HD 89 Representative Becky Evans now includes service on a newly-created 30-member statewide Georgia Literacy Council and work at the intersection of social justice and climate change to her already busy schedule representing a central and south DeKalb County district.
House Speaker Jon Burns appointed Rep. Evans to the council where she will serve alongside Literacy and education specialists, local and state board of education members, local superintendents, librarians, and dyslexia specialists until December 2026. The group will review best practices in other states and make recommendations for legislation and funding which would lead to badly needed literacy improvements across Georgia.
“Two years ago, I redoubled my efforts to attack Georgia’s record low literacy rates. I wrote legislation, helped to create a Literacy Study Committee, and in 2023 worked with many experts to create legislation requiring developmentally appropriate evidence based literacy instruction (EBLI), aka the Science of Reading, training requirements for childcare providers and school teachers. Ultimately I was successful in getting the early education training standard included into HB 538, which also requires reading screeners for K – 3 students, and implementing intervention plans for students who show signs of significant reading deficiencies, hopefully increasing literacy rates in our schools. I also worked hard to help create the Literacy Council, and I am honored to serve. As a council member, I will fight to align our literacy initiative efforts to produce results – every child being able to read – so we can all ensure the brightest possible future for our children.” she said of the appointment.
As the world has experienced record setting high temperatures in recent days, Rep. Evans notes she is also spending her summer break meeting with experts at Emory and attending national conferences to learn more about the intersection between environmental justice, climate protection and public health and how to build coalitions and strategic alliances which will lead to a clean energy economy and protection of the environment. She hopes to establish a bi-partisan environmental and clean energy caucus for the General Assembly.
First elected in 2018 after defeating an eight-term incumbent, Rep. Evans is the daughter of a Texas Methodist minister whose commitment to civil rights and social justice set an example for her own career as a servant leader. She and her husband raised their three adult children in DeKalb County, where the family has lived for more than three decades. Read more about her district and her biography here.
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