Committee reviews READ Act spending: $111.9 million in initial investments and smaller biennial tails

The committee reviewed the READ Act (literacy) appropriations enacted in 2024 and how those line items appear in the education finance spreadsheets.

Solve (Ms.) Beckel of House Fiscal walked members through line items the staff grouped under the Read Act, showing initial 2024–25 appropriations and lower biennial amounts thereafter. "Line 78 shows the appropriation for the Center For Applied Research and Educational Improvement. They received $4,200,000 in fiscal years 24 and 25. Line 79 shows the readout curriculum and instructional materials. This they received $35,000,000 in fiscal years 24 and 25," Beckel said.

Staff gave a line-by-line breakdown of the largest components: an initial $35 million for curriculum and instructional materials; roughly $4.2 million for a Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement; a $31.375 million one-time teacher compensation/training allocation in FY25; regional literacy network and paraprofessional/volunteer training components; and smaller targeted appropriations (for culturally responsive materials, deaf/blind working group and others). Beckel summarized the totals as roughly $111.875 million in FY24–25 with staff estimates of $16 million per biennium thereafter for ongoing elements.

Committee members used the review to ask whether the READ Act’s initial, higher one-time funding creates future obligations for the committee to carry into the FY26–27 baseline. Members discussed how one-time funding and pilot grants are treated under the budget process and whether districts will need to absorb ongoing costs if the Legislature does not appropriate continuation funding.

Staff noted that the briefings and spreadsheets can be reformatted to make explicit which READ Act items are one-time and which are intended to be ongoing, and members requested follow-up detail in subsequent hearings.