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_ 204 Item Details($) Appropriations($) ITEM 125. First Year Second Year First Year Second Year FY2025 FY2026 FY2025 FY2026 the discretion of the local school division, may include, but not be limited to, the use of: special reading teachers; trained aides; full-time early literacy tutors; volunteer tutors under the supervision of a certified teacher; computer-based reading tutorial programs; aides to instruct in-class groups while the teacher provides direct instruction to the students who need extra assistance; or extended instructional time in the school day or year for these students. Localities receiving these payments are required to match these funds based on the composite index of local ability-to-pay. d. In the event that a school division does not use the diagnostic test provided by the Department of Education in the year that serves as the basis for updating the funding formula for this program but has used it in past years, the Department of Education shall use the most recent data available for the division for the state-provided diagnostic test. e. The results of all reading diagnostic tests and reading remediation shall be discussed with the student and the student's parent prior to the student being promoted to grade four. f. Funds appropriated for Standards of Quality Remedial Summer School or At-Risk Add-On may also be used to meet the requirements of this program. 17. Standards of Learning Algebra Readiness Payments a. An additional payment of $18,646,449$18,807,402 the first year and $18,604,551$18,767,429 the second year from the Lottery Proceeds Fund shall be disbursed by the Department of Education to local school divisions for the purposes of providing math intervention services to students in grades 6, 7, 8 and 9 who are at-risk of failing the Algebra I end-of-course test, as demonstrated by their individual performance on diagnostic tests which have been approved by the Department of Education. These amounts reflect $200,000 the first year and $200,000 the second year apportioned to each school division to account for the cost of the diagnostic test. The Department of Education shall review the tests to ensure that such local test uses state-provided criteria for diagnosis of math deficiencies which are similar to those criteria used in the state-provided test. The Department of Education shall make the state-provided diagnostic test used in this program available to local school divisions. School divisions shall report the results of the diagnostic tests to the Department of Education on an annual basis at a time to be determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. b. These payments shall be based on the state's share of the cost of providing two and one-half hours of additional instruction each week for an estimated number of students in each school division at a student to teacher ratio of ten to one. The estimate number of students in each school division shall be determined by multiplying the projected number of students reported in each school division's fall membership by the percent of students that qualify for the federal Free Lunch Program. c. These payments are available to any school division that certifies to the Department of Education that an intervention program will be offered to such students and that each student who receives an intervention will be assessed again at the end of that school year. Localities receiving these payments are required to match these funds based on the composite index of local ability-to-pay. 18. English Learner Teacher Payments A payment of $165,982,653$213,236,555 the first year and $170,304,480$228,451,867 the second year from the general fund shall be disbursed by the Department of Education to local school divisions to support the state's share of professional instructional positions for English Learner teachers. Local school divisions shall provide a local match based on the composite index of local ability-to-pay. The number of such English Learner teacher positions required pursuant to the Standards of Quality are as established below: EL Student Proficiency Level SOQ Staffing Required One 1 position per 20 EL students Two 1 position per 30 EL students Three 1 position per 40 EL students Four 1 position per 50 EL students All Other Identified EL Students 1 position per 100 EL students