SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, Nos. 2644, 2645, and 2646

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 24, 2024

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill Nos. 2644, 2645, and 2646 SCS.

      This bill requires that a school district offer a reading intervention program to students in grades kindergarten through three.  The reading intervention program is to:  (1) utilize a data-driven multi-tiered system of supports; (2) provide explicit and systemic instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, as applicable; (3) monitor the progress of a student’s reading skills throughout the school year; and (4) be adjusted throughout the year, if necessary, according to student needs.

      The bill also requires the department to provide school districts with age-appropriate materials designed to implement the program.  Under the bill, school districts are required to adopt high-quality instructional materials grounded in scientifically-based reading research to implement the program.  The department is to provide school districts with age-appropriate materials designed to implement the provisions of this subsection.

      The bill also requires the department to develop and implement a process to evaluate the reading intervention program required under the bill.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) determines that this bill will lead to an indeterminate increase in school district expenditures related to conducting, at least twice annually, literacy screenings of each student in kindergarten through grade three.  While the OLS does not have access to information concerning the number of school districts that already conduct literacy screenings adhering to the provisions of the bill, the office assumes that many school districts already utilize a literacy screening tool of some kind.  A school district’s costs will be minimized to the extent that it already meets some or all of the requirements that will be promulgated by the Department of Education through guidance issued pursuant to the bill.

      The OLS also notes that the Department of Education may experience indeterminate administrative cost increases to implement certain requirements of the bill, including:  developing and promulgating guidance concerning reading and literacy instruction; establishing an online resource center to support school districts in selecting literacy instructional materials and data analysis tools; and establishing a professional development program concerning evidence-based foundational literacy instruction.  Some or all of these requirements may be able to be subsumed within existing staff and resources that are already dedicated to similar departmental efforts.