Majority of Sacramento County children do not read at grade level, report shows
Only 38% of third graders in Sacramento County are reading at grade level, according to a report from the nonprofit Sacramento Literacy Foundation. These rates, researchers said, is a “crisis.”
Sacramento County’s rates fall slightly lower in proficiency than statewide rates, representatives from the Sacramento Literacy Foundation told the county Board of Supervisors April 8. Foundation staff urged the board to include reading initiatives in their educational and municipal budgeting.
“When it comes to the county, we’re just asking that municipal budgeting add an educational line item to help shoulder some of these deficits,” said Rigo Tovar, a program associate at the Sacramento Literacy Foundation. “(We want to) work alongside private philanthropy to make up for these deficits so the highest need kids, the Title I kids are not lost.”
The foundation said it is uncertain what funds the California Department of Education will get from the U.S. Department of Education. In preparation, the foundation said they will begin advocating in Washington D.C. to protect Sacramento County’s Title I funds from federal cuts. Title I funds are set aside for school districts with high percentages of low income families. The County has $267 million allocated to them, according to their report.
“If this money could potentially leave the county, then we need to figure out how to get it back in the county, or else less kids will be reading than ever,” Tovar said.
Lower literacy in unincorporated Sacramento
Students in unincorporated Sacramento County struggle with literacy even more, with 35% reading at grade level, according to the foundation. Individual rates were at its lowest in Twin Rivers Unified School District at 31%, River Delta Joint Unified at 28% and Robla Elementary at 21%. All three districts have students who are predominantly socioeconomically disadvantaged, the report stated.
“Kids in pre-K through second grade are learning to read, and from the third grade and beyond, they read to learn,” Tovar said. “It’s all about that early childhood literacy intervention, as we want to get these kids in the earlier grades.”
In response to the foundation’s findings, Supervisor Pat Hume said in many cases, there are households who struggle to survive financially and do whatever to get by. As a result, reading is seen as a “waste of time,” he said, and flies under the radar of priorities.
“I think, up here on the dais, we get it,” Hume said. “But the whole purpose of this foundation is to make able-minded citizens, and so much of that is foundational in being able to read, and it starts there. The numbers speak for themselves, as far as how far behind.”
The Board of Supervisors also reviewed chronic absenteeism rates across school districts in the county. In the lower reading proficient school districts, there is an increased chronic absences among students, the report showed. While not directly connected, Tovar clarified, the two statistics show equitable issues within education. Usually students who are chronically absent do not have proper transportation for school, he added.
“If you’re behind, then everything that you’re doing next is a struggle in the classroom,” said Messiah Millares, the foundation’s literacy fundraiser, during last week’s meeting. “And those kids are struggling a lot.”
The foundation recommended the county support literacy interventions to advance low rates. In their work, these interventions have a “proven track record” in improving early childhood literacy, the foundation’s report stated. These also encouraged the inclusion of culturally relevant literature, so children can see themselves represented ethnically in books.
Millares shared his concerns for how these rates will have on students in Sacramento County. Learning will become harder as students get older, and they will continuously face problems in participating in the economy or in democracy as an adult, according to the report.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
