It’s taken four decades, but using phonics to teach English soon could be state policy. Phonics is where kids are taught a language with a phonetic alphabet by sounding out the letters and separate syllables. Unfortunately, in many schools students still are taught “whole word” reading.” The kids are supposed to recognize a complete word, such as “incomprehensible.”

Needless to say, it’s not working.

Assembly Bill 1454 is carried by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and has the backing of the powerful California Teachers Association. It has been rewritten to allow some leeway on reading methods by local school districts if they forego state funding for reading instruction. The gist is that the California Board of Education must adopt “Evidence-based means of teaching foundation

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