While it may be most convenient to use popular shows like Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood as the face of the ‘Save PBS’ campaign, it’s not the most factual approach. Neither Sesame Street nor Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood have received funding from the U.S. Department of Education in years. The programs actually being impacted so far have been less recognizable titles that don’t play as well in headlines. PBS Kids’ newest show Skillsville had its staff furloughed in May 2025 due the termination of the Ready to Learn grant. The Trump Administration’s funding of the 2020 Ready to Learn grant provided $4.6 million to Twin Cities PBS to commission the series.
PBS also recently canceled Molly of Denali after its upcoming fifth season. The animated series has won a Peabody Award in 2020 and a Children’s and Family Emmy Award in 2025. However, Molly of Denali pulled in just 5,797,000 monthly streams from October 2022 through September 2023, ranking 20th among all programs, some of which are no longer producing new episodes. That’s a far cry from Sesame Street, which ranked third in the same time period with 21,283,000 average streams per month. It’s even farther from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, PBS Kids’ most popular series with an average of 42,845,000 monthly streams.
Molly of Denali benefitted from a $1 million grant in 2024 from the Ready to Learn fund, which was used to help fund production for the fourth and fifth seasons. The decision to cancel the series was reportedly in motion since before the 2024 presidential election, though the inability to receive such a grant for a potential sixth season wouldn’t have helped its chances. Needless to say, a campaign around saving Molly of Denali would be far less effective than one built around Elmo or Big Bird.
Other PBS Kids series receiving funds from the Ready to Learn grant include Donkey Hodie ($3 million in 2020 and another $500,000 in 2024), Work It Out Wombats! ($3 million), Lyla in the Loop ($3 million), Alma’s Way ($2.7 million in 2021 and $1.4 million in 2023), Carl the Collector ($2 million), Rosie’s Rules ($1.5 million), Elinor Wonders Why ($1.4 million), and City Island ($1 million). Many of these shows rely almost entirely on the U.S. Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and donations (a.k.a ‘Viewers Like You’) to survive. If they lose funding from the federal government, they’ll have to make up for it with an increase in other revenue sources to justify the production of future episodes.
Skillsville, Lyla in the Loop, and Rosie’s Rules currently do not have any other sponsors, which immediately complicates their futures. Donkey Hodie, Alma’s Way, and City Island also do not have any sponsors in the private sector, but benefit from large donor money. It is currently unclear if that money would be enough to offset the money lost from the termination of the Ready to Learn grant. Only Work It Out Wombats!, Carl the Collector, and Elinor Wonders Why maintain support from sponsorships via private companies, foundations, or nonprofits. Even then, the latter has more former sponsors than current sponsors, and the former two were significant beneficiaries from the grant.
In all likelihood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), who funds PBS, will turn to Congress with the goal of having their budget increased to offset the losses from the termination of the Ready to Learn grant. However, both President Trump and Congressional Republicans, who currently hold majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, have indicated a desire for deeper funding cuts at PBS. In March 2025, the House subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) called leaders from PBS and NPR to testify at a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” At the hearing, Congressman Greg Casar (D-TX-35) said “Leave Elmo alone, bring Elon in for questioning instead.” After the hearing, Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA-42) captioned a video of himself at the hearing with ‘Elon Musk and Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to defund Sesame Street and dismantle PBS and NPR. Not on our watch. Fire Elon Musk, and Save Elmo.’ While Sesame Street was indeed looking for a new home in March 2025, that’s because its streaming partner, the Warner Brothers Discovery-owned HBO Max, opted not to renew it for another season.
The CPB obtains funding for PBS from Congress two years in advance. In March 2025, 12 days before the DOGE hearing, U.S. Congress granted the CPB with $535 million in funding for fiscal year 2027 (FY27), which extends through September 30, 2027. The CPB received $535 million in funding for FY25 and FY26, up slightly from the $525 million it received for FY24. Any significant increase in funding would not be able to kick in until at least FY28. Meanwhile, the Ready for Learn grant comes from the executive office and is typically awarded every five years. It would have partially covered funding from 2026 through 2030.
If the CPB can put together a case for Congress to increase their future funding, it’s possible the termination of the Ready to Learn grant causes only temporary setbacks to PBS Kids programming. However, they come across a major roadblock: a Republican Party already proposing broader cuts, and a Democratic Party who, at least publicly, sees PBS primarily as the network that airs Sesame Street. Due in part to steady government funding, PBS is able to produce and distribute more original programs geared toward children than many privately-owned competitors offer with a paid cable or streaming subscription. The elimination of this funding could very well lead to the downfall of PBS Kids, and the acceleration of the decline in children’s programming in general.