ACTION ITEM on SB 169/170 and HB 4284/4285. Legislation to credential students for STEM career pathway.
==> Call House Education Committee Chair Amanda Price (517-373-0838) and tell her bills affecting education should be discussed in the Education Committee not moved out to a more favorable committee to get quick passage.. This Thursday the House Education committee will vote to move SB 170 & HB 4284 to the Workforce & Talent Committee.Tell Rep. Price you oppose the entire STEM bill package and the move to Workforce & Talent. This vote is nothing more than committee shopping to get the bills passed.
Credentialing students is wrong! Education decisions for this state should NOT be made by a WORKFORCE committee.
==> Call the Workforce and Talent Development Committee and let them know you oppose the entire STEM bill package SB 169/170 and HB 4284/4285. Tell them bills affecting education should be reviewed and public hearings held in the Education committee.
Our children are NOT a workforce to be developed by educrats in Lansing!
Below is a timeline with key details to help you understand today’s action alert more clearly.
In November 2014, State Senator Proos and Representative Amanda Price introduced a set of STEM credential bills (SB 169/170 and HB 4284/4285) which would make Michigan the “first state” to certify a high school transcript/diploma for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math) in the country. When the bills were first introduced the House and Senate bills were identical; lawmakers were hoping for a quick and easy passage of the bills. That’s not what happened. Thanks to YOUR vocal opposition, the bills stalled in the Senate as they sought to find the right wording which would appease homeschool parents, retain local control, and not upset the Michigan Department of Education plan to credential students for career pathways. There is NO wording that will do all that Quite simply, it’s a BAD bill because credentialing students is a BAD idea.
After several revisions to get the bills out of the Senate Education Committee, the full Michigan Senate unanimously passed the STEM bills (SB 169/170) in early April with wording that didn’t please anyone. Consequently, the Senate and House versions of the bill became very different bills. The Senate bills moved to the House Education Committee chaired by Representative Amanda Price for consideration along with HB 4284/4285. Representative Price is the sponsor of HB 4284/4285; however, she has not held hearings on her bills.
In June, SB 169 and HB 4285 were moved to the Workforce & Talent Committee No further action was taken on SB 170 or HB 4284. This seemed strange because SB 169/170 and HB 4284/4285 are tie barred together and portions of them do NOT take effect without passing the companion bill. None of the legislative aides I spoke with at the time could adequately explain why the bills were moved out of the House Education or why only two of the four were moved. Instead, it was announced that the House Education Committee will meet on Thursday to vote to move only SB 169 and HB 4285 to the Workforce and Talent Development Committee.
This Thursday (September 10, 2015) the House is voting to re-refer the remaining two bills SB 170 and HB 4284 to the Workforce & Talent Committee. How Workforce handles it from here should be watched closely. Governor Snyder and key lawmakers need these bills passed and could just push them through fast. If we want to retain our educational freedom and not be restrained by digital badges leading to state approved credentials we MUST stay on top of this and vocally oppose the move and the legislation.
Credentialing students for workforce development is the wrong direction for education and wrong for our young people. We find it offensive that our governor and state lawmakers think kids are product or human capital to be tracked at 12 or 13 years old, into a predetermined career pathway based on data.
It’s time for Michigan lawmakers to stop playing games with the STEM bills and stop playing games with our kid’s future.