MINNESOTA, USA — Last year, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the largest school funding bill in Minnesota history which totaled about $2.2 billion.
This year, there was another bill that will provide $40 million to school districts in 2025.
While the bills have gotten full support from Democrats, some Republicans argue that despite pumping schools with record amounts of cash, students' test scores aren't improving.
New data from the Minnesota Department of Education released on Thursday shows that students are far from recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in reading. The numbers show scores dropped in 2021 and stayed down for the next three years.
To combat that, Gov. Walz also signed the Read Act last year. Its goal is to boost proficiency levels by shifting instruction away from just memorizing words to more phonics-based instruction.
Monroe Elementary in Brooklyn Park was one of the first schools to implement that kind of training nearly three years ago and is already seeing significant gains.
"The thing I love about kindergarten is you're giving them a solid foundation to continue their education career and a huge piece of that is that literacy piece," said teacher Sarah Zins.
Minnesota has long ranked in the top 10 across the country for its education quality, but its reading proficiency, in particular, dropped. While that may be due to COVID, experts say it's also because of persistent racial and funding gaps and faulty training methods.
Zins, and 15 of her colleagues, are moving away from the traditional teaching method that mimics a guessing game - one that relies on memorization and pictures - to the so-called science of reading. It's rooted in federally acclaimed research that finds kids are more successful when they sound words out instead.
"It's hard to change and it's hard to say, maybe I wasn't teaching the best strategies to read, but I'm going to be brave and I'm going to try something new," said Zins.
The concept is taught to kids up to third grade. The movement, now mandated by the Read Act, requires districts to purchase curriculum in line with this technique.
Except, some programs offer materials for free, including Bridge2Read.
"It's equitably accessible across the state," says Bridge2Read's Vice President of Research and Development David Parker. "A district might be smaller or bigger, in either case, have less access to resources, then this can be an option for them."
The nonprofit is part of ServeMinnesota - an organization that helps the longtime AmeriCorps programs run across the state of Minnesota. Parker said Bridge2Read was developed about five years ago after finding success specializing in tutoring for students.
"It was requested by teachers, it was developed in partnership with teachers and now that the teachers are using it, they’re finding it fits within their day and it’s a natural addition to their instruction," said Parker.
Parker said Bridge2Read has now partnered with up to a dozen districts across the state. He said the materials and trainings are free - and can sometimes only take up to a half day of instruction.
"There’s always been educators, there’s always been researchers who are tracking this, we want to do this, and a few things we know we can do better, and we’re at that point," said Parker.
At Monroe, it's proving that phonics is paying off. Zins said that proficiency levels in kindergarten at the end of each year jumped from 45% to 90% based on state-approved measurements.
The results are so impressive that the school was also given Minnesota's Future Award in 2023. It recognizes high-performing schools and education programs for innovation and helping all students succeed.