dollars to the level in 1999.)