The Secretary of Education is authorized to make competitive grants to state education agencies. The states that receive funding will then make subgrants on a competitive basis to high-poverty local school districts. State education agencies may make two kinds of subgrants local reading improvement grants and tutorial assistance grants. These grants will be sufficient to support two-year projects. States will have three years to spend the funds.
All states are eligible to apply for a reading excellence grant.
A state that wishes to participate must establish a reading and literacy partnership with the governor, chief state school officer, the chair and ranking minority member of committees in the state legislature responsible for education policy. The partnerships also involve representatives of local districts eligible to receive subgrants under the program, community-based organizations, state directors of federal programs supporting reading instruction, parents, teachers and family literacy service providers. Eligible applicants for the local reading improvement grants include local school districts that have at least one school in Title I improvement status, have the highest or second-highest percentages of poverty in the state or serve the highest or second highest number of poor children in the state. Eligible applicants for the tutorial assistance grants include the above-listed districts as well as those districts that are located in an Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community.