Senate panel votes to kill Reading First funding

As did a House panel last week, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee voted on June 24 to eleminate all funding for the Reading First program, according to an article by Alyson Klein for Education Week online. The decision came as part of a fiscal 2009 spending bill that would provide modest increases for other education programs.

In the article, IRA Director of Government Relations Richard Long is quoted as calling the actions by the House and Senate panels "unfortunate." Long added, "We hope this doesn't mean that the emphasis on reading improvement and professional development is dropped."

Meanwhile, a federal advisory panel is urging Congress not to eliminate funding for Reading First, according to a separate article posted on Education Week online by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo. The panel's members believe the recent evaluation of the Reading First program has caused misperceptions about the program's effectiveness.

For further information, visit the Education Week website.