Manteca Unified Has Been Using an Illegal Reading Test on Kindergartners for at Least a Year. The State Knew. Nobody Stopped It.

Since at least June 2025, thousands of kindergartners, first-graders, and second-graders in Manteca Unified School District have been assessed using a reading screener that California law prohibits. The district has been administering NWEA MAP — a widely marketed commercial assessment — to its youngest students under a five-year contract now entering its fourth year. The California Department of Education's approved screener list, mandated under Education Code § 53008, does not include NWEA MAP. It never has.

The law is not ambiguous. Section 53008 requires districts to use only state-approved instruments when screening kindergarten through second grade students for reading difficulties. The approved tools — Amira Learning, Amplify mCLASS with DIBELS 8, Stanford ROAR, and UCSF Multitudes — are the only screeners the state has determined meet the technical and equity standards required for use with California's youngest readers. Manteca Unified is using none of them.

The State Knew in December

This is not a case where a district was left without guidance. CDE's Chief Communications and Engagement Officer Liz Sanders confirmed on April 4, 2026, in a written statement to Dismal Freedom Press, that the California Department of Education notified Manteca Unified of the approved screener requirements on December 17, 2024. More than four months passed. The district did not switch screeners. It continued administering NWEA MAP.

When Dismal Freedom Press submitted a formal California Public Records Act request — CPRA Request MUSD-2026-0301 — seeking documentation of the district's response to that notification, Manteca Unified's outside legal counsel, Carter Nott of Spinelli Donald Nott, sent a refusal letter dated April 10, 2026. DFP responded in writing on April 12. The district has not produced the requested records.

"Working Urgently"

On April 13, 2026 April 13, 2026 — the deadline DFP had setmdash; the deadline DFP had set for a right-of-reply response — CDE's Liz Sanders responded directly to DFP's inquiry. Her statement read in part:

"We are working urgently to get in contact with MUSD regarding this compliance issue."

Sanders also attached a copy of CDE's April 3, 2026 outreach letter to Manteca Unified regarding the Ed. Code § 53008 compliance matter. That document is in DFP's possession.

The word "urgently" appeared nowhere in CDE's earlier communications about this matter. It appears now, in writing, after a year of a district administering a non-compliant screener to children learning to read.

Thurmond Didn't Answer

On April 11, 2026, Dismal Freedom Press sent a formal right-of-reply inquiry to the press office of State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. The letter posed three questions:

• Does the State Superintendent have a response to CDE's documented failure to enforce compliance after notifying a district in December 2024?
• What enforcement mechanism, if any, does CDE intend to use to bring Manteca Unified into compliance, and on what timeline?
• Does the State Superintendent believe CDE's current enforcement process adequately protects students' rights where districts have documented records of procedural non-compliance?

The deadline was 5:00 p.m. on April 13, 2026. Thurmond's personal press office did not respond. The reply DFP received came from the institutional CDE communications office — not from the Superintendent's office and not from anyone representing his gubernatorial campaign.

That distinction matters. Thurmond is a declared candidate for Governor of California. The enforcement failures documented here occurred under his direct institutional leadership of the California Department of Education. He was asked, directly, whether he has a response. He does not appear to have one.

What the Law Requires

Education Code § 53008 requires California school districts to administer a state-approved reading screener to students in kindergarten through second grade. The screener is meant to identify students who may have dyslexia or other reading difficulties as early as possible, so intervention can begin. CDE's approved list is not a suggestion. It reflects instruments that have been vetted for accuracy, bias screening, and alignment with California's literacy standards.

Using an unapproved screener does not satisfy the law — and means that students in Manteca Unified may have been assessed using a tool that has not met those standards. Manteca Unified is in year four of a five-year NWEA contract. The district has a financial interest in continuing to use the tool it has already paid for. California law does not permit that interest to override the screener mandate.

What Happens Next

CDE states it is "working urgently" to bring Manteca Unified into compliance. It has not specified what enforcement mechanism it intends to use, on what timeline, or what consequences — if any — the district will face for more than a year of non-compliance while students were being screened with a tool the state has not approved.

Dismal Freedom Press will continue to report on this matter. If you are a current or former Manteca Unified employee, parent, or community member with information relevant to this investigation, contact tips@radiofreeamerica.press.

Originally reported by Dismal Freedom Press. Republished on RFA with permission..