CLICK BELOW TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH STATE SEN. MCBROOM
Upper Peninsula State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Norway) has proposed legislation that he says would allow more high school students to enter apprenticeship programs, and allow schools to “count” them as full-time students. McBroom says this would help districts get the funding they deserve, and would help more students be able to get the credit hours they want to graduate from high school closer to a job of their choice.
“I started working on this project, brought to light to me by some of the superintendents and teachers up in Marquette,” McBroom told RRN News. “Michigan is far, far behind other states when it comes to high school, in-school apprenticeship programs. Right now, we only count students who are out working, that have out-of-the-classroom working experiences, as part of their graduation requirements. We are not counting them as full-time students. We are only counting them as part-time. That’s hampering their ability to get out of school, and it’s hampering the school’s ability to count them as full-time students.”
McBroom testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday about his legislation. Also testifying, via Zoom, were Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District Superintendent Alan Tulppo and Trent Bellingar, who’s CTE director for the Delta Schoolcraft ISD. He says he also has the support of the NICE Community School Superintendent Bryan DeAugustine, who was unable to testify on Wednesday.
Specifically, Senate Bill 23 would allow school districts and public school academies to count students who are engaged in work-based learning experiences in official pupil numbers for up to 0.75 of a full-time student, an increase from the 0.5 currently allowed.
The bill would also use $2 million from the School Aid Fund for competitive grants to districts for extra costs incurred for high school students participating in work-based learning experiences or work-based learning experiences related to a CTE program.
So, has McBroom brought this up to Governor Gretchen Whitmer?
“Yes,” he said. “There was even a question on it at the governor’s luncheon when she was at the U.P. State Fair, and she said she’s very supportive of seeing apprenticeships and on-the-job-training expand to our high school students,” McBroom said. “Hopefully, she knows this is what I was talking about. After she took the question and we were walking away, I said ‘hey, I’m actually working on that’. I’m hoping that she’ll continue to be supportive.”
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