The Republican-controlled Michigan House of Representatives adopted a bill Tuesday that would give the Legislature the final OK over changes to the state’s curriculum guidance to local schools. Currently, the Michigan State Board of Education adopts that guidance based on recommendations from state Department of Education experts.
Last year, the state board met with resistance on new guidance that includes advice on instructing students about gender identity and sexual orientation. The elected board is controlled by Democrats.
“We need to make sure that there’s one more check that the people of Michigan are represented for what their children are going to be taught in school,” said Representative Gina Johnsen (R-Portland), who sponsored the bill. “Especially for matters that are going to affect all the students across the whole state, why wouldn’t we have another checkpoint where House and Senate both have to weigh in?”
Johnsen’s legislation would require changes to the guidance to be ratified by the House and the Senate via a joint resolution. The bill was adopted on a mostly party-line vote.
Representative Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth) who serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the bill would further politicize education policy and make it harder to update curriculum standards.
“We learn more as time goes along. So, just incremental change is a lot easier when you take the politics out of curriculum decisions,” he said. “When you have a legislature who decides that, it’s going to fit a certain ideology depending on the partisan makeup of that legislature.”
The bill now goes to the Michigan Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said she is not interested in taking it up.
