Listening to him desperately try to understand stories, struggling to sound out words and losing the plot, was a deeply painful experience for us both. I read the whole book out loud to him. After we finished reading together, he lay in his top bunk and stared at a copy of 鈥淒iary of a Wimpy Kid.鈥� I hoped he’d be able to read the words, but I know the truth is that he picks books like that because he can follow the pictures when the letters are too jumbled to make sense of.

This isn鈥檛 the first kid I have seen struggle to read. In fact, I have seen hundreds of them. 

In 2010, I was a special education teacher at North High School in Denver. My first week on the job, I was asked to screen incoming freshmen to place struggling readers in an intervention class. As I sat and listened to each one read, I heard the same pain that I hear at night when I listen to my own son. 

The average child in that incoming ninth grade class was reading at a sixth grade level. There were enough 15-year-olds reading below a third grade level to fill an entire classroom. They were old enough to get a learner鈥檚 permit to drive a car, but they had been failed so acutely by their education that they could not even write their last names. They could not read the words 鈥渜uestion鈥� or 鈥渆quation,鈥� but had to somehow keep up with high school algebra.聽

The worst part of this story is that these kids are in the majority. In nearly every state, fewer than half of students are reading on grade level. Nearly 7 out of 10 high school seniors graduate without being considered proficient readers. These are the people who will be reviewing your medical records, building your houses and measuring the dosage on your prescriptions. 

This cannot continue. So what is the solution? 

The , introduced by a bipartisan coalition led by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Maggie Hassan, is a great start to addressing the nation鈥檚 literacy crisis. The legislation is a chance to finally stop pretending this problem will fix itself. If passed, it will help states use proven strategies to teach kids how to read, identify and support struggling students early, and give teachers and families the tools they need to step in before it鈥檚 too late. 

In practice, the Read Act would mean that more children are screened early for literacy challenges, so problems are caught before they turn into years of frustration. It would require schools to notify parents if their child is falling behind and to clearly explain what the screening or assessment showed, what supports the school will provide to get students back on track, and what families can do at home to help. Just as importantly, the Read Act would push states to ensure that teachers are trained in evidence-based reading instruction and that classrooms are using high-quality materials that actually teach kids how to read, so fewer families are left trying to fill the gaps on their own.

The science of reading points to an interdisciplinary body of research that emphasizes a structured way of teaching how letters combine into sounds, how sounds combine into words and how words combine to generate meaning. 

Mississippi鈥檚 rise from 49th in the nation to the top 10 in fourth grade reading started when the state adopted the science of reading. But the state also backed that shift with literacy coaches, early screening and targeted interventions to help struggling students before they fell too far behind. Using the same approach, Louisiana and Alabama are seeing similar gains. But nationwide, progress remains uneven, with some states embracing these evidence-based strategies while others have been .

The future of America’s children and the country’s prosperity rely on a solution to this problem, and the stakes are too high to patchwork it together. Families need a real, national plan to ensure that children do not continue to fall behind. 

Reading is not optional, and families are no longer willing to accept a system where children are promoted year after year without the skills they need. All students deserve a future where they can thrive, and families like mine deserve a future where they aren鈥檛 left reading bedtime stories with a knot in their stomachs. Literacy needs to become a national priority, and that needs to happen now.

We recently moved from Texas to the Tampa area. Being closer to my family in Florida was a big reason for the move. But finding the right educational fit for my kids was also important.

In doing research before the move, I came across the many inclusive state-funded school choice programs that Florida offers, and I was thrilled to see education saving accounts for kids with learning differences or medical needs. This was critical because all three of my children 鈥� James, 18, and Max and Vanessa, both 15 鈥� have learning and medical challenges. In Florida, they were all eligible for the ESAs, which I used to enroll them in a Catholic school.

That’s a huge contrast from what we faced back in Texas. There, my husband and I had enrolled my oldest son in a specialized private school after he failed first grade, as his local school was unable to serve children with dyslexia. After just a few months in his new school, his reading ability soared and his confidence returned. It was such a relief to see my child happy again and able to learn. 

But because Texas has no private school choice program, we had to pay for the specialized school ourselves. Our daughter also has dyslexia, and when she reached school age, we had to prioritize which child to send to a place that would best meet their needs. So after my son graduated from elementary school, we sent him to our local, zoned middle school and enrolled his sister in the private school. 

I know we鈥檙e not the only family in Texas who have had to make these kinds of agonizing decisions. I actually spent time at legislative sessions in Texas advocating for choice programs like the kind Florida has. But so far, Texas has not acted. Far too many Texas parents continue to feel frustrated and defeated. 

In Florida, we chose to put our children in a Catholic school. Our decision had to do with how well-rounded and nurturing Catholic schools are. They do an excellent job preparing students not just for college, but for a life in which they have the skills and character to make a positive impact on the world.

Across the country, including in Texas, Catholic schools are shrinking and closing. But it鈥檚 not because parents don鈥檛 want them. , thanks to school choice programs. A new from Step Up For Students, the organization that administers the choice scholarships in Florida, found the state’s Catholic schools now enroll a higher percentage of students of color than public schools do. It also found the number of students using special needs scholarships at Florida Catholic schools has nearly tripled in the past 10 years. My family would not have been able to send three children to Catholic school if we were still living in Texas.  

I love talking to Florida parents about school choice. I am amazed at the endless options families are using and even creating to get their children the best learning environment. ESA programs allow Florida parents to basically fit the pieces of their puzzle together to create the best learning experience for their kids.

I am grateful to have these options for my children. Families across the country want choices in education, and more and more states are doing the right thing in providing that. It鈥檚 time for Texas to join them.