Missouri cut funding for Dolly Parton’s free book program. What it means for kids in KC
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- Missouri will stop enrolling new children into Imagination Library starting July 1.
- State funding fell from $6 million last year to $2 million for the upcoming fiscal year.
- As of March 31, 169,032 children were enrolled and 500,000 books were sent in 2026.
Missouri lawmakers have slashed the budget for Dolly Parton’s free book-gifting program for kids, just two years after former Gov. Mike Parson touted its success at the Folly Theater in Kansas City.
Parton visited Kansas City in 2023 and 2024 to promote the Imagination Library, a program that sends free books to children under the age of six. But due to deep funding cuts, Missouri will no longer be able to accept new children into the literacy program starting July 1, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Missouri was the first state to fund Imagination Library fully. There were 169,032 children in the program as of March 31, and it sent out half a million books in the first three months of the year.
Kristin Droege, executive director of Turn the Page KC, a nonprofit agency that promotes early literacy in Kansas City, said the program’s loss of state funding will hurt the families who took advantage of the free books and other services.
“Children are walking in the door to kindergarten, not ready, and this was a way to bring that focus into the home and to give parents a consistent and reliable tool for weaving reading into their daily life from birth,” Droege said.
The program arrived with fanfare in Kansas and Missouri, and included live events with Parton and Gov. Laura Kelly in Overland Park in 2023 and Parson in Kansas City in 2024. Parson celebrated the program at an at the Kansas City event, where Parton performed “Coat of Many Colors” and “Try,” which she called the theme song of Imagination Library.
“Missouri is the only state in the union right now that fully funds this program,” Parson said to applause.
Last year, the state contributed $6 million for Imagination Library, but the amount was reduced to $2 million for the upcoming fiscal year. Missouri adopted the program in 2023 to make every child in the state eligible to participate.
Who used the program?
About 45% of kids under the age of 6 are registered for the program statewide. A data dashboard on DESE’s website said the state’s goal was to enroll 70% of eligible children.
The program is popular in the Kansas City metro, according to data collected by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
County-level data showed:
- 30-40% of children younger than 6 in Jackson County.
- 40-50% of children younger than 6 in Clay and Platte Counties.
- 50-60% of children younger than 6 in Cass County
Despite below-average rates, Jackson County is among the three largest counties by total active children in the program with 10,000-20,000 participants.
Only 23% of Kansas City’s third-graders are proficient in language arts, according to a study commissioned by SchoolSmart KC, compared to 43% of students statewide.
Droege, of Turn the Page KC, said that Imagination Library built excitement for kids around reading.
“It’s like a present comes to them every month, and it really changes their view, not only about reading, but just about, you know, that moment of my family and having a good time around this book every month,” Droege said.
Since Parton started the program in 1995, it has gifted over 300 million books to children around the world, according to Parton’s Dollywood Foundation. It reported that in 2024, about 14% of children under 5 in the United States were enrolled in the program.
Officials with DESE said in a statement, that they are unsure about the state’s continued funding for the book program, but local initiatives could keep the program going in certain communities.
