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H.B. 312 Enrolled

                 

STATE LITERACY PROGRAM

                 
1999 GENERAL SESSION

                 
STATE OF UTAH

                 
Sponsor: Jeff Alexander

                  AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT
                  OF A READING ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM IN THE STATE'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN
                  GRADES ONE THROUGH THREE; REQUIRING EACH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO
                  DEVELOP A PLAN FOCUSED ON HAVING ALL STUDENTS READ AT THE THIRD
                  GRADE LEVEL BY THE END OF THE THIRD GRADE; PROVIDING A $5,000,000
                  APPROPRIATION; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
                  This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
                  ENACTS:
                      53A-1-606.5, Utah Code Annotated 1953
                  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
                      Section 1. Section 53A-1-606.5 is enacted to read:
                      53A-1-606.5. Reading achievement in grades one through three -- Monitoring --
                  Reporting -- Additional instruction.
                      (1) (a) The Legislature recognizes that:
                      (i) reading is the most fundamental skill, the gateway to knowledge and lifelong learning;
                      (ii) there is an ever increasing demand for literacy in the highly technological society we
                  live in;
                      (iii) students who do not learn to read will be economically and socially disadvantaged;
                      (iv) reading problems exist in almost every classroom;
                      (v) almost all reading failure is preventable if reading difficulties are diagnosed and treated
                  by no later than the end of the third grade; and
                      (vi) early identification and treatment of reading difficulties can result in students learning
                  to read by the end of the third grade.
                      (b) It is therefore a goal of the state to have every student in the state's public education
                  system reading on or above grade level by the end of the third grade.


                      (2) In order to ensure that all students are reading on or above the third grade level by the
                  end of the third grade, the State Board of Education and local school boards shall work with the
                  Legislature, through its interim committees and any task force that may be created to study and
                  review accountability in public education.
                      (3) Each school district shall work with the elementary schools within its district boundaries
                  to develop a school plan at each school focused on having all students reading at the third grade level
                  by the end of the third grade.
                      (4) The school district shall approve each school's plan prior to its implementation.
                      Section 2. Appropriation.
                      (1) There is appropriated from the Uniform School Fund for fiscal year 1999-2000,
                  $5,000,000 to the State Board of Education for distribution to school districts as follows:
                      (a) each school district shall receive $5,000 as a base amount; and
                      (b) the board shall distribute the balance of the appropriation to each district based on the
                  district's average daily membership in the first, second, and third grades as compared to the state total
                  average daily membership in the first, second, and third grades.
                      (2) Each district shall use its allocation to fund the program required under Subsection
                  53A-1-606.5 (3).
                      (3) Each district shall distribute its allocation to the elementary schools within the district
                  based on the need for reading improvement at the schools in the first, second, and third grades.
                      (4) A school district may not use any of the monies received under this section for
                  administrative costs.
                      Section 3. Effective date.
                      This act takes effect on July 1, 1999.

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