Reading Bills Passed By Senate

The reading package that met with so much opposition in the Idaho House sailed through the Senate Wednesday with only a few dissenting votes.

The Legislative Reading Committee has been working for two years with the Idaho Department of Education and the Board of Education to come up with a comprehensive plan to ensure that all Idaho’s children will read by third grade.

House Bills 176, 177 and 178 include provisions for summer reading classes for kids having difficulty reading, a statewide reading assessment for all elementary-age children and increased funding for universities to better train their elementary education students.

The package of bills is now headed to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who has called reading his “number one priority.”