WASHINGTON— The House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies this week proposed zero funding for local public broadcasting stations’ educational content and services in its fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations bills.
Congress nixed funding for PBS's "Ready to Learn" children's educational program—which provides competitive grants for local community educational initiatives—when it eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2025. CPB voted to dissolve the organization earlier this year.
This week's refusal restore funding elicited a strong response from America’s Public Television Stations which just last week held its virtual “Protect My Public Media” campaign.
“In addition to being deeply disappointed, as we noted last week, that the House Appropriations Committee did not restore funding for local public broadcasting stations in its FY 2027 Labor-HHS-Education bill, we now know that the bill also neglects to fund the Ready To Learn program, a critically important education competitive grant program that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content and services to millions of children across America,” said Kate Riley, president/CEO of America’s Public Television Stations..
“It is deeply disheartening that the House Appropriations Committee proposes to eliminate a proven educational program that provides trusted, free access to content and local services for our nation’s youngest learners—content that is especially important for the over 50% of three- to four-year-olds that do not attend a formal preschool.
“For over three decades, this highly successful program has been proven to prepare children for success in school and life by using the power of public television’s on-air, online, mobile and on-the-ground educational content and services to build the science, math and literacy skills of children ages two to eight, especially those from low-income families.
“The program combines the ability of public television to reach nearly 97% of Americans with a free over-the-air signal, with on-the-ground local station engagement that helps families and teachers make the most of these media resources locally.
Riley pointed to a recently released report from the Education Development Center documenting the significant positive impact that Ready To Learn content and the wrap-around local station community outreach services have on the educational outcomes for our nation’s youngest learners.
“Ready To Learn provides parents and caregivers with scientifically based, state standards-aligned media tools to improve their children’s literacy and STEM skills,” she said. “It also builds community engagement through partnerships facilitated by local public television stations to effectively target services where they are most needed.
“Notwithstanding today’s committee action, we remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for local public media’s educational services, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward.”
