Governor Kay Ivey announced that she supported a delay in the Alabama Literacy Act’s third grade reading requirement earlier this week, and it looks like she is going to get her way.

During a Friday appearance on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” State Representative Terri Collins (R-Decatur) announced that she fully supported Governor Ivey’s proposed delay.

This is pretty notable given that Collins was not only the sponsor of the bill but was also its most ardent defender.

The Alabama Literacy Act is designed to improve the reading skills of Alabama students early enough to set them on the right path for the future.

She argued that the data gap caused by pandemic learning makes the delay important and inevitable.

Proponents of the act have argued that whether the implementation takes place this year or the next, the same problems are going to exist and we need to rip the bandaid off.

But, in the end, the delay is coming, and those who support that delay say it will only be for one year, not the multiple-year delay the Alabama Education Association sought.

Later in the same program Collins appeared on, State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) surmised that the support of Ivey, Collins, the education establishment and the previous legislative support for a delay pretty much seal the deal.

This means that Alabama’s third graders who can’t read will move on to the fourth grade for one more year and then the retention piece of the Alabama Literacy Act will kick in for good.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.