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Imagination Library gets 1-year reprieve after state cuts funding

The program is now getting funded through OSPI, since the legislature cut it.

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Members of Support For Early Learning & Families take part in the annual Paddy Hough Parade in Uptown Village on March 17. The nonprofit is a local affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library serving Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties. The state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will fund the program for a year after the Legislature cut its funding. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian files)

The state schools superintendent announced last week his agency will fund a program that provides free books to young children locally and statewide for one year after the Legislature cut the funding because of Washington’s budget deficit.

Inspired by her father’s illiteracy, megastar Dolly Parton started Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library 30 years ago in Tennessee. Now, the nationwide program spans five countries. It sends a free book every month to children 5 and younger who enroll in the program.

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