The state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) has voted along party lines to select the early literacy curricula that will comprise the recommended list of curricula under 2023 Wisconsin Act 20, the law that revamped early reading requirements. See our previous blog post for more background. Democrats on the committee moved to approve the 11 curricula proposed by the DPI but were voted down. The GOP-supported motion approves only the four curricula selected by the Council on Early Literacy Curricula: Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3, Our EL Education Language Arts, Wit and Wisdom with Pk-3 Reading Curriculum, and Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3. As we stated previously, schools are not required to use one of these four recommendations, but there is an opportunity to have some of the cost reimbursed by the state if a school decides to choose one from the list.
See the background paper which lists the alternatives at the end from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) here. Alternative 1 was rejected 4-10; Alternative 2 was approved 10-4.
From the LFB paper: “Act 20 created a Council on Early Literacy Curricula. The Council consists of nine members, appointed for staggered three-year terms: three appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, three
appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, and three appointed by the State Superintendent. Council members must demonstrate knowledge of, or experience with, science-based early literacy instruction and literacy curricula for pupils in grades K-3, and must not have a financial interest in any entity that develop, sells, or markets products to assess reading ability, teach reading, or treat reading difficulties.”
