Mississippi’s approach to providing tailored instruction for students with dyslexia has been a hit-or-miss effort, mostly miss.

How much help a child with dyslexia will be provided depends largely on what school the child attends.

That’s why we are pleased that the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has created a certified academic language therapist (CALT) position to assist students with reading impairments, most commonly dyslexia.

Assistant Superintendent Anna Guntharp, who has a focus on federal programs and special education, found funds for the position within the district’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II designation. The position will help give students a more focused approach to read proficiently.

Though the district will look to hire one CALT for the time being, there is a larger plan in place to send 14 teachers within the district to become CALTs beginning in the fall. Assistant Superintendent Anna Guntharp said there are 20 students in the district who have been diagnosed with dyslexia.

While many states require Individual Education Plans (IEP) for students diagnosed with dyslexia, Mississippi has no such requirement. In fact, public schools have very few requirements aimed at aiding dyslexic students. It does require school districts to conduct four hours of awareness training for dyslexia and other disorders for teachers, but other than that how many resources schools devote to dyslexia is up to the individual district.

The legislature has long been aware of the need for dyslexia programs in public schools. But in a legislature where the anti-public education sentiment is strong, its response was to craft a law that provides scholarships for up to $5,800 for dyslexic students to transfer to schools that do have dyslexia programs, including private schools, under the guise of “school choice.”

The legislation has been around since 2012, but the scholarship program has been a flop. Last year, only 300 students took advantage of the scholarship, just 0.1 percent of Mississippi students.

Meanwhile, according to a study by the Yale Center For Dyslexia and Creativity, 1 in 5 Americans are affected by dyslexia.

Until the legislature recognizes the scope of this issue and provides funding to ensure that all school districts have the resources needed to help our dyslexic students, it’s up to the school districts to provide that help.

We applaud the SOCSD for recognizing this need and taking action and hope that our other school districts will follow suit.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.