By Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, PhD, and Victoria Coons, Doctoral Student.

On May 2, 2025, at the age of 30, the grant that funded much of PBS KIDS’ content—the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) (now defunct, too) and Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) Ready to Learn (RTL) initiative—was abruptly ended.

The announcement came quietly, in a note from the U.S. Department of Education. RTL’s passing stunned friends, relatives, producers, advisors, and researchers who helped to create the PBS KIDS programs that suffused children’s lives. Commenting on X, Elmo mourned with the 10 million 2- to 11-year-olds who watch the RTL-funded PBS KIDS programs each month and for the 80 million monthly PBS........

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