Committee backs $5 million ongoing literacy training for K–3 teachers focused on ‘science of reading’

The Senate Education Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1069 to the full Senate with a due-pass recommendation after sponsors said the proposal would expand professional development in evidence-based reading instruction for kindergarten through third-grade teachers and elementary administrators.

Senator Van Burton Shaw, presenting the bill, said it would amend Idaho Code (as stated in committee remarks) to require the Idaho State Department of Education to provide professional development in the “science of reading” and evidence-based practices to K–3 teachers and elementary administrators. Shaw said the measure would emphasize phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension and would prioritize training for districts and charter schools scoring in the bottom 25% on the fall Idaho reading indicator assessment.

Shaw told the committee the bill would require a $5,000,000 ongoing appropriation and that training would occur in a multi-year cycle. Department officials and a classroom teacher who testified online described the program as coaching-based rather than a one-time workshop. Megan Wunderlich, director of academics, content and curriculum at the State Department of Education, told senators that participating teachers can earn credits toward renewal but that the bill does not change existing renewal requirements. State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield told the committee she has seen improved reading scores among teachers who received the program's coaching and said teachers asked for expanded access.

An online teacher, Laura Milton Hayden of Idaho Falls, described the program as “ongoing monthly book study coaching cycle” and said the classroom coaching and data review led to midyear instructional adjustments and improved phonics skills for students in her third-grade classroom.

Senators asked whether the training would apply to charter schools and how continuing education credits would count toward renewal; department officials said charter teachers have participated in the coaching model and that the program can produce credit that may be applied toward renewal but does not change the state's renewal requirement. Committee members also asked whether the training is one-time or ongoing; presenters said the program is designed to be ongoing, with follow-up cycles and re-entry for new teachers.

A motion to send Senate Bill 1069 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation was made and seconded; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. No roll-call tally appears in the committee transcript.

The bill as described in committee would create a sustained, statewide professional-development program in the science of reading, prioritize low-performing schools on the state reading indicator for earlier access, and request an ongoing $5 million appropriation for implementation.