By AP/KWMU
Chicago, IL – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration has quietly dropped plans to partner with a Tennessee foundation to offer books to Illinois children.
The program's estimated price tag was $26 million a year, which would be incurred if every eligible child was signed up.
The program would send a book to the child every month until he or she reaches the age of five.
A Blagojevich spokeswoman says private funding might still be an option. But one lawmaker, Republican Mark Beaubien, says the governor should not have misled people into thinking the program would happen.
State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, a budget negotiator for Senate Republicans, said Blagojevich's representatives initially were insistent about the book program but "reluctantly agreed to forget about it" after the legislature missed its May 31 budget deadline.
The Dollywood Foundation, based in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and started by country music star Dolly Parton, coordinates the "Imagination Libraries" program.