This document includes House Floor Amendments incorporated into the bill on Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 7:44 PM by jeyring.
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8 LONG TITLE
9 General Description:
10 This bill creates a pilot program to provide interventions for students at risk for, or
11 experiencing, reading difficulties, including dyslexia.
12 Highlighted Provisions:
13 This bill:
14 ▸ defines terms;
15 ▸ creates a pilot program to provide:
16 • professional development for educators; and
17 • literacy interventions to students in kindergarten through grade 5 who are at risk
18 for or experiencing reading difficulties, including dyslexia;
19 ▸ provides criteria for the State Board of Education to use in selecting local education
20 agencies to participate in the pilot program;
21 ▸ defines requirements for local education agencies that participate in the pilot
22 program; and
23 ▸ provides for a third-party evaluation.
24 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
25 This bill appropriates in fiscal year 2016:
26 ▸ to the State Board of Education - State Office of Education as a one-time
27 appropriation:
28 • from the Education Fund, One-time, Ĥ→ [
29 Other Special Clauses:
30 This bill provides a special effective date.
31 Utah Code Sections Affected:
32 AMENDS:
33 63I-1-253, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2014, Chapters 189, 226, and 412
34 ENACTS:
35 53A-15-106, Utah Code Annotated 1953
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37 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
38 Section 1. Section 53A-15-106 is enacted to read:
39 53A-15-106. Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program.
40 (1) As used in this section:
41 (a) "Board" means the State Board of Education.
42 (b) "Dyslexia" means a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and
43 characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and
44 decoding abilities that typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language
45 that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective
46 classroom instruction.
47 (c) "Endorsement" means the same as that term is defined in Section 53A-6-103.
48 (d) "Local education agency" or "LEA" means:
49 (i) a school district;
50 (ii) a charter school; or
51 (iii) the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.
52 (e) "Multi-Tier System of Supports" or "MTSS" means a framework integrating
53 assessment and intervention that:
54 (i) provides increasingly intensive interventions for students at risk for or experiencing
55 reading difficulties, including:
56 (A) tier II interventions that, in addition to standard classroom reading, provide
57 supplemental and targeted small group instruction in reading using evidence-based curricula;
58 and
59 (B) tier III interventions that address the specific needs of students who are the most at
60 risk or who have not responded to tier II interventions by providing frequent, intensive, and
61 targeted small group instruction using evidence-based curricula; and
62 (ii) is developed to:
63 (A) maximize student achievement;
64 (B) reduce behavior problems; and
65 (C) increase long-term success.
66 (f) "Program" means the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program.
67 (g) "Reading difficulty" means an impairment, including dyslexia, that negatively
68 affects a student's ability to learn to read.
69 (2) There is created the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program to provide:
70 (a) specific evidence-based literacy interventions using an MTSS for students in
71 kindergarten through grade 5 who are at risk for or experiencing a reading difficulty, including
72 dyslexia; and
73 (b) professional development to educators who provide the literacy interventions
74 described in Subsection (2)(a).
75 (3) (a) An LEA may submit a proposal to the board to participate in the program.
76 (b) An LEA proposal described in Subsection (3)(a) shall:
77 (i) specify:
78 (A) a range of current benchmark assessment in reading scores described in Section
79 53A-1-606.6 that the LEA will use to determine whether a student is at risk for a reading
80 difficulty; and
81 (B) other reading difficulty risk factors that the LEA will use to determine whether a
82 student is at risk for a reading difficulty;
83 (ii) describe the LEA's existing reading program;
84 (iii) describe the LEA's MTSS approach; and
85 (iv) include any other information requested by the board.
86 (c) The board may:
87 (i) specify the format for an LEA proposal; and
88 (ii) set a deadline for an LEA to submit a proposal.
89 (4) The board shall:
90 (a) define criteria for selecting an LEA to participate in the program;
91 (b) during fiscal year 2016, select five LEAs to participate in the program:
92 (i) on a competitive basis; and
93 (ii) using criteria described in Subsection (4)(a); and
94 (c) provide each LEA, selected as described in Subsection (4)(b), up to $30,000 per
95 school within the LEA.
96 (5) During fiscal years 2017, 2018, and 2019, if funding allows, the board may select
97 additional LEAs to participate in the program.
98 (6) An LEA that participates in the program:
99 (a) shall, beginning with the 2016-17 school year, provide the interventions described
100 in Subsection (7)(c) from the time the LEA is selected until the end of the 2018-19 school year;
101 and
102 (b) may provide the professional development described in Subsections (8)(a) and (b)
103 beginning in fiscal year 2016.
104 (7) An LEA that participates in the program shall:
105 (a) select at least one school in the LEA to participate in the program;
106 (b) identify students in kindergarten through grade 5 for participation in the program
107 by:
108 (i) using current benchmark assessment in reading scores as described in Section
109 53A-1-606.6; and
110 (ii) considering other reading difficulty risk factors identified by the LEA;
111 (c) provide interventions for each student participating in the program using an MTSS
112 implemented by an educator trained in evidence-based interventions;
113 (d) include the LEA's proposal submitted under Subsection (3)(b) in the reading
114 achievement plan described in Section 53A-1-606.5 for each school in the LEA that
115 participates in the program; and
116 (e) report annually to the board on:
117 (i) individual student outcomes in changes in reading ability;
118 (ii) school level outcomes; and
119 (iii) any other information requested by the board.
120 (8) Subject to funding for the program, an LEA may use the funds described in
121 Subsection (4)(c) for the following purposes:
122 (a) to provide for ongoing professional development in evidence-based literacy
123 interventions;
124 (b) to support educators in earning a reading interventionist endorsement that prepares
125 teachers to provide a student who is at risk for or experiencing reading difficulty, including
126 dyslexia, with reading intervention that is:
127 (i) explicit;
128 (ii) systematic; and
129 (iii) targeted to a student's specific reading difficulty; and
130 (c) to implement the program.
131 (9) The board shall contract with an independent evaluator to evaluate the program on:
132 (a) whether the program improves reading outcomes for a student who receives the
133 interventions described in Subsection (7)(c);
134 (b) whether the program may reduce future special education costs; and
135 (c) any other student or school achievement outcomes requested by the board.
136 (10) (a) The board shall make a final report on the program to the Education Interim
137 Committee on or before November 1, 2018.
138 (b) In the final report described in Subsection (10)(a), the board shall include the
139 results of the evaluation described in Subsection (9).
140 Section 2. Section 63I-1-253 is amended to read:
141 63I-1-253. Repeal dates, Titles 53, 53A, and 53B.
142 The following provisions are repealed on the following dates:
143 (1) Section 53-3-232, Conditional license, is repealed July 1, 2015.
144 (2) Subsection 53-10-202(18) is repealed July 1, 2018.
145 (3) Section 53-10-202.1 is repealed July 1, 2018.
146 (4) Title 53A, Chapter 1a, Part 6, Public Education Job Enhancement Program is
147 repealed July 1, 2020.
148 (5) Title 53A, Chapter 11, Part 15, School Safety Tip Line, is repealed July 1, 2015.
149 (6) The State Instructional Materials Commission, created in Section 53A-14-101, is
150 repealed July 1, 2016.
151 (7) Section 53A-15-106 is repealed July 1, 2019.
152 [
153 [
154 [
155 repealed July 1, 2016.
156 [
157 2015.
158 [
159 money from the Land Exchange Distribution Account to the Geological Survey for test wells,
160 other hydrologic studies, and air quality monitoring in the West Desert, is repealed July 1,
161 2020.
162 Section 3. Appropriation.
163 Under the terms and conditions of Title 63J, Chapter 1, Budgetary Procedures Act, for
164 the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015, and ending June 30, 2016, the following sums of money
165 are appropriated from resources not otherwise appropriated, or reduced from amounts
166 previously appropriated, out of the funds or accounts indicated. These sums of money are in
167 addition to any amounts previously appropriated for fiscal year 2016.
168 To State Board of Education - State Office of Education - Initiative Programs
169 From Education Fund, One-time Ĥ→ [
170 Schedule of Programs:
171 Contracts and Grants - Interventions for
172 Reading Difficulties Pilot Program Ĥ→ [
173 The Legislature intends that:
174 (1) the State Board of Education expend appropriations under this section in fiscal
175 years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, to implement the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot
176 Program described in 53A-15-106; and
177 (2) in accordance with Section 63J-1-603, the appropriations provided under this
178 section not lapse at the close of fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018.
179 Section 4. Effective date.
180 (1) Except as provided in Subsection (2), this bill takes effect on May 12, 2015.
181 (2) Uncodified Section 3, Appropriation, takes effect on July 1, 2015.
Legislative Review Note
as of 1-27-15 1:42 PM
Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel