Georgia leaders propose $11.3M to improve reading as some lawmakers seek a more aggressive approach

Georgia education officials want to provide literacy coaches to help train teachers to improve reading instruction, even as some prominent lawmakers say the state Department of Education isn’t doing enough to implement a literacy law passed last year.

Georgia’s effort to help children read better is one example of many nationwide as the “science of reading” shakes up teaching and learning. For example, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to retrain teachers and revamp what children learn there, proposing $10 million to support the effort.

Georgia is a relative latecomer to literacy reform, with legislators passing a law last year mandating that each district must retrain teachers by August 2025. The law is modeled on a decade-long Mississippi effort that saw that state sharply improve what had been bottom-tier reading scores. Mississippi modeled its effort on Florida.