Watch Your State Legislature. Seriously.

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

In case you’re thinking the only two groups in gift giving mode this time of year are college admissions offices and Santa, let me tell you about my day yesterday.

My phone went off around 7:30, and even my children know they won’t get any money from me until at least 9 AM. It was a colleague from a college advocacy group, informing me that the Michigan state legislature was going to take up a bill that would basically gut all requirements for continuing professional development in college and career counseling. If passed, school counselors would meet the new, ahem, “requirements” by attending as little as one college’s update program, and one career field’s update, every five years.

So, what happens if a student needs the latest information on a different college, or a different occupation? Apparently, they are out of luck.

I called a few folks, and we put together an impressive piece of testimony against the legislation—even better, one colleague moved heaven and earth to get to the state capitol to deliver it in person. And while the legislation has made it out of committee, it has several steps to go before becoming law, and we are more than ready for the next few rounds.

Welcome to the wonderful world of lame-duck politics, where legislators finishing up their terms of office after the election—and therefore no longer feeling the need to be accountable to the public—do whatever they feel like doing. This is especially true when it comes to education, where many politicians are convinced they know how to run a school, because—after all—they attended one. Well-meaning legislators who used to be teachers are often even worse; there is a reason they are no longer in the classroom, and that can serve as the worst possible motivation behind a piece of legislation they are sure will cure all of education’s wrongs.

To be sure, most legislators are pretty reasonable people during a normal session, when bills aren’t passed in record time, with just one hearing. But there’s something about getting that Last. Bill. Passed. or righting that one educational wrong that makes them feel the twelve days before Christmas are the ideal time to give education the gift they are sure will keep on giving.

Of course, cabbage is also a gift that keeps on giving, but that analogy doesn’t occur to them.

So yes, you have more than enough to do this time of year already, and it wouldn’t really kill you to spend some social time with the people you share an office with. But legislators with one foot out the door can get a lot done in a hurry that can change your world forever. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to make sure you have some way of making sure you know what’s in their red satin bag—and if it’s coal, what you can do about it before it’s under your tree for good.

(By the way—if you are a Michigan resident, contact your Michigan state senator (do that here) and urge them to vote no on SB 1142. While you’re at it, contact House Education Chair Matt Koleszar (do that here) and urge him not to take up the bill for hearings if it makes it to the House.

The well-being of Michigan’s students and economy are at stake, and this bill is turning an important tool in honing that well-being into a box-checking exercise for counselors. Professional development should be about the students and fostering their dreams.