On Monday, the Senate passed the bipartisan and bicameral S. 41, the READ Act Reauthorization Act of 2023. The Basic Education Coalition is grateful to Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) for their leadership on the legislation, which reauthorizes the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development (READ) Act (P.L. 115-56) for an additional five fiscal years. It is now up to the House of Representatives to pass this critically important legislation, which will continue efforts to equitably expand access to basic education for children around the world.
The original READ Act required the U.S. to prioritize work with partner countries, other donors, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and nongovernmental and civil society organizations, including faith-based organizations, to promote quality basic education through programs and activities that:
1. respond to the needs of developing countries to achieve improvements in literacy;
2. strengthen education systems and expands access to safe learning;
3. promote education as a foundation for sustained economic growth; and
4. monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and quality of basic education programs in partner countries.
Since the READ Act was enacted, the United States Government has made tremendous progress advancing quality basic education around the world. In FY22 alone, basic education programs reached over 32 million learners in 97 countries around the world, distributed over 12 million textbooks and other learning materials, and trained and provided professional development to more than 820,000 teachers and educators.
The READ Act Reauthorization Act of 2023 will ensure that the U.S. continues to prioritize increasing access to quality education for some of the hundreds of millions of young people who are currently not in school, or who do not have access to education because of conflict or political instability.
In addition to its bipartisan, bicameral support, the READ Act Reauthorization Act has broad support from diverse civil society stakeholders, coalitions, and partners.
BEC once again applauds the bipartisan efforts in the Senate to pass the bill and urges the House of Representatives to take up S. 41 and pass the bill as soon as possible.
You can read Senator Durbin and Rubio’s joint press release on Senate passage of the bill here.