This bill, titled the Building Opportunities for Student Success (BOSS) Act, makes broad changes to K–12 law to require and support structured literacy instruction, strengthen early reading identification and intervention, revise teacher preparation and certification requirements for literacy, create a temporary grant program, and recodify and repeal various existing statutes. It adds new statutory sections, amends many RCWs, recodifies RCW 28A.320.202 and RCW 28B.10.033 into new locations, and repeals eight listed RCW sections. The bill creates a new, subject-to-appropriation READ (Reading to Ensure Academic Development) grant program to award up to 125 grants beginning September 1, 2026, up to $75,000 per year for four years per awarded elementary school, with funds required to be used to hire reading coaches; the READ grant program section expires August 1, 2031 and OSPI must evaluate and report on the program in 2029 and 2030. The bill requires every school district to implement a structured literacy program for students in kindergarten through fourth grade (encouraging phase-in in 2026-27 and requiring full implementation by the 2028-29 school year), defines essential components of structured literacy, and expressly prohibits the three-cueing (MSV) model in that program. It requires districts to identify at-risk readers using specified screening tools and to provide intensive reading improvement strategies for third graders who are below grade level; beginning September 1, 2028, required interventions and supports must meet specified recodified RCW requirements and be delivered by educators who have completed the newly required educator training program. The act also revises third-grade promotion rules so promotion requires meeting the statewide ELA standard, passing an alternative assessment, or demonstrating sufficient skills via a portfolio, and it sets parental notification and consent procedures for intensive reading strategies and specific rules when a school’s third-grade results exceed 40% basic/below basic. The bill imposes new professional standards and training requirements: the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board must adopt revised reading and writing literacy endorsement standards by September 1, 2027, educator preparation programs must incorporate them by the 2028-29 school year, and teachers with relevant endorsements or assignments must complete a specified educator training program for certificate renewal on or after September 1, 2029. OSPI is directed to publish up to ten years of longitudinal student measures, develop and post an educator training program and refresher course, monitor compliance, develop dyslexia guidance, and report certain information to the Legislature; OSPI must also compare state math standards to the Singapore method and report by December 31, 2026 (that math-comparison section expires June 30, 2027). The act includes mentor and beginning educator support program requirements and field-placement partnership plans for teacher prep programs, with several provisions phased to take effect September 1, 2028. Some important statutory text and implementation details are missing from the extracted material: portions of recodified RCW 28A.320.202 and several subsections appear incomplete or cut off, full amendment language for numerous referenced RCWs is not provided, and specific appropriation or enforcement details are not included in these extracts. Where text is incomplete or cross-references point to recodified sections not included here, the exact operative language and some implementation mechanics are uncertain.

If enacted, the bill will require every school district to adopt a structured literacy program for kindergarten through fourth grade (with phasing beginning 2026-27 and full implementation by 2028-29), expand screening and intensive reading supports (including specific third-grade promotion rules and schoolwide interventions when a school has more than 40% of third graders scoring basic or below), and create a READ grant program (subject to appropriation) that can fund up to 125 elementary schools at up to $75,000 per year for four years to hire reading coaches. Practically, this increases duties and reporting for OSPI (publishing ten years of longitudinal student data, monitoring compliance, issuing reports on READ grants and a Singapore math comparison), requires educator preparation programs and teacher endorsements to be updated and teachers to complete new training for certificate renewal (deadlines in 2027–2029), and obligates ESDs to deliver training and report participation; districts may use existing learning assistance funds but many districts will likely face added staffing, training, and program costs to meet the new requirements while grant funding is limited and not guaranteed. Who is most affected: elementary schools and districts with low third-grade ELA outcomes (they must implement K–4 interventions and compete for limited READ grants), teachers and mentors tied to reading/literacy (new training and endorsement changes with set deadlines), OSPI and ESDs (expanded program, monitoring, and reporting responsibilities), and parents of impacted students (required meetings and consent processes for intensive strategies). Important implementation details and funding levels are not fully included in the extracted text, so the exact scope of budgets, enforcement mechanisms, and some recodified statutory language remain unclear.