Puerto Rico Still Has No Reading First Funds

Nearly four years after Reading First was authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act, federal officials are renegotiating with Puerto Rico--one of the nation's neediest jurisdictions--on a revised plan for satisfying the program's criteria. Still, the self-governing U.S. commonwealth, the only jurisdiction that has yet to receive money from the $1 billion-a-year initiative, will not receive some $60 million from the first two years of the six-year grant, after failing to spend the money allocated in fiscal 2003, and declining another payment for fiscal 2004. Puerto Rico officials disagree with the instructional model outlined in the approved plan and the methods for teaching reading in English in the early grades. The U.S. Department of Education describes the commonwealth's new proposal as "under development." Puerto Rico officials have until September 2006 to reapply, which federal officials say they hope will finally put programs in place to improve reading instruction there.