• State Representative Sam Singh (D-East Lansing)

LANSING - The Michigan House approved a bill on Thursday, Oct. 15th in a 57-48 vote that would require third graders who are not reading at a third-grade level to be held back.

"Studies across the board have shown that third grade is a very critical time in a child's development, and a lot of the studies suggest that if a child is not reading by third grade at a third-grade level that they're going to see a lot of negative consequences down the road in their education and work lives," said 69th District State Representative Sam Singh (D-East Lansing).

Rep. Singh hosted an education forum last week in which representatives from the Haslett, Okemos, East Lansing and Williamston Public Schools attended to talk about this bill and other related school bills.

Rep. Singh says educators, administrators and school board members were all "very concerned" since part of the reading bill has an automatic retention, meaning if a student isn't at the appropriate reading level they are automatically failed. Moreover, Rep. Singh says they feel that parents and families should be involved in this conversation since every student's learning situation is different.

A budget appropriation has been put towards this bill, which according to Rep. Singh, is a "good first step" since the original version of this bill a couple years ago didn't have any money attached to it; however, Rep. Singh says the unfortunate part is that it wasn't fully funded.

"My hope is as we continue this conversation that we'll get to a point where we're fully funding this third-grade reading initiative and make sure that all the school districts have all the tools that they need and the resources to implement it."

The bill moved over to the Senate for consideration. If passed, the bill will take effect beginning with those who are currently in Kindergarten.