Wisconsin schools told to implement science-based reading curriculum

NORTHEAST WIS. – A Wisconsin state statute requires public schools to choose a new science-based reading curriculum to address slides in reading scores.

The declines in reading, which began before COVID-19 started, spurred Act 20, which provided $50 million for schools to spend on new reading programs, according to Chris Bucher, the Department of Public Instruction’s interim communications director.

But the funds haven’t been released yet due to a political standoff. If they’re not released by June, the funds could go into Wisconsin’s surplus fund.

“I am disappointed [that] the $50 million funding is stalled by political infighting. Schools have purchased curriculum to comply with Act 20 and they should be reimbursed as they were promised,” said Education Consultant Brittany Kinser, co-founder of 95 Wisconsin and a candidate for State Superintendent of Education.

“We must get back to phonics, decoding and the science of reading,” said Kinser, who described herself as a literacy advocate. She served as a special education teacher and principal, receiving the ‘Beating the Odds’ award from then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, she said.

Declines in student progress from pre-Covid years showed up in the Nation’s Report Card scores and in Wisconsin’s state assessments. Incumbent State Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running to keep the top post, said a number factors are involved, including teacher turnover.

“Our educators are leaving our state or the profession in alarming numbers, and this exodus is disproportionately affecting our most vulnerable schools, where economically disadvantaged students face the greatest challenges,” Underly said in a statement.

Underly called for more funds for K-12 public schools following the release of student progress on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also called the Nation’s Report Card. “While the NAEP results highlight some successes, today’s release serves as an urgent wake-up call for our state – one that demands we act with greater urgency to support our children, educators and schools,” Underly said. “We have the power to achieve lasting change, but it starts with a fundamental commitment to properly investing in our public schools, rather than continuing the cycle of underfunding them, as our legislature has chosen to do for far too long.”

She pointed to data indicating achievement gaps among students from economically disadvantaged households. In urban areas, it’s a racial gap, Underly said.

Kinser supports legislation to align Wisconsin’s education standards with NAEP standards.

Kinser said many experts and parents are advocating for a science-of-reading approach. “About 20 years ago, we stopped using the science of reading in Wisconsin, which had a negative impact on our students. Wisconsin schools adopted a ‘whole-language’ approach to teaching reading, instead of the previously favored ‘science of reading’ approach that utilized phonics,” she stated.

To improve reading proficiency, Wisconsin public schools are tasked with implementing a new reading curriculum this year. Act 20 funds were supposed to be used for this purpose, but they could end up in the state surplus fund.

State Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) called it a “slush fund,” and pointed towards Gov. Tony Ever’s partial veto of Act 20 for holding up the release of the funds.

“After years of sounding the alarm over Wisconsin’s literacy crisis, Republicans were finally able to overcome Democrat opposition and pass sweeping literacy reform last session along with $50 million to fund it. Unfortunately, Superintendent Underly worked with Governor Evers to turn $50 million meant for reading reform into a slush fund by using his partial veto. Our kids need actual reform, not a slush fund for the same bureaucrats who got us into this mess,” Wimberger said in a statement in response to a reporter’s request for comment.

While Evers hasn’t responded to a reporter’s request for comment, in a Feb. 29, 2024 letter to members of the Wisconsin Senate he explained he used the partial veto for Act 20 to consolidate support for literacy program initiatives in one appropriation, vetoing a separate program involving literacy coaching because two separate appropriations seemed unnecessary.

Evers also said he objected to signing a bill “with an apparent error that benefits only private choice schools and independent charter schools.” The way the bill was drafted, Evers said, “either intentionally or inadvertently, these entities could also receive an increase in per pupil funding…Consequently, a private choice or independent charter school could receive both a grant for curriculum and an ongoing increase in per pupil funding. Contrastingly, no such funding increase would be provided to public school districts under the bill.”

In Oconto Falls School District, Superintendent Dean Hess said, “We were working to build knowledge of the Science of Reading for our elementary teachers well before Act 20 passed, so the new resource options are not a major departure philosophically from what we have been using.” The school district hasn’t yet selected one of the new reading programs, but it has established a committee to review the options.

The district’s elementary English Language Arts curriculum resource committee includes “classroom teachers, special education teachers, reading interventionists, math interventionists, reading specialists, school psychologists and building and district administrators,” Hess said. “This team has created a rubric to evaluate curriculum resources, reviewed the curriculum resources via print and electronic samples, and is currently conducting meetings with curriculum resource vendors. Once we have narrowed down our choices, the next step is to visit local districts who have implemented our top choices to see student learning in action,” he said.

While the district currently uses a curriculum called Center for Collaborative Classroom, that is based on “Science of Reading” principles, Hess isn’t opposed to implementing a new reading program.

“Act 20 doesn’t require school districts to change curricula, because a new curriculum alone isn’t guaranteed to improve student learning. The other requirements of Act 20 related to student assessment, intervention and progress monitoring will likely have the biggest impact on student learning,” Hess said.

According to DPI, Act 20 required school districts to post information on their early-literacy remediation plans with the name of the reading assessment the school district uses, information on reading interventions and tools the school district uses to address reading issues, including dyslexia characteristics, and information on their parent notification policies.

Some of the gains schools made by returning to science-based reading were lost during the pandemic, according to data from The Nation’s Report Card.

“All-virtual schooling of all students was incredibly ineffective and detrimental to the vast majority of children during Covid,” said Kinser, who supports more funds for special education. “There is no replacement for a good teacher in the classroom, and parents should be able to choose the best learning environment for their children,” she said.

In November, Underly’s 2025-27 biennial budget request sought over $4 billion in funding earmarked in particular for reading, special education, universal free school meals for all students, for student mental health, to improve recruit and retain high-quality teachers and to expand Career-Technical Education.

According to public documents, three out of Wisconsin’s top 10 programs by General Purpose Revenue (GPR) spending are related to education, including the No. 1 expenditure, “school aids,” at $7.19 billion in the fiscal 2024 budget, up 4% from the prior year. It accounted for 32% of Wisconsin’s total GPR expenditures. School-aid funds allowed the state to reimburse about 69% of school costs in 2024, a 1% increase from the prior year and the highest level in over 20 years, according to the 2024 Annual Fiscal Report Budgetary Basis.

“The upcoming biennial budget is a defining moment for our students and their families,” Underly said in a statement. “The legislature has let public school funding fall behind. We cannot expect to see meaningful improvement for our kids if we continue to invest too little.”