Bill > A824

Introduced Session

This bill would establish the Elementary Home Reading Grant Program to increase reading opportunities and parental engagement for elementary students around the State in order to improve reading proficiency. The grant program would support school districts in partnering with nonprofit organizations providing home reading programs. Each home reading program would be required to meet certain minimum criteria, including (1) mailing independent reading level books to the residences of elementary school students on a weekly basis; (2) incorporating weekly phone calls, texts, or application notifications in multiple languages to a parent or guardian; (3) building on pedagogical and literacy principles; (4) providing at least six and not more than nine books for a student to permanently keep; (5) providing a customizable portal to generate individualized data reports for analysis of student progress; and (6) collection, disaggregation, and distribution of detailed data on metrics of the program including parental engagement, the number of books read, and non-identifying demographic data. A school district wishing to participate in the grant program would submit an application to the Department of Education in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The application would be required to include: (1) a detailed description of the home reading program; (2) information on the nonprofit organization partnering with a school district to administer the home reading program; (3) a description of the goals of the home reading program and a method of measuring student academic success and program outcomes; (4) a description of the methods to be used to identify underperforming students for participation in the home reading program; (5) the number of students able to be supported by the home reading program and the number of students expected to participate; (6) the projected per student and aggregate cost of implementing the home reading program; and (7) any other information the commissioner deems necessary. Under the bill, grant funds would be awarded to participating school districts on a matching basis. Per student costs proposed by a school district would be matched by the State at 100 percent. The bill would appropriate $500,000 for the grant program. The funding for the program would first be provided by any available unexpended federal funds. The Legislature may appropriate additional funds for the grant program.

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Gerry Scharfenberger (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee (on 01/13/2026)

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Official Document