Supporters of public television are hoping the Senate will restore funding for the Department of Education’s Ready to Learn program, which helps pay for children’s shows such as “Reading Rainbow,” “Sesame Street,” and the recently controversial “Postcards from Buster.”
The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee was scheduled to hold a hearing July 11 on funding for the Education Department and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes the bulk of the federal money that goes to public-television and -radio outlets.
The House last month restored $100 million that a committee had cut from the CPB, but agreed to eliminate $23 million for the Ready to Learn program. That program came under the spotlight earlier this year when Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings objected to an episode of “Postcards from Buster” because it featured two families headed by lesbians.
