Bipartisan literacy bill focuses on phonics

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A bipartisan bill in Congress would direct federal literacy grants toward reading programs based on phonics.

Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) is sponsoring the Science of Reading Act of 2026. It prioritizes federal literacy grants for programs using the science-backed teaching method of phonics.

“That works best not only for kids with dyslexia, but everybody from the bottom to the top,” she said.

Phonics focuses on the sound of letters and stringing them together. Houchin said some schools have moved away from that method.

“We changed the way we teach reading in America to this three-queueing method, which is context clues and sight words and looking at pictures and guessing… children with learning disabilities will never learn to read that way,” Houchin said.

She said the literacy issue is personal for her.

“My son’s dyslexic and so I come to this as a policy maker as a parent, we know that there are so many negative impacts for students who never learn to read. We want to make sure that no student in America has to feel that way,” Houchin said.

The bill passed the House last week with bipartisan support. It now sits in the Senate, with hopes of being considered before the session ends in December.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) chairs the committee overseeing education. He said the House bill “is a good first step” and that “Congress has a moment we should seize before the end of this year.”