Reading Recovery is a program that gives one-on-one instruction to Grade 1 students with poor reading skills. Currently, some of the board's most struggling readers receive 30 minutes each day of intensive instruction with specially trained teachers.

Simcoe County District School Board staff said the program alone is not helping enough students and have proposed to cut it from next year's budget.

"It's not that Reading Recovery is a bad program, or an ineffective program, or anything like that, we just need something that for that investment is going to give us a greater reach," said superintendent of business services Carol McAulay.

Superintendent of instructional services Lindy Zaretsky said the program does not reach all of the students who currently read below the provincial standard. She said board data has also shown that most students have failed to retain what they learn in the program. The board says that without continued intensive support, only 20 to 30 per cent of the students who successfully complete Reading Recovery actually maintain their new reading levels in successive grades.

Despite the board stats, at a recent budget meeting some trustees said they have heard nothing but good things about the program.

"I've gotten such positive feedback from parents and kids that have gone on to be successful with it," said trustee Nancy Halbert. "Hearing the importance and the benefit of Reading Recovery, it's hard for me to shift my (thoughts) on us needing it."

Cheryl Jones, a retired Reading Recovery teacher, said the board's proposal is going to hurt its most vulnerable students. She said it does not have the students' best interest in mind.

"I am very concerned that the board is making a huge mistake, and I do think that it is based on money," she said.

She said the board's assertion that students don't retain the knowledge does not match her own experiences teaching at Prince of Wales Public School in Barrie, nor does it match international studies supporting the program.

Instead of Reading Recovery, the board is proposing a different program, Early Success, which would put struggling students in groups of five-to-seven for 30-minute sessions. Classroom teachers facilitating the lesson would receive special training from in-school literacy coaches.

Zaretsky said Early Success would help more struggling students, including those who are below the provincial reading standard but do not qualify for Reading Recovery.

Director of Education Gord Campbell said he still thinks Reading Recovery is a good program, but it alone isn't enough. Reading Recovery is currently present in about half of the SCDSB schools, and on average serves about 370 students per year. Under the current economic climate the board cannot expand Reading Recovery, and Campbell said the Early Success program would allow the board to put literacy coaches in all schools.

"I am now of the belief that if we can provide support in each and every school, to more students than we have in the past, then that is the right direction," he said.

At a recent board meeting, some trustees questioned how long the new program would take to roll out.

"There is no phasing, and no overlap, and we ourselves haven't even done a pilot project on Early Success," said Halbert. "I find that very, very hard to buy into... I think we're going to lose kids in the process of doing it."

The board said it already has resources in place and can start Early Success in September.

Jones said she is familiar with the Early Success model, and she thinks it alone won't to do enough to help the lowest level readers. She said the programs would work better in tandem, with Early Success used to help mid-level readers and sustain the progress the low-level readers make through Reading Recovery.

The board first instituted Reading Recovery almost a decade ago, and since then has invested a lot of money into it, said trustee Rob North. Reading Recovery requires intensive teacher training, and he's concerned with the board starting over with a new program.

Even if the board wanted to move forward with Reading Recovery though, declining enrolment has put further strain on the SCDSB's budget.

The Ministry of Education funds school boards on a per-pupil basis. McAulay, said the board is expected to lose about 1,200 students by the next school year, which translates to over $11 million in provincial funding. The decline is expected to continue for the next few years.

By cutting Reading Recovery next year, the board is expecting to save about $1 million, after it pays about $300,000 for the implementation of the new program, McAulay said.

She said the decision to move away from Reading Recovery wasn't a result of the current financial situation, but could have been accelerated by it.

"We probably would have liked to move away from Reading Recovery in a more measured pace," she said.

While Reading Recovery received a lot of attention from board trustees, it wasn't the only area of the budget where cuts are proposed.

McAulay, who is also superintendent of the board's information technology services, said the decreasing cost of some computer and technology equipment has made it cheaper to buy new items than to employ people to repair them. That, coupled with other advances, is contributing to a proposed cut of 10 fulltime IT positions.

Other cost-cutting measures include a proposal to have principals at small schools take on part-time teaching positions.

At schools with less than 200 students, principals would be required to spend about 20 per cent of their time teaching in classrooms. The rest would be devoted to regular administrative tasks.

The board is continuing budget meetings, with one scheduled for May 13 and another for May 20.