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BATON ROUGE, LA – Senate Majority Leader Sharon Hewitt introduced SB163, known as the “Back to Basics in Math Bill”, to the Senate Education Committee. Hewitt’s bill will provide 4th through 8th grade math teachers with additional support in teaching mathematics by building on foundational math skills. Louisiana 4th graders currently rank 40th in the nation, according to NAEP, for math scores and 8th graders rank 44th. The bill aims to dramatically increase these rankings by going back to basic principles in teaching math.

“It is unacceptable as a parent and grandparent that our kids rank near the bottom in math” Hewitt said. “My bill is a common sense approach that goes back to the basics of teaching math, the same math that I learned growing up in the Lake Charles school system and used while earning my engineering degree from LSU.” 

This proposed law is a critical step in ensuring that students in public schools receive high-quality math education. By improving the foundational numeracy skills of teachers, students will be better prepared for success in math and other subjects. The professional development will be developed for Louisiana, using Louisiana standards. No federal or state funds are being requested to fund this legislation.  DOE will use ESSR funds to provide the teacher development training.

Bill – Link