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State reading mandate draws criticism locally

HANCOCK – A state mandate to hold back third-graders based on reading test results was cited by local state legislators as one more example of the state taking control from local school districts.

At the Cooper Country Intermediate School District’s legislative luncheon on Friday, both state Rep. Scott Dianda, R-Calumet, and Kirk Schott, representing state Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, agreed that a bill requiring schools to hold third-grade students back if they were a grade level behind in reading skills usurped local districts’ judgment.

Although the legislation designated the state to provide some support for reading specialists, local districts would pick up some of the cost.

While third-grade testing is important, Schott said, the added expense of literacy coaches wouldn’t be the best solution for some districts, including Ewen.

“In reality, you might have a student who doesn’t quite meet up to somebody’s standards, and the state’s going to make the declaration as to whether that kid is retained or not?” Schott said. “It’s kind of a one-size-fits-all box we’re trying to put kids into.”

Dianda said the bill was a passion project of a House representative who had a family member with reading retention problems. After a first vote was scuttled over a lack of votes, the bill passed after some arm-twisting on the second vote, said Dianda, who voted against the bill.

“I don’t think that we can truly legislate common sense and the ability to have parents and guardians in the household take an ownership in their responsibilities personally,” he said.

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