Harder Grills Secretary DeVos for Proposing Elimination of Key Literacy Programs

Statement

Representative Josh Harder today took Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to task over her decision to eliminate multiple programs that help children read, in the midst of a nationwide failure to fully address shortfalls in childhood literacy.

Harder highlighted the issue by sharing his own personal story of being a "late bloomer" in reading. He further questioned DeVos on her decision to either eliminate or significantly reduce funding levels for every literacy program funded by the Department of Education.

"What kills me about this isn't just the fact that we're cutting some of the most critical programs to improve literacy. It's the hypocrisy of what I see from this Department," said Harder. "You've gone around the country reading books to kids, talking about the importance of literacy. But then you get back to Washington, you go into a backroom somewhere and you cut every single program."

The Administration's proposed budget features major cuts to the Department of Education, totaling $8.5 billion dollars, or a 12 percent decrease from the previous year's funding. These cuts put dozens of education programs on the chopping block including the Innovative Approaches to Literacy and LEARN programs which focus exclusively on childhood literacy.

"You actually eliminate every single program fully dedicated towards addressing the problem that you're saying needs to be solved. That hypocrisy is disappointing, shocking, and frankly really heartbreaking at a time when we have some real challenges in our education system," Harder continued.

Stanislaus County is ranked 44th for literacy levels in California and across the nation approximately two in three fourth graders read below the standard proficiency level.

The Innovative Approaches to Literacy program was appropriated for by Congress to help school libraries deliver high-quality literacy programming to children and their families and has a proven success rate, especially for early education success rates. The proposed Department of Education budget eliminates this program.

The LEARN program was created by the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 and provides grants to state and local governments to create comprehensive literacy plans. The proposed Department of Education budget eliminates this program.

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