When a child falls behind, a plan that produces no action is only paper. Republican House Education Chair Susan Estes requested House Bill 2660, which would require a statewide screen, individual literacy plans and a licensed reading specialist for every elementary school.
Kansas Department of Education officials have already announced that accredited schools will move to a single statewide universal screener for the 2027–28 school year, according to the state’s literacy and dyslexia update. The screener gives Topeka a number; HB 2660 would give families a professional responsible for acting on it.
The HB 2660 measure would expand the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy and the Every Child Can Read Act. Its fiscal note estimates an $8.6 million State General Fund appropriation to the Kansas Board of Regents for FY2027.
Districts would report on children from prekindergarten through eighth grade who are at high risk and submit literacy plans for kindergarten through third grade. Beginning in the 2029–30 school year, each district would employ or contract with a licensed reading specialist for every elementary school, while high-risk children in kindergarten through third grade would receive individual literacy plans.
Kansas has also rejected one method. The current literacy statute bars materials that rely on “three-cueing” as the primary basis for beginning reading instruction beginning July 1, 2025. HB 2660 would make the adults responsible for carrying out that policy.
Families should know whether a child was screened, what plan followed and which specialist is responsible. A system that cannot answer those questions has no business calling itself accountable.
Estes’ bill puts Ty Masterson’s child-centered education agenda into legislation. A parent can choose a school, but that choice means little if no one will identify a reading problem or put a trained specialist close enough to fix it. Families do not need another promise that every child matters. They need the name of the person who will act when the test says a child is in trouble.
The obstacle is the committee calendar. The official bill page places HB 2660 in the House Committee on Higher Education Budget, where a proposal can sit while the next school year keeps moving. The Kansas Board of Regents literacy reports show that the Blueprint already produces reports and assessments. Reports are useful; a child needs results in time to use them.
HB 2660 is a proposal, not enacted law. Its $8.6 million cost and 2029–30 staffing deadline are plainly written, which means lawmakers can debate the price without pretending the reading problem is theoretical.
Estes and Kansas Republicans have spent years demanding accountability from government. Reading is where that demand should land first. Put the screen in every school and require a specialist to act before another child is passed along without the skill to keep up.