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BILL: SB 300
TITLE: Baltimore City Young Readers Program - Expansion and Alterations
DATE: March 29, 2023
POSITION: Support
COMMITTEE: Ways and Means
CONTACT: Mary Pat Fannon, Executive Director, PSSAM
The Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland (PSSAM), on behalf of all twenty-four local school superintendents, supports Senate Bill 300.
House Bill 300 renames and expands the Baltimore City Young Readers Program to the Statewide Young Readers Program in the Maryland State Library Agency. The bill also increases the mandated appropriation for this new statewide initiative to $500,000, previously $250,000.
The Maryland Governor's Young Readers Program is an affiliate of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children, regardless of the family's income. The program delivers a free book every month to any Baltimore family with children from infancy through age four. This program is an impactful way to introduce very young kids to the joys of reading and storytelling.
Baltimore City’s program has reached more than 4,400 families through a variety of service organizations and city and state agencies. We look forward to the statewide expansion of this innovative and effective early reading program.
For these reasons, PSSAM supports Senate Bill 300 and requests a favorable report.