Summary

Utah SB 260 (Open States or Utah Legislature) amends provisions and appropriates funds for public school early education programs, including the K-3 Reading Improvement Program and the Enhanced Kindergarten Program.

Legislative Analysis

UT SB 260 makes several changes to public school early education programs. The bill appropriates a total of $4,700,000 from the Education Fund to the State Board of Education for program administration and to fund the Early Intervention Interactive Computer Software Program. It also reduces the ongoing appropriation to the K-3 Reading – Diagnostic Assessment System by $2,200,000, for a net appropriation of $2,500,000.

For the K-3 Reading Improvement Program:

• the State Board of Education is required to develop uniform standards for acceptable growth goals that a school district or charter school adopts in its K-3 Reading Improvement Program plan;
• “interactive computer software programs for literacy instruction and assessments for students” are added to the list of reading proficiency improvement interventions on which a school district or charter school may spend K-3 reading program funds; and
• the State Board of Education is required to include information on the correlation between third grade students reading on grade level and results of third grade language arts scores on a criterion-referenced test or computer adaptive test in its annual report to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

For the Enhanced Kindergarten Program:

• requires the State Board of Education to select technology providers for the early intervention interactive computer software program by September 1 of each year;
• Extends the early intervention interactive software program to include instruction for grades 2 and 3, in addition to kindergarten and grade 1; and
• provides that a school district or charter school that received a license during the prior year for the early intervention interactive computer software program will be given first priority to receive a license during the current year.

SB 260 promotes digital learning by allowing funding for reading improvement programs to be used to purchase interactive computer software and possibly promoting the use of computer adaptive tests. The changes to the Enhanced Kindergarten program will provide additional support for building literacy skills to an expanded population of at-risk students.

Legislative History

Detailed Vote History: Legiscan |  Open States

Approved by Governor Gary Herbert on 4/1/2013