HB 1597 — An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, in terms and courses of study, providing for after-school reading program.

PRINTER'S NO.   1910

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 1597
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY ORTITAY, COOK AND NEILSON, JUNE 11, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, JUNE 11, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
 2      act relating to the public school system, including certain
 3      provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
 4      schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
 5      laws relating thereto," in terms and courses of study,
 6      providing for after-school reading program.
 7      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 8   hereby enacts as follows:
 9      Section 1.    The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known
10   as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding a
11   section to read:
12      Section 1529.    After-school Reading Program.--(a)   Beginning
13   with the 2026-2027 school year and continuing with each school
14   year thereafter, a school entity may establish an after-school
15   or summer-peer tutoring program that employs teen leaders from
16   the school entity's community to deliver one-to-one structured
17   literacy tutoring and uses an evidence-based phonics curriculum
18   to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade two at the
19   school entity to help improve reading proficiency.
20      (b)   A school entity may collaborate with businesses,
 1   educational organizations and other nonprofit organizations to
 2   establish the program.
 3      (c)   Not later than December 31, 2025, the department shall
 4   develop guidance for school entities to establish a program
 5   under this section. The guidance shall include a model
 6   curriculum and training modules.
 7      (d)   A program under this section shall be based on the
 8   following principles:
 9      (1)   The program shall employ one-to-one tutoring using an
10   evidence-based phonics curriculum.
11      (2)   Teen leaders shall be trained as individual literacy
12   tutors using leveled books and decoding strategies from the
13   evidence-based phonics curriculum.
14      (3)   Teachers participating in the program shall be trained
15   in the evidence-based phonics curriculum and assessment tools.
16      (4)   The program shall be conducted after school or during
17   the summer for three (3) to four (4) days per week for forty-
18   five (45) sessions.
19      (5)   Each tutoring session shall be for ninety (90) minutes.
20   During a session, each student shall receive forty-five (45)
21   minutes of one-to-one tutoring and support in foundational
22   reading skills and forty-five (45) minutes of reading enrichment
23   in a group setting or assistance with homework.
24      (e)   Beginning September 1, 2027, and continuing each
25   September 1 thereafter, a school entity that establishes a
26   program under this section shall submit to the department a
27   report for the prior school year. The report shall include the
28   following data:
29      (1)   The number of students served.
30      (2)   The number of teen leaders employed and trained.

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 1      (3)     Pre-assessment and post-assessment data on student
 2   reading proficiency.
 3      (4)     Any partnership with a business, educational
 4   organization or other nonprofit organization assisting in the
 5   program.
 6      (5)     Funding utilized.
 7      (f)     A school entity may use Federal funds, State funds or
 8   private grants or gifts to implement a program under this
 9   section. State funds appropriated for the purpose of this
10   section shall be prioritized for school entities with a high
11   percentage of students in kindergarten through grade two who are
12   not meeting grade-level reading benchmarks.
13      (g)     As used in this section, the following words and phrases
14   shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
15   the context clearly indicates otherwise:
16      "Decoding strategy."     A technique used to break down words
17   into smaller parts such as phonemes or word families, prefixes
18   and suffixes to help readers pronounce and understand unfamiliar
19   words.
20      "Department."     The Department of Education of the
21   Commonwealth.
22      "Evidence-based phonics curriculum."     A curriculum designed
23   and implemented based on research and data demonstrating the
24   curriculum's effectiveness in teaching students to read and that
25   involves systematic and explicit instruction in the
26   relationships between sounds and letters.
27      "Leveled book."     A book characterized and categorized by the
28   level of difficulty of the text.
29      "Peer tutoring program."     A program that provides paid work
30   experience that affords the opportunity for a teen leader to

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 1   provide tutoring services to younger students in their own
 2   school entity community.
 3      "Reading enrichment."    Activity that connects reading to
 4   real-world issues and experiences to help students understand
 5   the relevance of what they are reading and make it more
 6   meaningful.
 7      "School entity."   A school district, intermediate unit, area
 8   career and technical school, charter school, cyber charter
 9   school or regional charter school.
10      "Structured literacy."    The term shall have the same meaning
11   as provided in section 1205.8(g).
12      "Teen leader."   A student in grade nine through twelve who is
13   trained in a phonics-based leveled curriculum, data collection
14   to measure reading level progress and behavior and classroom
15   management.
16      Section 2.   This act shall take effect immediately.




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