05/24/2019
Way to go Texas!
Breaking news, Texas. WE. DID IT! We HAVE MADE HISTORY in Texas schools’ dyslexia crisis . Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen today announced that an agreement has been reached on the session’s priority bills including HB 3, the school finance reform.
As of the time of the press conference, all three bills are in document production, and not yet available; however, the leadership did provide a basic outline of the key reforms.
HB 3 will provide $11.6 billion in additional funding for public education. Of that, $4.5 billion will fund “transformational education reforms,” including a general increase in per student funding, raising the basic allotment and targeting specific funding to attack 3rd grade reading proficiency AND DYSLEXIA.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? There is still work to be done on the specifics of implementation through TEA (so stay tuned in engagement opportunities there). But HB 3 guarantees that:
- Every school with an identified dyslexic who is receiving evidence based reading intervention services will get the money they need to pay for those services. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.
- The money will be attached to the specific dyslexic student. The school will only get it if they are providing the appropriate services. And the money can’t be used for anything else. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.
- TEA will be required to audit and monitor every school system’s mandatory screening of every single Texas student for dyslexia by the end of the first grade. TEA must also identify any problems districts are having with these screenings and create a remedial plan to resolve those problems. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.
The statutory language we worked so hard to help craft is air tight and now set in stone. Thanks in part to Impact Dyslexia’s grassroots advocacy work, there will never again be a dyslexic student in Texas who goes unidentified and without the intervention they need to read.
THANK YOU to everyone who called, emailed or visited their legislator this session. They heard us. And they listened. Please contact them ONE MORE TIME to say thank you! And help us spread the word of this historic Texas victory in the dyslexia crisis.
We cannot say enough to thank Chairman
Dan Huberty, Chairman Sen. Larry Taylor and Speaker Dennis Bonnen for their leadership and personal commitment on this issue.
