The Colorado Senate on April 4 adopted Senate Bill 200, which sponsors described as creating a universal dyslexia screening program for early elementary students and updating methods for assessing reading skills and identifying students with dyslexia.

Supporters said the bill is intended to identify struggling readers earlier so schools can target interventions. "Dyslexia — universal dyslexia screening is what this bill is about," Sponsor Senator Kolker said on the Senate floor as he urged colleagues to support the measure.

Senate Bill 200, as explained during debate, directs schools to use updated assessments to identify struggling readers and to support students with dyslexia; the education committee report removed a separate kindergarten-readiness permissiveness provision and made minor cleanups before the bill returned to the floor. "There are studies that have been done in Louisiana and Texas that show up to 50 percent of their inmates have dyslexia," Kolker said during his remarks, arguing for early identification and intervention. He also described his personal experience: his youngest daughter struggled in kindergarten and improved after targeted classroom interventions, which he said illustrated the potential benefits of screening.

Senator Mullica, a cosponsor, emphasized the bill as an early step in a broader effort to make screening and interventions more available. "This is the start. This is the framework," Mullica said, describing both family experience and the purpose of the legislation.

Multiple senators spoke in support on the floor, offering both personal accounts and policy rationales. Senator Frizzell and others described family histories in which early identification or late diagnosis affected educational and career outcomes. Senator Bright highlighted research proponents cited on the budgetary return of early childhood investments, saying screening and early intervention can be fiscally and socially beneficial. Several senators urged a unanimous vote, and the measure was adopted by the Senate.

The Senate debated only the substance of screening, assessment methods and the need for follow-up interventions; witnesses and other stakeholders were not part of the floor debate recorded in the transcript. The committee report was adopted on a voice vote; the Senate later announced that Senate Bill 200 was adopted on final passage.

Implementation details — including the specific screening instruments to be used, funding for interventions and the schedule for school districts to comply — were not detailed on the floor during the recorded debate. Sponsors and several colleagues said they anticipate follow-up work and additional measures to ensure districts have resources for interventions.

Senator Kolker framed the bill as one part of a multi-step approach: screening to identify students and then layered interventions designed for students with dyslexia. Colleagues repeatedly urged that screening complement, not replace, other existing assessments used for school readiness and reading progress.

Senate Bill 200 will proceed according to the legislative process; the recorded floor action on April 4 concluded with the Senate adopting the bill.