Steve Sukup, a republican candidate for Governor, says if schools have failed to teach a 4th grader to read, then the state should give that kid’s parents a voucher to hire a private tutor. Recent tests showed a third of Iowa 4th graders couldn’t read or comprehend a paragraph. Sukup’s calling for reading tests in third grade, and if kids fail, a school would have a year to correct the problem. If the kid still can’t read, then the parents would get money to hire a tutor or enroll their child at a Sylvan or EduCare Center, private learning centers. Sukup hasn’t decided how much the reading vouchers would be worth, but he says there are some federal funds that’d be available and he’d shift some state money away from other early elementary reading initiatives. Sukup, a state legislator and small agribusinessman from Dougherty, made his comments today during a news conference at the statehouse.
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