Federal law pushes schools to teach reading with phonics methods.
H.R. 7890 — Science of Reading Act of 2026 · Filed by Erin Houchin (R-IN) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 12, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill changes federal education law about reading instruction. Schools must teach phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The bill stops schools from using the three-cueing model. That model relies on pictures and context clues to teach reading.
Who it affects
Students, teachers, and schools that get federal reading money are affected. Schools already using other methods may need to change. Schools with less money may struggle to pay for new materials.
One thing to notice
The bill does not pay for teacher training. Schools with more money may find it easier to switch methods.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Independents, 1 Republicans.
- Mar 12, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 12, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
- Mar 17, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Mar 17, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 33 - 0”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Walberg moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
6 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 6 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $1,835,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 20 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 82% of bills with any report.
Erin Houchin, who sponsored the bill, received $1,086,250 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- National Education Association — $670,000 in 1 report
- Ebay Inc. — $580,000 in 1 report
- American Federation of Teachers — $410,000 in 1 report
- Tnc (us) Holdings Inc — $130,000 in 1 report
- Internet Works — $45,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- three-cueing model — A reading method that teaches students to use pictures and context clues.
- phonics — Teaching how letters and letter groups make sounds and blend into words.
- phonemic awareness — The ability to hear and work with individual sounds in spoken words.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,624 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,928 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-03.
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