Bill Description: Senate Bill 1145 would allow school districts or public charter schools to use existing literacy intervention funds for an Early Literacy Readiness Program for children age four and five.

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Does it create, expand, or enlarge any agency, board, program, function, or activity of government? Conversely, does it eliminate or curtail the size or scope of government?

Senate Bill 1145 would expand the early literacy readiness program to allow school districts and charter schools to use existing literacy intervention funds for pre-k children age four and five.

Since 2017 the cost of the literacy intervention program has increased from $9.1 million a year to $72.8 million a year for a total cost of $257,737,100 over seven years. Despite the financial investment put into the literacy intervention program, no significant correlating growth in reading proficiency has been observed. From 2017 to 2024, the percentage of fourth grade students scoring proficient or above in English and language arts on the ISAT has only increased from 48.0% to 49.4%. It is clear from this data that the program has been ineffective at improving early childhood literacy. Senate Bill 1145 is a tacit admission of this fact, which is why it's turning to a common refrain that the “intervention” has to be targeted to younger children to be effective. In truth, the structural problems surrounding our public education system, especially regarding the quality of curricula and instruction, are the true cause of childhood illiteracy. This bill establishes a dangerous precedent of directing public funds to pre-k education, opening the door for universal pre-k. 

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