Lawmakers question $650K tied to California Dolly Parton literacy program
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California State Librarian Greg Lucas is facing scrutiny from lawmakers after about $650,000 related to a statewide literacy program linked to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library failed to be accounted for.
The issue surfaced Thursday during a Senate Budget and Education Tax Review Subcommittee 1 hearing, which examined how funds were distributed for California’s participation in the book giveaway program.
Documents shared by the subcommittee as part of his hearing agenda claim that a nonprofit created to help administer the program reported spending about $1.2 million, while bank statements provided to Senate budget staff showed $555,000 in expenses, leaving about $649,000 unsupported.
“I find this incredibly concerning,” said Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, chairwoman of the subcommittee. “There’s $650,000 that went unaccounted for in a program, a bipartisan effort that was intended to increase children’s literacy. It’s incredibly serious.”
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California State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez speaks during a press conference at City Hall in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, June 23, 2025. (Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, also criticized the lack of documentation, saying the situation raised serious concerns about transparency and oversight.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Grove said during the hearing. “And it reeks of horrible lack of transparency and potential fraud.”
The California State Library did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Lawmakers said Senate budget staff repeatedly requested financial documents from the Strong Reader Partnership, the nonprofit created to help administer the program, including receipts, invoices and bank statements to corroborate spending.
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Senate Bill 1183, signed in 2022, created the State of California’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which sends free books to children from birth to age 5 to encourage early literacy. (Noah Sauvé/iStock Editorial via Getty Images)
According to the subcommittee, these requests were made several times between November 2025 and February 2026, but the documents were not provided.
During the hearing, Lucas acknowledged that lawmakers had received bank statements representing about $555,000 in expenses, but disputed the assertion that the funds were unaccounted for.
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” he said. “I mean, we received a final report on the disposition of the money from the Strong Reader Partnership, which expressed, and we also relayed this to you, the difficulty in obtaining some of this information because they no longer have any money or partnership members since the money was transferred to the Imagination Library.”
He said his agency has repeatedly asked the nonprofit for additional documents and is committed to continuing to request that information.
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Members of the California State Senate, during a hearing on education, speak with Greg Lucas, California’s top librarian, March 12, 2026. (Credit: California State Senate)
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A state library spokesperson told ABC10 in a statement: “The State Library of California takes seriously its responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in the taxpayer dollars entrusted to it. The State Library has provided the Legislature with all documentation in its possession and has repeatedly requested additional materials from the Strong Reader Partnership. The State Library of California remains committed to fully cooperating with all legislative oversight and maintaining accountability in the administration of public funds.
Pérez gave Lucas seven days to produce the financial documents, saying the subcommittee was waiting for invoices and receipts detailing how the money was spent.
