LANSING – Legislation designed to provide more flexibility in the Michigan Merit Curriculum for students who are interested in taking more career technical courses passed the House on Thursday.

Supporters and opponents debated again Thursday whether the bills (HB 4465 and HB 4466 , approved 81-26 and 87-20) diminish the quality of education in the state.

Rep. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), sponsor of HB 4465, said the bills do not reduce rigor in science, math and foreign language. McBroom said the bills allow for more flexibility for the students who would benefit more from take welding, music or art classes.

“It’s so important for us to change the way we think about what is more important and what is more rigorous than something else,” he said.

Rep. Theresa Abed (D-Grand Ledge) said the Michigan Merit Curriculum is a one-size-fits-all curriculum, and that the bills would open more doors for students.

Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) said the bill diminishes rigor within the state’s curriculum while other parts of the world increase rigor in math, science and foreign language.

Irwin said cuts to school funding are the real conflict. He said diminishing the rigor in the state’s school curriculum is not the solution, and before the state cut funding to schools, vocational programs were better able to develop.

“Every time someone says you can’t keep throwing money at the problem, I want to say, ‘You get what you pay for,'” he said.

The legislation would require students to take two years of foreign language, but allow a student to opt out. The bills also would offer flexibility in math and science courses by adding agricultural science as an approved course and clarifying a student could meet certain benchmarks in Algebra II rather than requiring the course outright.

The first bill saw a change that would allow students to receive part of their physical education half-credit through participation in an extracurricular activity involving sports or physical activity. However, it would have to be approved by the school district or public school academy.

An approved amendment on the second bill would allow high school students to take a math course in either of their final two years in high school, rather than requiring students to take a math course in their final year.

Another change would require school districts or public school academies to release annually a written notification to parents stating what a personal curriculum is and ensuring if a parent requests one, the school would have to provide one.

Rep. Joel Johnson (R-Clare), sponsor of HB 4466, said students should be exposed to technical careers in high school. Johnson said more students are graduating without knowing how to fix a leaky faucet or a broken lawn mower, and without young people to fill technical jobs, bills for those kinds of repairs will increase.

However, some education groups opposed to the legislation believe the bills weaken the Michigan Merit Curriculum. The Great Lakes Education Project, a pro-school choice group said: “Michigan House of Representatives today passed bills to water down our high school graduation requirements. Sounds like ‘Race to the Middle’ to us.”

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