House Sends Reading Retention Bill To Gov
State House sends reading bill to governor
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — By a veto-proof margin of 89-6, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed and sent to the governor a bill that would let parents and educators decide whether to retain or promote third-graders not reading at grade level.
House Bill 2625, by Rep. Katie Henke, R-Tulsa, calls for a committee of educators and each affected student’s parents or guardians to determine on a case-by-case basis whether to promote or retain students failing the third-grade reading sufficiency test.
Under current law, most third-graders failing the test are automatically retained. That law as passed in 2011 and became effective this year.
Gov. Mary Fallin has been less than enthusiastic about retreating from the hard line drawn three years ago, but Monday’s margin and the Senate’s 44-0 vote last month makes a veto problematic.