State budget cuts scrap Iowa's 3rd-grade reading initiative

Plans for a statewide program to help third grade students struggling to read at grade level are being abolished because of a shortage of state funding and questions about the initiative's effectiveness, Iowa lawmakers said Thursday.

Nearly 25 percent of Iowa’s third-graders did not read proficiently on state tests during the 2014-15 academic year. Lawmakers had agreed previously to establish a summer program in which third-graders who fail grade-level reading tests at the end of the school year wouldn't be promoted to fourth grade unless they participated in a summer reading program.

Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, chairman of the Iowa Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, confirmed plans to eliminate the program, saying lawmakers felt it would be an unfunded mandate to local school districts if state funding wasn't available. He also noted that statewide trials of the reading program were conducted last year and he wasn't convinced they offered the best approach.

"We still cannot forget the ones who can't read. I understand that. But we didn’t have a lot of success in that trial," Kraayenbrink said. He suggested there may be better strategies to help struggling young readers by working in cooperation with the Reading Research Center at the University of Iowa.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said he was pleased that lawmakers will repeal the third grade retention language that would have held back students who didn't attend the summer programs. He described the retention plans as a "disaster" for young students. But he said he is concerned the Legislature is not providing sufficient support to help struggling students improve their reading skills.

"There is no more important thing to be able to do than to read, and we are going backward on that," Bolkcom said. "We don’t need to be going backward, but we have made policy choices that have put too much money in tax giveaways and not nearly enough in the basic things that people expect us to do, like a good public education system."

Phil Roeder, spokesman for Des Moines Public Schools, issued a statement supporting the Legislature's decision.

"The plan to hold back third graders presented both educational and financial challenges for Des Moines Public Schools and school districts across the state," Roeder said. "Setting this issue aside and not requiring another unfunded mandate of local school districts would be the right step by the legislature. At the same time, Des Moines Public Schools will continue our own reading initiatives, such as our summer school programming and working with partners like United Way of Central Iowa, to help our students grow and improve in this critical skill."

Other legislative news:

• State budget proposal redirects funding from Planned Parenthood
• State infrastructure spending reduced by Iowa House committee
• Iowa economic development faces 7.1% state budget cut

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds had been enthusiastic supporters of the summer reading initiative. Reynolds told reporters last year, "The governor and I want to do everything possible to support our local school districts as they work to make sure a high-quality summer reading program is ready to go by 2017." The Iowa Department of Education last year estimated the cost of a summer reading program for school districts at about $9 million.

A proposed state education budget approved by the Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday would effectively reduce education spending from $928 million during the current fiscal year to $908 million during the fiscal year starting July 1, 2017. That's a decrease of about 2.1 percent from the current education budget, which already has been reduced twice since the start of the fiscal year more than nine months ago. However, the reductions would not affect K-12 programs, which have already been promised a 1.1 percent increase in state aid for the upcoming academic year

Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, chairman of the Iowa House Education Committee, said lawmakers definitely have enthusiasm to promote better reading skills for Iowa's third graders, but not using the strategy of holding back third graders who don't participate in a summer reading program.

“Our impetus is to have third grade retention be part of our whole, overall emphasis. And revenue being a tough issue, having the money to do the summer third grade retention wasn’t there," Rogers said. "So even as I talked to teachers, principals, superintendents throughout the year, I didn’t get a lot of excitement for the third grade retention piece. But I did get a lot of excitement for, 'We want to do this; we want to make sure kids are reading by third grade, let us figure it out.'"

Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, who is a retired educator, said there was bipartisan agreement to eliminate the retention requirements and the summer reading program. She said research indicates the best approach is to help students during the regular school year.

"I’m pleased that we are not retaining students," Winckler said. "That was absolutely the wrong thing to do. In the bill, there’s language that students who are not reading on grade level will continue to get support, which is what they would be doing anyway."