This story has been updated to include an agreement between lawmakers to make the first screener optional.
MADISON — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is asking Republican lawmakers to change the deadline for implementing part of the state’s recently passed literacy law, Act 20.
State Superintendent Jill Underly sent a letter to lawmakers Feb. 1 saying that while DPI is on track to meet its statutory deadlines, both public and private schools “continue to convey genuine fear.”
“Without additional flexibility concerning timelines, the initial rollout of this important work may be disrupted or worse yet, fail to take hold,” Underly wrote in her letter.
Tight deadlines for schools under Wisconsin’s literacy law
Act 20, which overhauled Wisconsin’s reading instruction, was signed into law last summer. The law creates a wave of new requirements for school districts to abandon some instructional practices as early as next school year and provide their teachers with time-intensive training by 2025.