RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — AN overhaul of North Carolina‘s efforts to improve reading proficiency for early-grade students in the public schools is advancing quickly through the legislature, clearing the Senate on Wednesday by a unanimous vote.
A House education committee later approved the same “Excellent Schools Act” in a rare evening meeting. It signaled the General Assembly’s hope to give final legislative approval to the popular measure and send it to Gov. Roy Cooper before the legislature’s spring recess next week.
The measure seeks to improve upon the 2013 “Read to Achieve” program, which was championed by Senate leader Phil Berger but has not lived up to expectations. Berger advanced a 2019 bill to address its weaknesses, but Cooper vetoed it, saying it wasn’t enough to fix the problems. Fourth-grade reading proficiency scores have seen little improvement in recent years.
There’s been broad support so far for this year’s bill, also sponsored by Berger. Behind-the-scenes work by leaders of the Department of Public Instruction, State Board of Education and University of North Carolina system in seeking consensus on literacy policy has helped persuade potential detractors.
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