Ed secretary: Schools have funds for proposed literacy initiatives
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Will Hoosier schools have the funds to put in place new literacy mandates proposed by state lawmakers? Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner on Thursday maintained they do — at least for now.
She said the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has enough holdover dollars to roll out additional reading tests and expanded summer school options laid out in Senate Bill 1, which is currently under consideration at the Statehouse.
But in the 2025 budget session, more state funds are expected to be requested.
“If you look at our longitudinal data, we can absolutely get back — we will. Literacy is one of the most solvable problems in our society today. We have the science, we have the practice, we can solve this,” Jenner told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “For our adults who are illiterate, what we are paying as a society — the impacts on the economy, the impacts on, most importantly, the individual — that far surpasses the cost that we will pay if we will make sure children are reading before leaving third grade, and certainly before they leave high school.”
Senators on the committee approved the bill in an 8-3 party line vote, sending it to the full chamber.
Democrats have declined to support the measure mostly due to concerns over a provision that could result in holding thousands more third-graders back a year in school.
“I don’t think the bill is strategic,” said Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis. “I think it continues to go down the path of bills that dance around the edges of tackling the problem.”
Addressing Indiana’s literacy “crisis”
Paramount to the bill, authored by Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, are provisions to require IREAD testing to begin a year earlier, in second grade, and allow those who pass at that stage to be exempt from taking the test again in the future.
Students who do not pass must receive targeted support during third grade to help them improve their reading skills. After a full year of remediation — and three chances to take the IREAD test — lawmakers want schools to retain students who do not pass the test by the end of third grade.
Rogers’ bill further requires IDOE to adopt a universal assessment to better identify and intervene with struggling students before third grade.
Lawmakers appropriated roughly $28 million in the current biennium for remediation testing, allowing schools to administer exams that help identify students who are struggling in certain subject areas and could use additional support.
Already, 224,000 students in kindergarten, first and second grades take those “reader screening assessments” each year, Jenner said. Under the bill, that number is expected to increase by just 10,000 to 20,000 students.
“Worst case scenario, we’d be looking at $116,000,” Jenner said, adding that IDOE can “absorb” that cost, if need be.
Jenner said the IREAD requirement for all second graders also shouldn’t require additional dollars. Around 60% of Hoosier schools are already testing students early.
This academic year, 947 out of 1,052 elementary schools opted to give second graders the standardized reading exam. About 45% of those early testers are passing at second grade, Jenner said.
Scaling IREAD to second graders statewide is estimated to cost about $92,000. Jenner said IDOE can absorb that expense, too.
Tweaks to summer school provision
The GOP-backed legislation additionally mandates summer school to be offered to students who are not reading proficient in third grade — or are at-risk second graders behind in literacy. Language in the bill does not require students to actually attend or participate in summer school, however.
Existing funding for summer school — equal to about $18.4 million per year under the current state budget — is mostly going toward students taking physical education and health courses in the summer, Jenner said. A small portion of summer school funds, about 4%, also support high school Algebra.
“Within Senate Bill 1, we want to prioritize that summer school funding, and then we’ll be able to make sure our students who are not reading get that,” Jenner said. She reiterated that, for now, IDOE can “better leverage” those existing summer school dollars.
An amendment to the literacy overhaul bill — offered by Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, and subsequently accepted by the committee — ensures that summer school courses related to reading remediation are based on the science of reading.
That aligns with a requirement passed by the General Assembly in the 2023 session, mandating the reading method in statewide literacy curriculum.
“We did tremendous work last year on getting junk science out of schools, and what doesn’t work, and teaching kids how to read, and getting the science of reading in schools so that kids learn how to read,” Freeman said. “My intention here is just to make sure that anything we use — any remediation program — is aligned with the science of reading.”
Even so, Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, said his group representing all 290 school corporations across the state supports mandatory summer school attendance for children who are not proficient in reading. He said doing so could help prevent some students from being retained.
Test data show that in 2023, 13,840 third-graders did not pass IREAD. Of those, 5,503 received an exemption and 8,337 did not. Of those without an exemption, 95% moved onto 4th grade while only 412 were retained.
A legislative fiscal analysis estimated that nearly 7,100 more students would repeat third grade in 2026 under Rogers’ bill. Eventually, that would increase state spending by up to $57 million per year.
Qaddoura recommended the retention mandate’s effect date should be delayed until the 2025-26 school year, when all Hoosier teachers are supposed to be trained up on science of reading instruction.
He also questioned if “there’s a better investment,” separate from retention.
The senator suggested, for example, increased funding for student reading programs, as well as literacy interventions that take place outside of regular school hours.
Jenner emphasized the fiscal estimate is “a worst case scenario.”
“This number is accurate math if we don’t change course,” Jenner said of the projected retention numbers. “But this is a number we should never hit. It would be unacceptable if we do.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.