Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest organization providing free books to children, has lost all of its federal funding as a result of the budget deal between President Barack Obama and House Republicans. Federal funding has survived six presidential administrations, both Democrat and Republican…until now.

 

RIF was lumped in with 42 other K-12 educational programs that Republicans, led by Representative Duncan Hunter (R-California), labeled “wasteful” and “ineffective.”

 

“Is Chairman Hunter really saying that RIF, a 44-year-old, research-based program that puts 15 million books into the hands of over 4 million of the nation's most vulnerable children each year is a waste of taxpayer dollars?” wrote Ron Fairchild, founder of the Smarter Learning Group.

 

Fairchild added that it was ironic for the GOP to slash support for RIF because it “actually embodies the very principles of limited government, local control, and public-private partnership” that Hunter and other Republicans want.

 

With $25 million a year from Washington, RIF has been able to provide 4.4 million children with free books at nearly 17,000 schools, community centers, hospitals, military bases, and other locations throughout the United States. In FY 2009, RIF received two-third of its revenues from federal grants. Without those federal dollars, it remains to be seen what will become of the program.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Congress and President Obama Cut Reading Is Fundamental - America’s Largest Children’s Literacy Program serving over 4 Million children (Reading is Fundamental)

When Did Providing Books to Poor Children Become a Waste of Federal Resources? (by Ron Fairchild, Huffington Post)