In a move that would make even a despicable movie super-villain gasp and say, "Wow, that's just evil," the state of Missouri and its many idiotic legislators (not all, but many) have a new budget that cuts a lot of things that help people. I guess when you need to spend so much time trying to re-outlaw abortion, you only have a moment to consider how Dolly Parton's Imagination Library should be safe from budget cuts.
In an email that is worded in a manner much more politely than I'd have written to folks, "In 2023, the State of Missouri and The Dollywood Foundation formed a partnership to fully fund the Imagination Library statewide, so that every eligible child in Missouri could receive free books at home. That partnership grew quickly. Today, nearly 170,000 Missouri children receive a book from Dolly each month. The current state budget includes a significant reduction in funding for this program, driven by decisions made at the state legislature and the governor's office. Because of that reduction, the program will close to new enrollments on July 1, 2026. If your child is already enrolled, books will continue arriving until the funds run out. We expect that to happen within 4 to 6 months." I would have tweaked the last sentence to go, "We expect that to happen within 4 to 6 months because these jokers in the Missouri Senate and House would rather cut funding for students and drive us off a budget cliff with a moronic scheme to eliminate income tax (thereby leading to jacked-up sales taxes) than invest in programs people agree are good."
Seriously, teaching children to read isn't controversial. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library works with state governments to send a book to children every month that they can read and treasure. Some households can't afford to buy books, and even getting transportation (or having the time) to go to a local library can be difficult. Something everyone likes is going to be cut in the name of things almost nobody wants, like the usual tax cuts for rich folks, or hours that could be spent legislating being wasted on creating new amendments designed to wreck our citizen-led initiative petition voting process (for real, this August's Amendment 4 sucks). I know some things are controversial when it comes to getting them funded, but helping children achieve literacy shouldn't be sacrificed in the name of other pork barrel politics.
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