Gov. Tony Evers signs sweeping phonics-based reading bill into law

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping legislative overhaul that changes how Wisconsin's youngest elementary school students learn to read by emphasizing a phonics-based approach.

Evers' signature caps off weeks of debate between Republican lawmakers, the state Department of Public Instruction and the Democratic governor, who twice threatened to veto the bill if it forced students to repeat courses.

"We have to ensure our kids have the reading and literacy tools and skills to be successful both in and out of the classroom," Evers said in a statement Wednesday. "This bill, modeled after initiatives that have been successful in other states and fine-tuned with significant changes throughout the legislative process, is a step in the right direction."

"But at the end of the day, the bottom line for me is that reading curriculum is only one small part of the equation to ensuring our kids are prepared for success — we know that kids who are hungry, in crisis, or experiencing other challenges at home might have trouble focusing in class or on their studies, be distracted or disengaged at school, and have a hard time completing their coursework," he added.

Evers, a former state superintendent of schools and public school educator, said improving reading outcomes will require additional legislation to "keep class sizes small, and expand access to mental health services and healthy meals in our schools so our kids can bring their full and best selves to our classrooms.” 

Evers signed the bill after bill co-author Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, revised a provision that would have required third-graders who fail to meet specific reading benchmarks to advance to fourth grade but repeat third-grade reading. Assembly and Senate lawmakers approved the bill in bipartisan votes late last month.

Kitchens said Wednesday the reading bill could be "the most important thing" lawmakers accomplish this session.

"When you look at the future of Wisconsin and how poorly our students are doing in reading, I just think for kids — especially our kids in poverty — to reach the American dream and be self-sufficient and successful, they have to be educated," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after Evers signed the bill. "If they can't read, they can't be educated. "

More:New legislation will seek $50M for reading reform across Wisconsin

The version of the bill signed into law would prescribe an "intensive" personal literacy plan, including summer classes, for incoming fourth-graders who failed to meet third-grade reading benchmarks. Students would exit the plan after they pass a grade-level reading test and their parents agree the plan is no longer needed.

Kitchens and co-author Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-town of Cedarburg, believe the switch back to a “science of reading” phonics approach that teaches kids to read by sounding out parts of words will improve Wisconsin's stagnant reading scores.

Most Wisconsin schools currently use a “balanced literacy” strategy that uses some elements from phonics but overall relies on "three-cueing," a method that teaches kids to read using context clues in individual letters and pictures. The measure bars schools from using three-cueing beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

“Students will succeed by returning to the way most of us learned how to read,” Kitchens said during a Senate hearing last month. “I truly consider this to be the most important thing that I ever worked on in the Legislature.”

More education:'How can Wisconsin resolve its ‘reading wars’ and teach kids to read?

Wisconsin's next two-year budget includes $50 million to fund the bill's implementation, including support work for training teachers, hiring reading coaches for schools and purchasing new curriculum materials. A new Office of Literacy and Council on Early Literacy Curricula housed under DPI are tasked with overseeing resources and recommendations for K-3 reading education.

The bill also triples the number of annual reading screenings for students in kindergarten through third grade, something Kitchens and Stroebel said will identify struggling students early and create opportunities to catch them up before the end of third grade using a "scientifically proven" phonics-based reading curriculum.

The Wisconsin State Reading Association and the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the statewide teachers union, issued a joint statement Thursday that criticized Evers' decision to sign the bill and claimed teachers were left out of the negotiating process.

"Quick fixes don’t exist," said WSRA President Ryanne Deschane. “The new law will mandate policies already being abandoned by other institutions and coming under greater scrutiny. Further, the changes will restrict local control, restrict what and how elementary teachers and university faculty can teach, and specifies one method and vendor in regard to professional development training.”

Tyler Katzenberger can be reached at tkatzenberger@gannett.com.