Tilley's "Books For Brains" Legislation Passes House Committee
 

The Imagination Library started in Trigg County could soon be going statewide, and Representative John Tilley is pretty certain it will pass the House with little issue.

Tilley sponored a bill calling the programs "Books for Brains" and he says it cleared the first hurdle Tuesday.

Tilley says the idea behind the legislation can be traced to a conversation several years ago with Dr. Scott Sutherland, a Trigg County optometrist who helped spearhead the county’s local program and wanted to see if this approach could be applied statewide. 

Tilley added that after seeing what kind of success Trigg County had, it became obvious to him that all of Kentucky’s preschool children should benefit.

The Trigg County program has been supported by the local school system, the Cadiz Rotary Club and the Trigg County Education Foundation, as well as a variety of civic, church and educational organizations. 

It began in 2008 with the goal of providing an age-appropriate book a month to as many of the Trigg County children as possible who are five and under.

Since its inception in August 2008, the Trigg County Imagination Library Committee has delivered over 23,000 books, at an average cost of approximately $2.00 per book, to these Trigg County children.  Dr. Sutherland notes that during that time, preschool assessment scores in Trigg County have risen 15%.

Rep. Tilley’s House Bill 391, which now goes to the full House floor, would create a statewide board to oversee the program, with the state Department for Libraries and Archives handling its administration.  Participating counties would cover half of the cost to provide a book each month, while the state would cover the other half.