Both houses back reading program

After days of fuming and haggling over the details, Gov. Olene Walker's $30 million reading program finally got the backing it needed Wednesday from both houses of the Utah Legislature.

The goal of the K-3 Reading Improvement Program created by SB230 is to have each child reading at or above grade level by the third grade.

"I am very pleased with the reading bill," Walker said. "I think that it will allow districts to have ownership over the process."

Does each of Utah's 40 school districts get equal treatment under SB230?

"There's no such thing as fair," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. James Evans, R-Rose Park.

What the final document does accomplish, Evans said, is to make sure school districts with many low-income families get the money they need for new and existing reading programs, "which is what the governor wanted."

There are several potential sources of funding districts can tap to pay for the program.

At the very least, each district needs to have a new or existing reading plan approved by the Utah Board of Education to qualify for the base funding of $29,268, which is the same for every district.

Beyond that, school boards can choose to raise taxes or reallocate existing money in order to generate state matching funds. If a district has not reached its reading goals after 36 months, the board must abandon any tax increase.

Evans said the bill no longer provides too much state matching money to districts capable of raising more funds than others through higher property valuations.

If each district participates to the maximum allowed by the bill, the state would fund $15 million of the program and local boards would raise the other half.

Some lawmakers felt charter schools, which don't have authority to raise taxes, would not receive enough money under the plan. Others felt even giving school boards an option to raise taxes for a reading program set the wrong precedent.

Most agreed with Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, who said legislators have been talking for too many years about more state funding for reading programs.

"Let's give this a shot," she said.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com