State funding to help Wisconsin schools implement new reading programs may never be released, according to a new report from Wisconsin Public Radio. The Legislature two years ago passed Act 20, a bipartisan effort which forces schools to adopt a phonics-based literacy program to improve elementary reading proficiency statewide. Lawmakers also passed $50 million for implementation, but the Legislature and governor disagreed over how the money would be spent. The money has been frozen ever since, all while school districts still had to pay for new reading materials and staff training. WPR reports if the Legislature doesn’t release that money by June 30, it will go back into the state surplus. That would leave school districts high and dry, because as previously reported, many of them bought state-recommended reading materials with the understanding that they’d be at least partially reimbursed.
