Reading Recovery is a program that helps struggling first graders bring their reading and writing skills up to grade level.
Educators praise it for its high success rates and how quickly they see their students progress.
But recently state senators cut the program?s funding from the budget.
And as NHPR correspondent Rebecca Kaufman reports, principals, reading specialists and parents across New Hampshire are worried the state has just lost one of its best investments.
:00 You want a hard page okay, flipping pages
:42 Mitchell reading: the son is up the sun is yellow?.mitchell reading?Kimberly:good?.
Mitchell Pate is finishing up first grade at Maple Avenue Elementary in Goffstown.
And when he starts second grade next fall, his reading skills will be just as good as, if not better THAN, the rest of his classmates.
Mitchell?s mom, Kimberly, says he?S come a long way IN A YEAR.
2:10 Valerie: before he went into reading recovery I could show him a flashcard with the letter b on it and he wouldn?t get it right, he said it was q, he always said something was q
Mitchell: hey that?s when I was three..
Kimberly: No not three, but that?s when you first started but you?ve done a lot better because you?ve learned?
AT THE START OF THE YEAR, MITCHELL?S TEACHERS HAD TARGETED HIM AS ONE OF THE WORST READERS IN HIS CLASS.
AND KIMBERLY GOT WORRIED.
SHE SAYS HER BROTHER HAD TROUBLE READING?AND EVENTUALLY DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL.
SO FOR KIMBERLY IT WASN?T A QUESTION OF WHETHER MITCHELL WOULD GET THE HELP.
BUT HOW TO PAY FOR THE TUTORING.
3:45 the school called and said we have a program and I said how much do I have to pay you and they said nothing and it lifted a big burden, I knew he would get the help he needs?his response to the program was immediate.
FOR A HALF AN HOUR EVERY DAY MITCHELL MET one on one with A SCHOOL reading teacher.
STATE department of Education Helen Schontanus says paying the most skilled teachers to work with 8 kids a year may seem like a bad use of money.
But she says, if a child gets on track early, THAT CHILD USUALLY STAYS THERE.
14:30 you know you think about prison, people say prison inmates low rate of literacy, I don?t cost to keep someone in jail, but once that child gets beyond first grade and especially after third grade chance of catching up really low and it getting them caught up is really exspensive.
The state spends about 330,000 dollars a year on Reading Recovery.
The money goes to paying the state?s four reading recovery experts.
THEY IN TURN train the teachers at the elementary schools.
It is up to LOCAL school districts to decide if they want THE PROGRAM.
If they do, the district picks up the cost of the teachers?not the trainers.
So, when the State SenatE cut the reading recovery program FROM THE BUDGET, LAWMAKERS did not eliminate the school district?s part of deal.
The ninety five elementary schools that have reading recovery could still choose to pay their teachers to work with the kids.
But Without THOSE state funded teacher TRAINERS, the program loses its core.
Education department?s Helen Schotanus.
21:01 those four teacher leaders are the infrastructure that enables new hamsphire to have reading recovery, if we can?t pay then next year we lose infrastructure, they?d get picked up somewhere, in another district but to bring it back would be extremely difficult and cost more.
Athena Chisolm is a reading teacher at Maple Ave. Elementary in Goffstown.
She says she relies on the teacher leaders to understand how to best meet the needs of her struggling students.
13:55 one of the best parts of reading recovery is ongoing teacher training,we are constanly learning and improving our own skills of observation and talking about how to meet the needs of these children who are not easy to kids to teach
Senators who voted to cut reading recovery from the budget say they HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE PROGRAM.
But they want to use federal, not state, dollars TO PAY FOR IT.
MORE SPECIFICALLY?..THEY ARE LOOKING TO THE FEDERAL NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT?.OR NCLB.
Finance Committee Chair Dick Green.
Green: The nclb program has reading money in it so our position was if its going to continue it has to be out of federal dollars, not general fund dollars, we were not against the program it was just a question of how to fund it.
Finance committee member Senator Lou D?Allesandro voted to continue funding Reading Recovery with state money.
He ARGUES THAT THE STATE CAN?T rely on No Child Left Behind.
D?allesandro: Everybody is saying nclb money can be used for everything, I?m sure there are some stipulations for what it can be used for and what it can?t but in this particular situation if you can find federal money that would be wonderful but reading recovery needs some general funds dollars and we need to restore those.
Education department?s Helen Schotanus takes it further.
She says school districts can use federal money to help pay for the program.
But Schotanus ARGUES THAT because No Child Left Behind is aimed at classroom instruction it cannot pay for the four TRAINERS.
And she says, lawmakers should not confuse the federally funded Reading First program with Reading Recovery.
13:45 reading first is for low achieving schools, we just quite a lot of dollars in a grant, but its only high poverty low achieving schools, and only 35 school districts all eligible and not all districts and not all schools will get it.
13:20 there was talk it can be paid for by reading first funds or it can be paid for by nickelby funds, but the part the state of new Hampshire does, no it can?t be
Senator Greene says despite the education department?s UNDERSTANDING OF THE FEDERAL LAW, he believes there are federal dollars out there.
Greene: at this point we are getting mixed signals, we are hearing from the department of education at the state level that it can?t be done, we are hearing from the department of education at the federal level that it can be done, we hope to sort it out in committee.
THE STATE?S Senators SEEM TO agree Reading Recovery should be restored.
HOWEVER THE MAJORITY JUST DON?T WANT THE STATE TO HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.
SENAT AND HOUSE CONFEREES begin MEETING LATER THIS WEEK TO HAMMER OUT A FINAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT BUDGET.
For NHPR news, I?m RK.
