When I was a commander in Afghanistan, one of the provinces I was responsible for supporting was Paktika, right on the Southeast border with Pakistan where the majority of the Taliban were trained, equipped and crossed to fight in Afghanistan. One of the metrics that we followed closely was literacy. Why? First because it was an indicator of how susceptible the local populace was to Taliban influence. Second, literacy is a fundamental building block of free market capitalism, democratic processes and rule of law that have lifted the majority of the planet out of extreme poverty. In Afghanistan, we were tracking a much lower standard of literacy. It was simply, what percentage of the population is literate enough to transact at the local market without being taken advantage of. In Paktika Province, it was 13%.

Thomas Jefferson had a lot to say on education. One that strikes at the root of our discussion today is, quote, “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.”

I agree with him. Basic literacy is not a partisan issue. It is an American issue and vitally important to not only the children that our education system serves but to the health of our representative democracy, the competitiveness of our industry and the security of our Nation. It is what gives each of us and our children the individual agency needed to participate and make daily decisions.

In Montana, we have a much higher standard for literacy yet when we were working on HB 352, only 46% of Montana’s 3rd through 8th graders were reading proficient at grade level based on 2021-2022 data. 2022 to 2023 data shows that we are slightly worse at 45%. We set out to address this issue by targeting assistance and intervention earlier to improve the glideslope to 3rd grade reading proficiency with the goal of enabling our kids to learn to read by 3rd grade so that they could read to learn and build the tools to think for themselves after 3rd grade. We also know that it is harder to catch up after 3rd grade with more interventions required at greater expense in middle school and high school with prospects for success diminished.

We often get worked up about private versus public versus charter versus home school and lose sight of student outcomes, what is best for kids, and our society..