Bill moving through the Capitol could impact student reading, funds for classroom supplies

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A major boost for Georgia teachers and their students is gaining steam at the State Capitol.

On Thursday a group of state senators pushed for legislation they say would support students and their teachers.

Senate Bill 464 would require the State Board of Education to establish a program for the Department of Education to allocate funds for eligible teachers to purchase school supplies online.

“On average teachers are spending anywhere from $400-600 depending on what subject they teach over a thousand coming out of their pocket,” said Sen. Clint Dixon, (R–Gwinnett).

The same bill would also identify a universal reading screener that each public school and local school system must adopt and administer.

The goal is to evaluate all students’ reading levels equally.

“So they can gauge if kids are reading proficiently at their own grade level and if you have thirteen different benchmarks it’s going to be tough to gauge which one is doing it right and which one is doing it wrong,” said Sen. Dixon.

“This really matters, we got to get this part right,” said Missy Purcell.

As a former teacher and metro Atlanta parent, Purcell says she’s in favor of Georgia schools having one good universal reading screener and believes it could’ve helped her son.

“One of the biggest barriers to him not getting the right instruction was that no one screened him to identify that he was a struggling reader, and it wasn’t until he was in fourth grade that we actually started making some impact because we were seeking private services and that’s not something that is accessible to everybody,” said Purcell.

Parents and lawmakers say having a universal screener would be another tool to better identify kids early on that need help with reading.

“It wouldn’t prevent schools from using other screeners, this would just be one that’s provided by the state,” said said Sen. Dixon.

The bill has passed the Georgia Senate and now in the House Education Committee.