County Commissioner Tim Boyd said he questions the effectiveness of the Read 20 pre-K literacy program and wants the director to come before the County Commission to answer questions.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger defended the program, noting that it was the creation of former County Mayor Claude Ramsey.
Commissioner Boyd said the low literacy level hearing of students entering school remains a top problem in Hamilton County.
He said of Read 20, "I am very perplexed about their numbers and have asked them to help me understand how they can claim to have:
1. Distributed 500 books per school day for 10 years
2. How almost one million books distributed have a value of over $11 million.
3. How they have interacted with almost 530,000 pre-K children (ages 2-4) in our county over the past 10 years when the entire K-12 student population in Hamilton County has never been more than 43,000.
"The quick math I did just does not add up."
Commissioner Boyd added, "Today I asked the chairman of the commission to formally ask the mayor to have the director of this program come before the commission and explain these numbers and tell us her plan to improve pre-K literacy in our county. It seems to me this program as currently managed has been ineffective over the past 10 years."
He said the county is paying $300,000 for the program that primarily goes for salaries for its three employees. He said, "That adds up to over $2 million for the last 10 years. They have had 10 years to help turn around the low literacy level and it has not happened."
County Mayor Coppinger said the three members of the Read 20 staff do not hand out the books, but work in partnership with a number of other agencies, including United Way and the health department.
He noted that the program is heading up the upcoming Harvest Moon Maize at the Riverpark with an emphasis on reading.
The county mayor said it is hard to define literacy levels and program effectiveness, but he said, "I am certainly not in favor of doing away with a program that is trying to help."
County Mayor Coppinger said that and other county programs are explained in detail at the annual budget workshops, which he said Commissioner Boyd is unable to attend because he has an out-of-town job.
Commissioner Boyd said County Mayor Coppinger "doesn't understand going out in the real world to make a living because he has never had a job like that."