I passed both of my bills dealing with dyslexia out of the House Common Education Committee this week with votes of 17-0 on each.

House Bill 2804 would require any student enrolled in kindergarten through third grade in an Oklahoma public school who is not meeting grade-level reading targets after the beginning of the school year to be screened for dyslexia beginning with the 2022-23 school year.

The measure requires the State Board of Education to develop policies for dyslexia screening and to adopt a list of approved, qualified dyslexia screening tools. Schools would also be required to report to the State Department of Education the number of students screened and identified as having dyslexia each year as well as the process used to evaluate the students. The cost of the screening will be covered by Reading Sufficiency Act funds.

Last year, I was able to pass House Bill 1228, which provided a professional development day for teachers across Oklahoma to help them better recognize signs of dyslexia in their students. That training is the first step. The screening process in HB 2804 is the logical next step.

By doing this, we will increase our literacy rates for the students who attend our public schools. Properly diagnosing students and getting them the help they need will put them on a path toward academic success, which benefits these children, their families and all of society.

House 2889 makes the State Department of Education responsible for updating the Dyslexia Handbook. This, too, was a recommendation by the Dyslexia and Education Task Force and the SDE as well as Decoding Dyslexia Oklahoma. This outstanding handbook is already available with help for teachers, parents and school administrators. This bill just puts in statute that it will be regularly updated by the SDE.

Also this week, I added my name as a co-author on House Bill 3298, which authorizes the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority (OCIA) to acquire property and invest capital into improving and repairing some of the high-risk flood-control dams across our state. Many of these dams are more than 50 years old and have reached their life expectancy. It is important that we protect the homes and cities beneath these structures, many of which supply water to surrounding communities.

This bill is asking for the ability to bond $17.5 million for property acquisition and would make use of a 65% federal match of $50 million to extend the life of these dams. Debt retirement payments would be made by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. The bill passed in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee 19-0.

We continue to hear numerous bills in committees and on the House floor. This work will get more brisk as we approach our third-reading deadline, March 12. By that date, all House bills must be heard in the House before they pass to the Senate and vice versa.

Lawmakers also heard this week that we will have about $85.5 million less this year to appropriate for the state budget. This shouldn’t lead to any real hardship for the state, as we had one-time expenses in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget that will not reoccur in the FY21 budget. I don’t anticipate any cuts to core services. We still intend to save some money this year to help ensure that continues in the future.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, I can be contacted at Mike.Sanders@okhouse.gov or (405) 557-7407.