State budget-writers OK money for dyslexia training
Published at
Kevin Richert, IdahoEdNews.org
BOISE (IdahoEdNews.org) — Legislative budget-writers approved $1.5 million to ramp up dyslexia training in the schools — but not without some pushback.
The $1.5 million would fund training through the end of the school year, supporting a new dyslexia screening and training program that lawmakers approved unanimously in 2022. The program is designed to help educators identify and help children with dyslexia, a reading disorder affecting about one in five Idaho students.
Thursday morning’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee debate looped back to that 2022 law.
The law’s “fiscal note,” a nonbinding cost estimate, pegged the first-year costs at $97,000, enough to fund a full-time position in the State Department of Education.
RELATED | Fighting dyslexia: Educators gather to learn how to best help students
The $1.5 million, not mentioned in the 2022 law, would cover training in the schools.
Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, made a push to fund only the $97,000. But JFAC members made a bipartisan appeal for the $1.5 million.
Idaho Falls Republican Rep. Wendy Horman, JFAC’s House co-chair, noted that the $1.5 million represents money that would go straight to schools.
Rep. Matt Bundy, R-Mountain Home, noted that the 2022 law mandated the training in the schools, which is already underway. “We gave them a requirement, but not the money.”
Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, appeared to blame former state superintendent Sherri Ybarra for the cost confusion facing lawmakers this session. “I’m not sure all the research had been done.”
JFAC approved the $1.5 million on a 17-2 vote. Herndon and Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, cast the dissenting votes.
Earlier Thursday morning, Tanner raised more general concerns about the cost of the new dyslexia program.
Tanner said he had dyslexia as a child, and said his daughter has dyslexia as well. While acknowledging the need, he said the ongoing cost of training and screening “seems to be a little excessive.”
RELATED | Fighting dyslexia: Educators gather to learn how to best help students
The 2023-24 program budget is projected at $1.4 million — with ongoing costs projected at $535,000 per year.
Addressing JFAC Thursday morning, House Education Committee Chairwoman Julie Yamamoto said dyslexia training will be a day-to-day need. She noted that dyslexia affects children in different ways.
“The science of reading is not rocket science,” said Yamamoto, R-Caldwell. “It’s harder.”
The $1.5 million is a supplemental budget, covering costs for the current fiscal year, ending June 30. It now must pass the House and the Senate.