Families in Chesterfield, Wildwood, and surrounding communities who haven't yet signed up their young children for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library are running out of time.

Missouri lawmakers slashed the program's state funding by more than half for the upcoming fiscal year, dropping it from roughly $6 million to $2 million. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it will stop accepting new enrollments after June because the money simply isn't there.

Children already receiving the free monthly books will keep getting them "as funding allows," the department said.

The cut hits St. Louis County especially hard. State data shows the county has one of the three highest enrollment totals in Missouri, alongside St. Charles and Jackson counties. As of March, more than 169,000 children statewide were enrolled in the program, which mails one age-appropriate book per month to kids from birth to age five at no cost to families.

Missouri made national news in November 2023 when it became the first state to fully fund the Imagination Library statewide. Then-Gov. Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson called it a chance to make "a transformational difference in the life of a child." Since launch, the state has distributed more than 4.3 million books.

DESE officials said they are exploring partnerships with local programs and private donors to sustain the program, but no specifics have been announced. No local organizations in the Chesterfield or Wildwood area have publicly stepped forward to fill the gap.

Families with children under five who want to enroll can do so at imaginationlibrary.com before the end of June, when new registrations close.