Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act, H.R. 2706

This post Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act, H.R. 2706 originally appeared on Truth About Bills

The Bill: H.R. 2706, the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act

Annualized Cost: $2.4 billion ($11.8 billion over five years)

Congressmen John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the LEARN Act to “develop and implement comprehensive literacy plans for children from birth to 12th grade.” In spite of ever increasing education spending, the sponsors reported that reading ability among 17-year-olds is at a standstill and that in-demand professions demand high literacy skills. The bill would authorize new grants to address the issue.

State governments would be eligible for a one-time grant to fund literacy improvement programs for children through 12th grade. In consultation with other agencies and organizations, a state would be required to develop a comprehensive plan that addresses how literacy programs would interact with early childhood programs like Head Start. These grants would be awarded on a one-year basis.

The legislation also offers implementation grants to fund these proposals. Administrators of state-level education agencies could use the funds to provide technical assistance and professional development to educators, as long as it is associated with expanding literacy resources. Officials would encourage collaboration among educational personnel and higher education institutions for better literacy results.

Two subgrant categories would be established to channel the funding from the implementation grants. One would support developmental language and literacy programs for children from birth through kindergarten. The other would allocate money to help students from kindergarten to 12th grade by improving literacy education, growing educator knowledge of the best practices for teaching reading skills, and training local administrators to evaluate ongoing results. Both subgrants would exclusively be awarded to local school districts.

If enacted, H.R. 2706 would authorize $2.35 billion in new spending over the 2014-2018 period. The grants would be in addition to any current spending associated with literacy education. If the total authorized amount was appropriated for the implementation grants, $352.5 million would go towards early childhood programs, $940 million would be spent on K-5th graders, $940 million would be used for 6-12th grade literacy, and $117.5 million would be used for state administration and data collection.

This article originally appeared in the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s Taxpayer’s Tab weekly newsletter, The Taxpayer’s Tab, on July 25, 2013. The Foundation’s BillTally project scores the potential spending of every introduced bill in Congress.

This post Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act, H.R. 2706 originally appeared on Truth About Bills