And you mentioned the Freedom funds, what exactly are those?

How will this work?

Well as as we go through the legislative process, some of those nuanced details will be outlined here pretty pretty soon.

But the the kind of tenant or spirit of what it is, is that apparent would apply to be a part of the program that the program as it's being presented is going to prioritize students in failing schools, prioritize students that may be homeless or in foster care or or they're.

Their parents are active military and they may need some other choice options.

So we want to create an opportunity for that parent to apply, to open up an account.

A certain amount of the dollars to fund the tuition at a private school that chooses a participate would be put into that account, and then the school would receive payments for tuition through that account there.

There's a lot of misconception that there's money going straight to the families, and families are looking to try to take advantage of this through direct payments there.

There's going to be accountability for the schools that participate, accountability for the families.

To participate and we have to make sure as we're investing in education, those dollars are being allocated accordingly and that we see a return on the investment and overall student learning a reading.

This is a key part of this for 3rd graders.

You have to meet certain benchmarks to actually progress and you have proposed 120 literacy coaches, $500.00 to assist.

Is that enough to for all the third graders in this state and could this potentially hold back third graders from progressing to 4th grade?

So when you look at Governor Sanders learns initiative, which is what really gets me excited about that blueprint, the 1st letter L is literacy.

We know right now we we can do better with teaching literacy to our students if we look at the students that are reading at or above grade level and 3rd grade.

It's in the mid 30s and we wanna see that number move.

So investing in early learning starts all the way from birth and looking at a coordinated system in making it unfragmented is part of the goal of this initiative.

So that we can have high quality early learning programs from birth to pre-K because we want to make sure when students come to school in kindergarten they're ready to learn and then when they're in the in in kindergarten and through second grade, we want to put a unified.

Coordinated Progress monitoring system so that we can monitor the students progress and make sure that they're getting everything they know to earn those foundational years and literacy.

This is important because we know that in kindergarten through second grade we're teaching students how to learn.

From 3rd grade and beyond, students are reading to learn, so we want to make sure that all those holes are filled to give schools and teachers additional support.

We're going to deploy 120 reading coaches throughout the state that will be heavily.

Trained in the science of reading to make sure that we're using high quality curriculum and materials and that the teachers have the skills and training they need to implement the effective strategies that we know work for students.

For additional students are struggling with literacy.

There'll be a $500.00 scholarship that the parent can either find a tutor at the local school or or to a private provider to provide additional opportunities to fill in those goals.

But that third grade metric is significant.

We.

We would love to see 90 to 100% of our third graders reading at or above grade level.

What this proposal does is put some safety net language in place that if a third grader does have to move on to 4th grade and they're not able to read at or above grade level, that when they're in 4th grade we have the interventions in place.

They'll be part of a 90 minute reading block and be put into a teacher that's trained in is highly effective in teaching reading, removing the teacher fair.

Dismissal act has been some teachers have expressed concern about that.

How would you respond?

So I think it's important to note that removing the teacher fair dismissal act does not take away due process, and it does not take away provisions that are in state law for employment protection.

What this does is reduce unnecessary paperwork and burdensome time that we know.

If we have an ineffective educator, that's not good for students, gives the administrators the ability to.

Go through that process in a more efficient manner.

I've heard from principals and superintendents already in just a few few months that I've been here that a lot of times that they'll have an ineffective teacher that they know is not good for students and they'll go through the paperwork process and if a form is not filled out right, they got to start all over.

This has nothing to do with taking away protections from good teachers.

Those provisions are in place.

Principals value teachers, Superintendent values.

Teachers.

The state needs good teachers.

And we were we're gonna do everything we can to give good teachers the tools and resources they need to be successful, keep them happy, and keep them in front of the students each and every single day.

Do you feel there are any misconceptions about what Governor Sanders is proposing that you'd like to address?

I I want to make sure that people understand that when you're looking at this learns initiative, the the the big part of this initiative, the big priorities that we're hoping to achieve, that we know we're going to achieve, is improving access to high quality education for each and every student.

It is built on the belief that all students can learn.

And when we say all students can learn, we mean all students.

And this investment in education is historic.

It's significant.

The state has never seen anything like it and it's gonna be really exciting to see the state improved throughout the next few years and its national rankings because it will work.

Secretarial Eva, thanks so much.

Thank you.