Federal money to hire reading specialists in schools nationwide.
S. 5659 — Literacy Improvement for Transformation Act of 2026 · Filed by Martin Heinrich (D-NM) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The Department of Education gives grants to school districts and states. Nonprofits, tribal schools, and colleges can also get grants. The money pays to hire and train specialists who help kids with reading and dyslexia. Schools that get grants must have at least one full-time specialist. That specialist must spend 80% of their time working with students and teachers.
Who it affects
Students who struggle with reading and dyslexia get help from trained specialists. School districts and states get money to hire these specialists.
One thing to notice
Specialists must have training from the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council. Grants last five years, but the bill does not say how schools will pay for specialists after.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Sep 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- dyslexia — A learning difference that makes it hard for some people to read and spell.
- International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council — An organization that sets training standards for reading specialists.
- specialists — Teachers trained to help kids who struggle with reading.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (11,423 characters) on Oct 13, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal money to hire reading specialists in schools nationwide.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5659/simple Report an error
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