1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

Restore full state funding for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. This program has delivered more than 300 million books to children under 5 across the country, and cutting it doesn't save money — it costs kids their earliest shot at literacy. The numbers here are hard to ignore. In Indiana alone, 152,105 children — 37 percent of all kids under 5 in the state — are enrolled. Missouri cut funding from $6 million to $2 million this year and immediately froze new enrollment. Washington pulled its 50 percent match and left 121,000 children scrambling for private replacements. Pushing this onto philanthropic donors is not a plan; it's an abdication. Private foundations cannot reliably replace what a stable state commitment provides. The 50/50 funding model works precisely because it shares the load between communities and the state. When the state walks away, local partners can't absorb the difference. Reinstate the state's funding match and keep this program running for every child who deserves it.