Advisory council and education advocates urge keeping Act 139 focused on K-3 while lawmakers weigh S.15 changes

Lawmakers and education experts debated whether S.15 should expand the states early-literacy law, Act 139, to require the same universal screening and supplemental interventions for students in grades 4 through 12 during a joint Education/GovOps committee hearing.

The Advisory Council on Literacy and advocacy groups told the committee that Act 139 was deliberately designed as a K-3 policy and that broadening its screening and data requirements to older grades could create confusion, duplicate existing supports and impose new costs on districts. "I would wait," Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principles Association, told senators when asked whether changes should be made now. He said the state should focus on resourcing implementation and on recommendations from the advisory council rather than making immediate statutory changes.

The advisory councilchair, Wayne Carmelie, director of curriculum in Qualchester, said the councilhas concentrated its work on evidence-based K-3 screening and intervention; he said those tools and screeners are age-appropriate for early grades…