Dolly Parton's Books Program Already Had Funding Issues

The initiative started by Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80, to deliver free books to children now faces an uncertain future. The Imagination Library—credited with sending more than 300 million books to children under 5 in the US and abroad—is colliding with the same state budget pressures squeezing public libraries and literacy programs nationwide, the New York Times reports. Launched in 1995 in Parton's native Sevier County, Tennessee, the program has grown to all 50 states and six countries, helped by a long-standing deal with Penguin Random House and a network of nonprofits that pay about $2.60 per child per month to cover books and postage.

A United Way survey of 86,000 families found participants were four times as likely to show strong early reading skills. Still, in Maine, the program has shut down; Missouri has frozen new enrollment; Indiana cut funding; and Nevada's Clark County has shrunk from nearly 19,000 children to just over 2,000 after a state grant lapsed. States including Tennessee and Oregon have moved to shield funding, and memorial donations surged after Parton's death. A spokesperson for the Dollywood Co. told Nexstar that books are still going out, per the Hill. But the program's continuation may depend on whether governments keep helping with the cost.