S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10691
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             September 9, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Solages) --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Education
 
 AN ACT to address the elementary literacy gap by empowering student  and
   parental engagement with an evidence-based home reading program
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. If equally matched by participating local  education  agen-
 cies,  there  is  allocated from the state's Coronavirus relief funds an
 amount not to exceed $500,000 for fiscal year 2023 for grants  to  local
 education agencies for an eligible home reading program. Funds allocated
 under  this  section  are  grant  funds  and  must be distributed by the
 department of education  with  a  focus  on  economically  disadvantaged
 households.  A  program  is  eligible  for  these  grant  funds if it is
 provided by a nonprofit organization and  meets  all  of  the  following
 criteria:
   (a)  The  program's objective is to deliver an evidence-based self-se-
 lected reading program consisting of  independent  reading  level  books
 that  are  individually mailed to the residences of kindergarten through
 fifth grade students on a weekly basis.
   (b) The program incorporates at least weekly  phone  calls,  texts  or
 application  notifications in multiple languages to a parent or guardian
 to drive parental and family engagement throughout the duration  of  the
 program.
   (c)  The  program provides at least six and not more than nine student
 selected new books that students get to keep.
   (d) The program builds on pedagogical and literacy principles to scaf-
 fold fluency to improve reading comprehension with student exercises.
   (e) The program includes a customizable portal to generate individual-
 ized data reports for analysis of student progress.
   (f) The nonprofit organization collects, disaggregates,  and  distrib-
 utes  detailed  data  on  all  metrics  of the program, such as parental
 engagement, books read and allowable demographic data.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD16213-01-2
 A. 10691                            2
              

 
   (g) The nonprofit organization provides summary data to  the  legisla-
 ture  and  to the department of education for all students served by the
 program.
   (h)  The nonprofit organization agrees to secure the required district
 level matching  funds  and  maintain  auditable  verification  of  their
 receipt.
   (i)  The combined total cost of the program, including district match-
 ing funds does not exceed $50 per student per semester.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.