Last week, news broke that Indiana legislators proposed cutting funds for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library from the state budget. The state covers 50% of the cost of the program, while the remaining 50% of the costs for the program are covered by local nonprofits. Imagination Library is a book-gifting program that sends children from birth to age five free books every single month.
Indiana’s governor, who proposed the Imagination Library funding cut, now says he’ll ensure the program continues throughout the state. But the proposal is anything but a guarantee.
In a press release published February 21, Governor Braun stated that he put his wife, First Lady Maureen Braun, in charge of overseeing the program’s future. Her role will be to court philanthropic partners to contribute to the cost of the Imagination Library. This means that there is still no line item in the state budget and that the program will be at the whims of donors.
“Indiana has many strong community partners and I am confident we will collaborate on a solution that grows children’s love of reading,” said First Lady Braun.
The where and how of the funding remains to be seen.
Indiana allocated $1.6 million for the Imagination Library program in the 2023-2024 budget and $2.5 million in the 2024-2025 year. This accounts for 50% of the cost to run the program, with the remaining cost fulfilled by local United Way chapters or other local nonprofits. The state budget for 2025 is $51.3 billion dollars.
While the program may be saved in word, that it won’t be part of the state budget means that the future will remain a big question mark. What happens if donors don’t pick up the costs not being covered by local nonprofits? What happens when Braun leaves office and his wife is no longer in charge?
The vagueness of the press release was the point. It intends to distract from the minuscule–but intentionally cruel–funding cut from the budget.
Indiana has been on the forefront of attacks on literacy since 2021. From passing laws that advance the moral panic over “obscene” books in libraries to attempting to change the way public libraries are funded to sever their independence, as well as bills that would close public schools and put their futures in the hands of politicians, the eagerness by which the legislature wants to keep its constituents dependent upon them is impossible not to see.
The Imagination Library program has been cited as part of why Indiana’s child literacy rates have increased from 19th to 6th nationwide. Research shows that the greatest predictor for childhood reading achievement in low-income households is access to print materials. This is precisely the role the Imagination Library fulfills by automatically sending books on a monthly basis to all those 5 and under enrolled in the program.
Imagination Library reaches 125,000 children in the state of Indiana, across all 92 counties.
