Nebraska First Lady Suzanne Pillen visits a classroom in the Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill, where a team of literacy advocates launched the Nebraska Growing Readers initiative in October 2023. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — The Nebraska State Board of Education signed off on steering $80 million in federal and private funding over the next five years to boost literacy for K-12 students.
The eight-member education board Friday unanimously awarded the first two years of a $55 million federal grant to 46 recipients and accepted $25 million in new private funding for a similar purpose from the Sherwood Foundation. Both buckets of funds will be doled out over the next five years. Board members will consider how to spend the private dollars at a future meeting.
Board member Lisa Schonhoff of Bennington called the $80 million “a huge, huge, huge deal, and it is very clear and evident that we are all taking it very seriously.”
She said, “I think that we need to continue, now that we’ve got this money in front of us, to continue asking the tough questions, not going along to get along, but having these really tough conversations with each other and holding each other accountable.”
Focus on accountability
This February, board members voted 7-1 to approve the Nebraska Literacy Project Plan, which includes a goal to boost third grade reading proficiency to 75% by 2030. State reading tests deemed about 59% of third graders proficient in the 2023-24 school year, according to test data released last fall.
“If there’s not accountability, and our kids aren’t reading by 2030, then we need to have some serious conversations with each other,” Schonhoff continued.
In addition to the federal and private dollars, the Legislature, led by former State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan of the Elkhorn area and Lynne Walz of Fremont, secured $6 million over three years for educational service units to employ regional coaches who will mentor teachers teaching reading to children between 4 years old and third grade — a key time in child development.
Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher confirmed that resources aren’t an issue. He said his department is focused on ensuring students are reading better tomorrow than they are today.
Schnohoff, a classroom teacher for more than 20 years before joining the state board in January, was the lone vote against the Nebraska Literacy Project Plan in February. She had voiced concerns about a focus on “high-quality instructional materials” and worried those materials could get in the way of students reading real books or writing.
The Nebraska Literacy Project Plan also has two other goals: to increase the percentage of K-3 students who meet Nebraska Reading Improvement Act standards and ensure all Nebraska teacher preparation programs implement evidence-based instruction for teachers grounded in the “science of reading.”
‘Everything that we need’
Board Vice President Deb Neary of Omaha called the federal Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant a “gold standard project” as the Nebraska Department of Education has a vision, plan, science, research, data and professionals.
“We have everything that we need to be successful,” Neary said.
The federal dollars are designed to advance literacy skills for all children from birth to grade 12, and at least 95% of the grant funds must be distributed to eligible entities. Awardees can receive more funds if they serve more students.
Funding must be allocated at different ages or grade levels as follows:
15% to entities serving birth to kindergarten ($8.26 million).
40% to entities serving grades K-5 ($22.02 million).
40% to entities serving grades 6-12 ($22.02 million).
Board member Sherry Jones said she was disappointed with those funding distributions because there was more demand for the K-5 age bracket than funding. Meanwhile, applicants seeking funds to help students in the other age brackets were fully funded. Jones said the K-5 age group is a critical time to teach reading.
“This is, I believe, an example where state and local decision making would have been better, in my opinion, than the federal government dictating to us how we should use this $55 million,” Jones said.
Nebraska Department of Education staff, responding to a question from Board President Elizabeth Tegtmeier of North Platte, said it’s possible that schools denied funding can reapply in the future. It’s also possible that some allocated dollars won’t be spent, with an expectation that some funds might be redistributed to new applicants or previous applicants who succeeded.
Public-private partnership
The Sherwood Foundation funds, which Neary praised as an “extraordinary” investment, will create the “Nebraska Literacy Leadership Network.” The network plans to convene up to 75 instructional leaders and higher education partners so they can better coach classroom teachers on how to teach literacy.
State Education Department staff pursued the public-private partnership with the Sherwood nonprofit after identifying a potential gap in school leader training and support.
“This isn’t a small project or amount,” Neary said. “This is a really big deal, and it is going to be transformational.”
Schonhoff said the professional development is critical, highlighting “no strings attached” compared to the federal dollars that she initially opposed but ultimately supported.
‘Thank you’
When Tegtmeier was elected president in 2024, she pledged to make literacy a focus, and on Friday, she credited state lawmakers, department staff, teachers and more for joining the efforts.
She credited early work done in 2017 and 2018 by former State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and Linehan. The two lawmakers studied literacy and dyslexia, including tours of multiple school districts, which led to new support for reading and dyslexia, including the Nebraska Reading Improvement Act, which allows students to be placed on reading improvement plans for focused interventions and support.
Tegtmeier said the state Education Department also hired a literacy director as well as a new deputy commissioner in the last year. She said many teachers spent parts of the summer attending related trainings and workshops.
Another supporter, Tegtimer said, is Gov. Jim Pillen, whose office reached out Thursday to express Pillen’s support for the Sherwood dollars ahead of Friday’s meeting.
Said Tegtmeier: “To everyone who has picked up their oar and chosen to row with us, I say, ‘Thank you.’”
Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant initial awardees, first two years
Tier 1 awards (up to $65,000/year | $325,000/5 years — serving up to 1,000 students)
Anselmo-Merna Public Schools: $113,750 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
Auburn Public Schools: $90,244 (birth-kindergarten)
Bertrand Public Schools: $113,750 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
Central Valley Public Schools: $130,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
David City Public Schools: $130,000 (grades K-5)
Educare Lincoln: $130,000 (birth-kindergarten)
Educational Service Unit 17 (north-central Nebraska): $130,000 (birth-kindergarten)
Elmwood-Murdock Public Schools: $67,903 (birth-kindergarten)
Fairbury Public Schools: $130,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
Falls City Public School District: $113,750 (grades 6-12)
Humboldt Table Rock Steinauer Public Schools: $113,750 (grades 6-12)
Johnson County School District: $101,773 (grades 6-12)
Laurel Concord Coleridge School: $113,750 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
Lewiston Consolidated Schools: $130,000 (grades 6-12)
Madison Public Schools: $113,750 (grades 6-12)
Milford Public Schools: $101,772 (grades 6-12)
Pawnee City Public Schools: $113,750 (grades 6-12)
Walthill Public Schools: $130,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades 6-12)
Wayne Community Schools: $57,518 (birth-kindergarten)
Tier 2 awards (up to $259,000/year | $1.295 million/5 years — serving 1,000 to 4,999 students)
Beatrice Public Schools: $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Buffett Early Childhood Institute: $518,000 (birth-kindergarten)
Crete Public Schools: $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 2 (eastern Nebraska): $518,000 (grades 6-12)
Educational Service Unit 4 (southeast Nebraska): $470,626 (grades K-5)
Educational Service Unit 5 (southeast Nebraska): $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-5)
Educational Service Unit 8 (north-central Nebraska): $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 11 (south-central Nebraska): $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 15 (southwest Nebraska): $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 16 (western Nebraska): $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Nebraska City Public Schools: $518,000 (grades K-12)
Ralston Public Schools: $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Scottsbluff Public Schools: $518,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Tier 3 awards (up to $440,000/year | $2.2 million/5 years — serving 5,000 or more students)
Educational Service Unit 3 (eastern Nebraska): $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 6 (eastern Nebraska): $880,000 (grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 7 (eastern Nebraska): $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 9 (south-central Nebraska): $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 10 (central Nebraska): $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Educational Service Unit 13 (western Nebraska): $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Fremont Public Schools: $880,000 (grades K-12)
Grand Island Public Schools: $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Lincoln Public Schools: $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Millard Public Schools: $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
Nebraska Children and Families Foundation: $662,606 (birth-kindergarten)
Omaha Public Schools/Educational Service Unit 19: $880,000 (grades 6-12)
Papillion La Vista Community Schools: $880,000 (birth-kindergarten; grades K-12)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln WORDS (Workshops on Reading Development Strategies) Project: $880,000 (grades K-5)
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