All districts — On Monday, approximately 25 superintendents from the Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon area intermediate school districts gathered at Kent ISD to meet with U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, the Democratic congresswoman representing Michigan’s third district. In a wide-ranging conversation, the group covered topics including early childhood support, student mental health, training for school food service staff and teacher salaries.
Following this meeting, Scholten sat down with School News Network to elaborate on some of those themes and update readers on initiatives she’s been working on. Read on to hear her thoughts on the upcoming election, career and technical education and more.
Congresswoman Scholten, you visited Kent Career Tech Center in 2023 while working on the Honoring Vocational Education Act and you’ve worked to raise awareness of the importance of career and technical education. How is that effort going? What progress have you seen? Scholten expressed regret that the bill has not advanced beyond its introduction in April 2023:
“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of action happening in Congress right now, and it is very unfortunate that the House leadership has chosen to prioritize a lot of infighting, as opposed to getting things done. It’s not only the Honoring Vocational Education Act (that has stalled), but there’s things like the Farm Bill, which directly impacts a lot of students because we’re negotiating how much to fund SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) programs across the country — we haven’t been able to (pass) that yet either because there’s been a lot of, frankly, infighting within House leadership.
“I say all of that because … it’s not that the bill isn’t popular; it’s frankly that nothing is getting done in Congress right now. We have continued to add co-sponsors to (the Honoring Vocational Education Act). We’ve continued to get (feedback) from local communities (and) from employers who say things like … ‘This would be such a game-changer for us.’ … (The bill) is on my top list of things that I want the House to bring to the floor before the end of this session.”
‘I believe that we should keep access to a high-quality, free public education part of the essential, foundational element (for) every young American.’
— U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten
Why is CTE and vocational education a priority for you? “I am seeing how so many young people today have felt there is only one track for them and (are) getting pushed into a four-year college program that they can’t afford and they’re not ready for. And that leaves them ill-prepared for … what they ultimately want to do, and also saddled with a bunch of debt.
“I want to create a culture where people feel that going (into) a skilled trades program, or a vocational training program, is just as desirable, profitable and culturally acceptable as going (into) a four-year college program.”
You’ve been an outspoken advocate for stronger gun-safety laws. What more needs to be done to curb gun violence in our schools? “We have to get a safe-storage bill passed. I’m a co-sponsor of Ethan’s Law, which requires safe (gun) storage when there are children in the home.
“Safe storage laws have close to 70% approval ratings. The American public wants them; responsible gun owners want them. Unfortunately, as I mentioned … House leadership in general has not been able to get a lot of other bills passed, period. But it’s costing our communities dearly in the process.
“I think there are other things that we can and should be doing when it comes to safe gun laws, but I think … the first thing that we have to be focused on is the safe storage component.”
Could you elaborate on what some of those other things might be? “Closing gun show loopholes, where people can get access to guns without a permit.
“Red flag laws: I am a proponent of making sure that individuals who … have a red flag in their background with mental health issues are not able to get a gun and (giving) law enforcement the ability to remove those guns from the home if they’re not safe.
“In so many of these school-shooting scenarios, there have been warning signs that individuals are having an issue, and they have access to guns in the home. How many times do we have to see this pattern play out … before we’re willing to take the action that’s necessary to save lives?”
As the West Michigan representative in a key Congressional district, what would you say is at stake for public education in the upcoming elections? “There really couldn’t be two more divergent views (at the top of the ballot) when it comes to public education. Trump (is) trying to distance himself from Project 2025 right now, but this is a program that has been designed (and) touted by past members of his administration … that calls for elimination of the Department of Education. It calls for a move towards privatizing education in this country and moving away from public education.
“On the other hand, Kamala Harris wants to continue to bolster our public education. And this is not getting into partisan politics; these are just the platforms. The platform of the Republican Party is to move away from public education.
“I believe that we should keep access to a high-quality, free public education part of the essential, foundational element (for) every young American. So we’ll continue to support public schools. We’ll continue to make sure that we are working as hard as we can to have champions for public schools in so many different elected positions, because it matters, (starting with) the local level. Our city commission, our county commission, our state representatives, our federal representatives, from the House to the Senate, all the way up to the presidency, it truly matters.”
What are some things you think the federal government could do, or do better, to support teachers and bring more people into the profession? Scholten said her top two priorities are in alignment with the feedback she heard from the superintendents at Monday’s meeting:
“We have to increase teacher pay. We have to make sure that these truly talented, committed, compassionate souls who want to do this job are able to pay down their debt, continue to afford ongoing education for themselves, improve their craft and also eventually raise a family. … Teachers work so hard (and) they work long hours … you should be able to afford to raise a family on that salary.
“Then, (government needs to) address some of these critical safety issues which are so detrimental to the learning environment (and) which are keeping people away (from teaching careers). And that includes mental health. It includes having funding for infrastructure in schools so that if there is an incident, (everyone) can be safe. And it includes safe gun laws.”
Read more:
• Is it enough? Supplemental budget aims to offset mental health, security cuts
• Teacher shortage: ‘glimmer of hope’ on the horizon
