Budgeting

During the 2024-2025 school year, the state allocated $2,370 to the Media Center. There was $2,333 in rollover funds, and a $10,000 grant was applied for to purchase books for classroom libraries.

Unfortunately, we did not receive the $10,000 in funding.

However, Sabal Palm was a recipient of $2,000 as part of the Big Bend's "Big Book Give" Campaign. This campaign was established to end the disparity in classroom libraries in Title I schools.

This year's budget is being allocated to Leveled Readers, Books in Series, SSYRA titles, Classic Picture Books, and Student Wish List Purchases.

The Media Center holds a Penny War once a year for supplemental funding. 

The students can bring pennies and dollars to support their grade level or silver coins to sabotage another grade level.

At the end of the Penny War, the grade level with the most points earns a prize. Last year, the second-grade students got to silly-string the administrators. This year, the winning grade level will get to tape our Assistant Principal to the wall.

All proceeds go towards library signage, book processing and book repair needs.

Several years ago, the students fell in love with the Kneadable Erasers being sold as part of the book fair. Unfortunately, the majority of the funds went to the book fair company.

The LMS was able to find the same erasers online and sell them at a fraction of the cost, while still making a profit. It was a win-win situation.

The Eraser Sale runs for a week or until supplies are gone.

All proceeds go towards AR prizes and celebrations.

As a Gifted Endorsed educator, the LMS hosts a Summer Gifted Camp every year. This four-week camp has a $600 per week budget for supplies. The coming summer will be the third year of this camp.

The camp serves students from Sabal Palm, as well as from other schools in the district. 

The LMS builds camps around the needs of the Sabal Palm Community so that materials will continue to benefit the student body during the school year. 

As such, we have been able to procure microscopes, specimens, puzzles, STEM materials, Polaroid cameras, books, etc., at no cost to Sabal Palm.

A DonorsChoose grant was used to purchase peripherals for the student Chromebooks.

The LMS noticed students were struggling with using the trackpad on their Chromebooks. 

With several library activities involving sound and read-alouds, there was also a need for headphones.

The peripherals have proved invaluable.

In order to purchase books for authors to sign at the FAME conference, the LMS wrote another DonorsChoose grant. This kept library funds from being used for this purpose.

There was a need for the BEST Mentor Texts at each grade level. The best set up for this would be purchasing multiple copies that could be used in a classroom or across the grade level.

Fortunately, the grade 3 - 5 grants were funded and we were able to purchase almost $3,000 worth of mentor texts.

As stated earlier, there was a need for the BEST Mentor Texts at each grade level. The best set up for this would be purchasing multiple copies that could be used in a classroom or across the grade level.

Fortunately, the grade 3 - 5 grants were funded and we were able to purchase almost $3,000 worth of mentor texts.

The photo shows several of the quality titles we were able to purchase to help build background knowledge and expose our students to classic literature.

State and district funding does not go very far when trying to overhaul a media center that has been neglected.

When the LMS arrived in 2021, the library was in disrepair, with several hundred broken copies and outdated titles.

The LMS immediately got to work finding and applying for supplemental funding. 

In 2023 and 2023, the LMS received two $10,000 grants to purchase nonfiction books. The LMS continued to seek outside funding to continue updating the Media Center.

During the 2024-2025 school year, the LMS received $3,365 in supplemental funding from grants.

Upon arriving at Sabal Palm, the media center had over 17,000 copies in the catalog. The average age of the collection was 1996.

While the purpose of this portfolio is to demonstrate what has happened over the past year, it is important to know where we started just under four years ago.

Circulation was at an all time low. Students rarely visited the media center and the LMS was shocked to find out that many of them didn't even know what a bookmark was.

The LMS weeded and boxed up almost 7,000 damaged, outdated, and obsolete books to make room for new quality titles.

As of March 2025, the average age of the collection is now 2014.

This would not have been possible without seeking outside funding.

In 2023, the LMS was accepted on the SSYRA Jr. Committee. This helped add additional fiction titles to the library, as committee members receive up to 500 books a year to review. By the end the third and final term on the committee, the LMS will have read and reviewed up to 1,500 books that could potentially be added to the catalog.

Cooperative play is, and will continue to be, an area of weakness for our students.

The LMS regularly seeks funding and donations of gently used games for students to use to help build good sportsmanship, proper communication through play, organizational skills, etc.