Bill Summary: SF618

• Establishes a learn-to-read grant program providing funds to school districts and charter schools to help students achieve reading proficiency by end of third grade, with a goal of 90 percent proficiency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment II reading test.

• Creates general education access grants allowing students who did not achieve third-grade reading proficiency and are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch to attend private elementary schools, with grant amounts limited to tuition costs or per-student allocation from the learn-to-read grant, whichever is less.

• Districts and charter schools participating in the learn-to-read grant program must increase proficiency by at least one-third of the gap to 90 percent in year one and two-thirds in year two to continue receiving funds; grants last maximum of three years.

• Appropriates $300,000,000 for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 to fund the learn-to-read grant program.

• Repeals compensatory revenue provisions in sections 126C.05, 126C.10, and 126C.15 and removes compensatory revenue references from various education funding formulas across multiple statutes.