Jun 8, 2026
Dolly Parton is known as the “Queen of Country,” but in addition to her storied music career, she’s also a noted philanthropist who is especially dedicated to children’s education and poverty relief.
Through her non-profit, the Dollywood Foundation, the Imagination Library program has been sending free books to children since 1995. What started as a local initiative in Sevier County, Tennessee grew into a program that has gifted more than 300 million books to children in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland.
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But the state of Missouri recently announced cuts for its funding to the program, and halted new enrollment starting July 1, according to KSDK in St. Louis.
Funding and reach
It’s an about-face from the state, which in 2024 became the first state to fully fund the program. At the time, Parton joined then-Gov. Mike Parson in Kansas City to celebrate the state’s commitment, KSDK reported.
Now, the state is slashing the budget for the program from $6 million in 2026 to $2 million in 2027, according to KSDK.
The state funding allowed the program to distribute 1.9 million books in 2025, the news outlet said, while Illinois, which has a partially state-funded program, “distributed about 1.6 million books over three years.”
According to a report from the Jefferson City News Tribune, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said the budget cuts would likely mean the program couldn’t continue to operate statewide.
“We’ll have to have some modifications or the program actually could end when the contracts ends at the end of this calendar year,” Kyle Kruse, deputy commissioner of the Division of Financial and Administrative Services at DESE, told the News Tribune.
Michelle Anthony, regional director for the Dollywood Foundation, told the News Tribune that the program currently distributes books to more than 170,000 children in Missouri.
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The chief communications officer of the DESE said that 4,361,935 books have been gifted to Missouri children since the state partnership with Imagination Library began, according to the News Tribune report.
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What’s next for funding?
According to the Imagination Library website, in the U.S., the free books program functions through local community partners. Imagination Library takes care of managing the central database, coordinating book selection and negotiating wholesale prices for the books. It also manages the administrative costs and coordinates monthly mailings.
The local program partners must secure the funding to cover the costs of the books themselves, though Imagination Library negotiates the wholesale pricing. The program partners must also cover the cost of shipping, but if they are registered non-profits, they can get a lower, non-profit mailing rate.
Right now, Imagination Library sends one “high-quality, age-appropriate book” per month to registered children.
The Dollywood Foundation’s Anthony told the News Tribune that with the funds currently in place for the program in Missouri, it could continue on for about four months, after which, Missouri children would be “at risk of no longer receiving their monthly books.”
The News Tribune reported that “In states without full coverage, the onus falls on local organizations and counties to arrange for coverage of children and families in the area.”
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Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
