Governor Terry Branstad is calling on legislators to boost state spending for the Iowa Reading Research Center. A budget plan that’s ready for debate in the Iowa Senate would give the center two-million dollars in state taxpayer support for the next year, but Branstad wants almost double that much.

That “Early Warning System” — developed by the Iowa Reading Research Center — comes in the form of twice yearly tests that show if children are reading well enough. The center is to set up intensive summer literacy programs for students who aren’t reading at grade level. Iowa Reading Research Center director Michelle Hosp says recent tests indicate 25 percent of third graders aren’t reading at a third grade level.

Starting in 2017, third graders in Iowa will not be able to advance to fourth grade if they are not reading at a third grade level. That most recent tests found more than eight-thousand Iowa third graders were not reading at the third grade level.