(1) The early literacy fund is hereby created in the state treasury and is referred to in this section as the "fund". The fund shall consist of:

(a) Any moneys remaining in the read-to-achieve cash fund as of June 30, 2012;

(b) and (c) Repealed.

(d)

(I) For the 2013-14 budget year, an amount equal to sixteen million dollars from the state education fund, and for the 2014-15 budget year, and each budget year thereafter, an amount equal to thirty-four million dollars from the state education fund. On July 1, 2013, and on July 1 each year thereafter, the state treasurer shall transfer the appropriate amount from the state education fund to the early literacy fund.

(II) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that, for the purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, providing students enrolled in kindergarten, first, second, or third grade with the instructional programming, intervention instruction, and support necessary to ensure that students, by the completion of third grade, can demonstrate a level of competency in reading skills that is necessary to support them in achieving the academic standards and expectations applicable to the fourth-grade curriculum is a program for accountable education reform and may therefore receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution.

(e) Any other moneys that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund.

(2) The state treasurer may invest any moneys in the fund not expended for the purposes specified in subsection (4) of this section as provided by law. The state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the investment and deposit of moneys in the fund to the fund. Any amount remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the fund and shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or to any other fund.

(3) Repealed.

(4) The money in the fund is subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly to the department. The department shall annually expend the money in the fund as follows:

(a) Repealed.

(b) Beginning in the 2013-14 budget year and for budget years thereafter:

(I) The department shall use one million dollars, as provided in the annualgeneral appropriations bill, to provide literacy support in the form of professional development delivered by experts in literacy on a regional basis to local education providers to assist them in implementing the requirements of this part 12;

(II) The department shall use at least four million dollars, as provided in the annual general appropriations bill, for grants awarded through the early literacy grant program created in section 22-7-1211;

(III) The department may use up to one percent of the money annually appropriated from the fund, as provided in the annual general appropriations bill, to offset the costs of administering this part 12; and

(IV) The department shall allocate the remaining money annually credited to the fund, as provided in the annual general appropriations bill, to the local education providers as per-pupil intervention money calculated pursuant to subsection (5) of this section.

(5) (a) (I) The department shall allocate the per-pupil intervention moneys to the local education providers as required in subparagraph (IV) of paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of this section by first dividing the amount of moneys available by the total number of students enrolled in kindergarten and first, second, and third grades in public schools in the state who were identified as having significant reading deficiencies and received instructional services pursuant to READ plans in the budget year preceding the year in which the moneys are allocated. The department shall then allocate to each local education provider an amount equal to said per-pupil amount multiplied by the number of students enrolled in kindergarten and first, second, and third grades in public schools operated by the local education provider who were identified as having significant reading deficiencies and received instructional services pursuant to READ plans in the budget year preceding the year in which the moneys are allocated.

(II) Repealed.

(b) A local education provider may use the per-pupil intervention money only as follows:

(I) To provide full-day kindergarten services to students enrolled in one or more of the public schools operated by the local education provider;

(II) To operate a summer school literacy program as described in section 22-7-1212;

(III) To purchase tutoring services in reading for students who are receiving instructional services pursuant to READ plans;

(III.5) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2018.)

(IV) To provide other targeted, scientifically based or evidence-based intervention services to students who are receiving instructional services pursuant to READ plans, which services are approved by the department;

(V) For a local education provider that is a small rural school district as defined in section 22-7-1211 (4)(a), to purchase from a board of cooperative services the services of a literacy specialist to provide educator professional development in literacy and other support in implementing the requirements of this part 12; or

(VI) To provide professional development programming to support educators in teaching literacy; except that a local education provider may not use more than fifteen percent of the per-pupil intervention money received in a budget year for this purpose. Professional development programming authorized in this subsection (5)(b)(VI) may include literacy coaches who provide job-embedded, ongoing professional development to support kindergarten-through-third-grade teacher competence in the evidence-based or scientifically based teaching of phonemic awareness; phonics; vocabulary development; reading fluency, including oral skills; and reading comprehension.

(c) Each budget year, prior to receiving per-pupil intervention money, each local education provider shall submit to the department, for informational purposes, an explanation of the manner in which it will use the money in the coming budget year and the number of students for which the local education provider may receive per-pupil intervention money. If the local education provider intends to provide a service described in subsection (5)(b)(IV) of this section, the department shall review the service and provide the per-pupil intervention money for the service only if the service meets the requirements specified in subsection (5)(b)(IV) of this section. Upon the request of the department, a local education provider shall provide specific expenditure information to the department that specifies the manner in which the local education provider spent the per-pupil intervention money it received in a budget year.

(d) In using the per-pupil intervention moneys allocated pursuant to this subsection (5), each local education provider shall ensure that some type of intervention, as described in paragraph (b) of this subsection (5), is available to each student who is identified as having a significant reading deficiency and who is enrolled in kindergarten or first, second, or third grade in a school operated by the local education provider.

(6) Each local education provider shall ensure that the per-pupil intervention money it receives in each budget year is used to improve the reading competency of students enrolled in kindergarten and grades one through three and does not replace other money that would otherwise be used for this purpose.