House votes to restore reading retention law

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The Michigan House approved a bill June 3 to reinstate a law that prevented social promotion of third graders who are not proficient in reading.

The House passed the bill 57 to 49, mostly along party lines. Rep. Timothy Beson of Bay City was the only Republican who voted with Democrats to oppose the bill.

House Bill 5520, sponsored by Rep. Brad Paquette, R-Niles, also includes provisions for screening and dyslexia support.

The law, according to the current language of the bill, would provide some exemptions to the reading retention requirement that was repealed by Democratic leadership in 2023.

“It was difficult for a high school teacher, like me, to have learners comprehend the Federalist Papers when they are passed on through formative grades without the skills required,” Paquette said in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential. He said the legislation allows reasonable opt-outs while maintaining that reading ability is paramount for learning.

“The bill would help ensure that schools implement the most effective reading interventions, and that students are prepared with the literacy skills they need to be successful in the fourth grade,” said Molly Macek, junior high/high school principal at Nouvel Catholic Central and board scholar at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Democratic House leadership called the bill politically motivated, according to a Gongwer report. House minority leader Ranjeev Puri, from Canton Township, accused Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, of using children as political pawns.

Hall, Puri said, “will say whatever he needs to win a political interview and win a political moment with a batch of moments and gimmicks.”

Puri did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Democrats have long maintained that the legislation causes racial inequity among Black and Latino students.

“Holding students back reinforces achievement gaps, racial inequality and disproportionately impacts low-income communities,” Rep. Nate Shannon, D-Sterling Heights, said in 2023, according to Chalkbeat.

Senate Democrats echoed the sentiment in a 2023 press release.

“In addition to grade retention not helping kids to read,” the press release said, “there is also evidence that the retention piece of the law is implemented inequitably in Michigan, with Black and Latino students, students with lower incomes, and students in lower-performing districts more likely to be retained.”

Student achievement records for the Detroit and Flint districts, which have a large representation of Black and Latino students, tell another story.

Out of 3,361 Detroit third graders, 3,029, or 90%, were not proficient in M-STEP English Language Arts scores when the reading law was enacted in 2016-17, according to MiSchoolData.

That figure had fallen by the year before Democrats repealed the reading retention law. In 2022-23 M-STEP testing, 3,459 students out of 3,971, or 87%, were considered not proficient. Overall, third graders in Detroit schools saw a three-percentage-point increase in literacy.

In Flint, reading proficiency fell by four percentage points after the repeal of the reading law. In 2023, 91%, or 254 out of 279 Flint third graders, were partially or not proficient in reading. By 2025, 245 out of 259 third graders, or 95%, were partially or not proficient.

CapCon reported in April that Michigan had posted some progress under the third-grade reading law, moving from 41st place nationwide for fourth-grade reading in 2016 to 32nd place in 2019, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The state currently ranks 44th for fourth-grade reading.