Missouri spending $11M for all children to receive a book monthly through age 5

(The Center Square) – Missouri is spending $11 million for a nonprofit organization to mail a free book each month to all children up to age 5.

Senate Bills 681 and 662 in 2022 created the nonprofit “Missouri Imagination Library” to operate through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and partner with “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library,” funded by the nonprofit The Dollywood Foundation. The legislation requires the general assembly to appropriate at least $2.5 million annually to fund the program. It was sponsored by Karla Eslinger, who was named commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education earlier this year.

Missouri is the 14th state to commit to a statewide “Imagination Library,” but it’s the only state to fully fund the program on the day it was launched. There’s no cost for the books or delivery charges.

Parton will appear at an event in Kansas City on Aug. 27 to promote the program and celebrate the success of the effort. More than 137,000 children were enrolled in the program as of June 28, according to information from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The program distributed 190,054 books during the second quarter of the year. In 26 of Missouri’s 114 counties, more than 50% of children are registered.

"As the former Senator who carried the Imagination Library of Missouri legislation, to now being in the role of Commissioner, this is a full-circle moment,” Eslinger said. “…We hope Dolly’s visit to Missouri will help us promote the program even further, reaching the families of the remaining 262,000 Missouri children who are eligible.”

Parton founded and launched the program in 1995 to assist children in her home county of Sevier, Tenn. More than 3.1 million children have registered with the organization since its inception and more than 245 million books distributed. The program is available in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom in addition to the U.S.

“By providing books at no cost to families, The Imagination Library of Missouri increases childhood literacy rates, fosters a love of books, and promotes a culture of reading among all families in the state,” according to a media release from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library when it announced Missouri’s program last year.

Parents can register for the free books on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website.

A committee comprised of early childhood literacy specialists reviews potential selections for the Tennessee-based organization. All books are published by Penguin Random House and independently published books or books from other publishers aren’t accepted, according to information on the organization's website.

The Dollywood foundation’s nonprofit tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service for 2022, the most recent filing posted, showed $55 million in revenue with $49 million coming from program service revenue. It had $52 million in expenses, with $31.4 million spent on books and $16.3 million spent on mailing expenses.