Why Supporting Public Media Matters for Anyone Creating Content for Kids
How the termination of the Ready to Learn grant impacts future opportunities for creators to make meaningful media for kids.
TL;DR:
The Department of Education has terminated the Ready To Learn grant, one of the last major funding sources for educational children’s media. This decision doesn’t just impact PBS Kids programming; it impacts creators who care about making content that helps kids grow, not just keeps them watching.
📣 For information and resources on how you can take action and support public media, check out Protect My Public Media.
Why This Week’s News Matters
As I read this month’s book club pick, it’s tough not to have this week’s news top of mind. When You Wonder, You’re Learning doesn’t just celebrate Fred Rogers’ legacy, it offers a roadmap for what kids need from media today: environments that support emotional growth, spark curiosity, and make room for wonder. But in today’s fast-evolving media landscape, making space for those values is becoming increasingly difficult.
On Tuesday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that the Department of Education has ended the Ready To Learn grant program, a decision that puts the future of educational series, games, and digital content for kids at risk.
This isn’t the first threat against public media. On May 1, 1969, Fred Rogers testified before Congress to oppose a similar cut to public broadcasting. Fifty-six years later, almost to the day, here we are again.
But this time, the world looks very different. We have more platforms to reach children than ever and more pressure to prioritize engagement over impact. Kids are consuming content across YouTube, TikTok, streaming services, and educational apps, many of which we don’t have robust safety guardrails in place for our audience.
As traditional sources of support for high-quality kids’ content shrink, and as metrics-driven platforms dominate more of children’s screen time, it becomes harder for creators to make meaningful, research-based media. This news isn’t just about “budget cuts”; it’s losing opportunities to invest in the kind of content kids deserve.
What Is The “Ready To Learn” Grant?
For over 30 years, the Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education has supported the development of educational TV and digital media for preschool and early elementary-aged kids. In partnership with CPB and PBS, the grant has helped fund production for award-winning hits like Dragon Tales, Between the Lions, Odd Squad, Peg + Cat, Molly of Denali and Elinor Wonders Why.
What makes the grant unique is the collaboration behind it: creators, educators, researchers, local stations, and community partners all working together to design, test, and deliver content that’s built around impact.
The Ready To Learn grant is more than just financial support. It creates one of the few systems in our industry designed to give creators and educators space to develop content around what kids actually need. The content supported by Ready To Learn is built around curriculum goals and learning frameworks and requires that creators prioritize those elements from the start.
Compare that to most current platforms, where success is measured by views, click-throughs, and licensing potential. The business goal of a Ready To Learn funded series is never just to keep kids watching, it’s priority is always to help them learn and grow.
But Isn’t YouTube Free and Accessible?
A lot of the conversation around protecting public media tends to focus on reach and accessibility to underserved communities. As the industry shifts toward the creator economy and kids’ viewing habits continue to evolve, that argument can feel increasingly at odds with the challenges we’re all navigating.
We keep asking: Is the next generation even watching traditional TV? And if low-budget, short-form content is thriving, then why even invest in full length series at all?
You could make the case that YouTube is today’s “public media.”
After all, it’s free, it’s accessible, and it gives anyone the power to create and share content. And while much of the platform revolves around clicks and views, there are incredible educators and experts using it to make meaningful, impactful content for young learners, especially those who may not have access to high-quality early education.
So many creators are working hard to make content with integrity and intention but platforms like YouTube aren’t built for children, so the reach and safety isn’t yet guaranteed. The current challenge is that the system creators are operating in doesn’t always support or reward quality work on it’s own. In order to be seen, you have to play the engagement game.
What We Stand to Lose
PBS Kids might not be the flashiest player in today’s digital-first, creator-led landscape, but it’s still one of the only places where creators can work outside the constant pressure to monetize, grow, and optimize. It’s a space where you can focus on meaningful impact, not just measurable growth.
In today’s industry, even those of us working in educational or mission-driven media can’t escape conversations about audience retention, content strategy, and monetization. And it’s understandable. People need to make a living and projects need revenue to sustain and survive.
But public media, with support of grants like Ready To Learn, has always carved out a tiny corner of the kids’ media ecosystem where creators can work differently. The creative decisions can be made with the kids needs, not the business needs, coming first. And if that space is disappearing, it’s worth pausing to consider what that means for kids content at large.
Why Creators Should Care
This month’s book club pick, When You Wonder, You’re Learning, highlights the tools Fred Rogers embedded into every episode of his show: curiosity, emotional growth, and space for wonder. These are the same tools many of us strive to include in our work today. But here’s the reality: those values don’t spike view counts.
As digital platforms and algorithms increasingly shape what gets seen and funded, it’s becoming harder and harder to make a case for content built around care. 90% of parents say they trust PBS Kids. But that trust doesn’t just come from what’s on screen; it comes from what’s not. There’s no ads. No in-app purchases. No hidden agenda to sell toys or tricks to rack up watch time.
The termination of the Ready To Learn grant isn’t just about a line item in a federal budget. It’s about what kind of work is allowed, and encouraged, to exist in this industry. It’s about preserving one of the last spaces where creators can build something simply because it deserves to be made.
Right now, PBS is one of the few platforms still making intentional space for this kind of content. And they are able to do so with support from federal grants, including Ready To Learn.
📣 For information and resources on how you can take action and support public media, check out Protect My Public Media.
If you’re reading When You Wonder, You’re Learning with us this month, I’d love to hear what’s resonating for you in light of this recent news. Feel free to share your thoughts and any additional resources in the comments below.
📚ICYMI
More articles about the termination of the Ready To Learn grant:
NYT Department of Education Eliminates Grant for PBS Children’s Shows
Kidscreen Trump’s administration axes the Ready to Learn grant
USA Today I created ‘Arthur’. Trump’s PBS funding cut is a loss for kids everywhere
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Thanks for being part of this from the beginning. ✨
Well said. 😢