Republicans Quietly Cut Dolly Parton's Reading Programme Months Before Trump Lowered Flags in Her Honour

Donald Trump ordered US flags lowered nationwide within hours of Dolly Parton's death, calling it 'a true loss for millions of people'. Yet Republican lawmakers in two states had quietly cut funding for her flagship children's reading programme months earlier.

A Nation Mourns as Flags Fall

Trump announced the tribute on Truth Social hours after Parton's family confirmed her death on 25 August. 'There has never been anyone like her, and never will,' he wrote, ordering the American flag lowered for a week beginning that evening.

The presidential proclamation directs flags at all federal buildings, military bases, and US embassies to fly at half-staff until sunset on 1 September. Parton spent decades avoiding party politics and turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom three times, twice under Trump.

She died in Nashville at 80 after what her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, described as a brief battle with cancer.

Missouri Froze Enrolment Weeks Before Her Death

The public mourning sits awkwardly beside decisions made in Republican-controlled statehouses. Missouri's fiscal year 2027 budget cut funding for Parton's Imagination Library from roughly $6 million (£4.4 million) to about $2 million (£1.5 million), forcing the state to stop accepting new applicants from 1 July.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said 161,361 children were enrolled when the freeze took effect. Those already signed up will keep receiving books only while the reduced funding lasts.

Families with newborns can no longer join, and the department said it was unsure whether the programme would survive as a state-funded effort. The programme has warned its remaining money could run out within four to six months. Missouri had become the first state to fully fund the library in 2024.

Indiana Dropped Its Match a Year Earlier

Indiana went further. State lawmakers removed the program entirely from the 2025 budget, ending a matching arrangement that had helped reach more than 125,000 children across every county.

The state had previously committed a $6 million, two-year allocation under former governor Eric Holcomb, and the programme was credited with lifting Indiana's child literacy ranking from 19th to sixth.

His successor, Governor Mike Braun, said Indiana would look to private donations to replace the roughly $3 million (£2.2 million) a year the state had provided. Democratic representative Maureen Bauer called the removal 'a disservice' and said her party would try to restore the money.

A Programme That Reaches Millions

Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 as a tribute to her father, who could not read or write. The charity has posted more than 300 million free books to children and serves over three million youngsters across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Ireland.

The Dollywood Foundation, which runs the programme, said it would carry on. 'The work ahead has never felt more meaningful, and we will carry it forward,' it wrote hours after her death. Jeff Conyers, the foundation's president, had earlier urged Braun and Indiana legislators to restore funding, arguing the programme 'unites us all, regardless of politics'.

Donations have climbed nationwide since Parton died, offering a lifeline as the charity works to keep books arriving in mailboxes the states will no longer pay for.

For the parents of enrolled children, whether those deliveries continue now depends on fundraising rather than public money.