Among the 1,400 amendments to the House’s fiscal 2019 budget is a proposal to create a new grant program intended to help schools boost early literacy.

Ranjini Govender, the executive director of Stand for Children Massachusetts, said the program would be the first in the state to go “deep into” a small number of schools and take a multilayered approach to early literacy through efforts like targeted professional development focused on the science of learning to read.

“We know that we have an issue with literacy in Massachusetts,” Govender said. “We know most kids in Massachusetts are not able to pass their third grade next-generation reading exam, and we also know that the consequences later in life are so dire.”

Stoneham Rep. Michael Day’s amendment (256), which has 20 cosponsors, would create a competitive grant program to support literacy improvements in elementary and middle schools “by moving towards small group, differentiated instruction, using formative assessments and administering an entrance screening at kindergarten or when a student is otherwise enrolled for the first time in a Massachusetts public school.”

The Bay State Reading Institute and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would each administer $1.5 million in grant money, and districts would need to match every $2 of state funding with $1 in local funds.

Govender said the proposal would focus on high-needs schools and aim to replicate measures that have been successful in similar schools, such as providing all teachers of the same grade and subject with common planning time.