Education and Workforce

The binational Midwestern Legislative Conference Education and Workforce Committee provides a forum for state and provincial legislators to exchange information and ideas on a wide range of policy issues, particularly those identified by the committee’s legislative officers and members. Activities include ongoing policy research, committee-sponsored webinars for legislators and legislative staff, and in-person meetings.

The committee is made up of legislators from the states and provinces that are part of CSG’s Midwestern Legislative Conference. The committee’s composition changes every biennium, with appointments made by legislative appointing authorities and leaders of the MLC. The appointment process for 2025-2026 is now underway. The CSG Midwest staff liaison to the committee is Derek Cantù.

The MLC Education and Workforce Committee will meet in July 2025 in conjunction with the MLC Annual Meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. More details on this meeting, as well as other committee activities for the 2025-2026 biennium, will be available soon.

Summary of recent work and activities

In 2023-2024, the committee was led by Ohio Sen. Hearcel Craig and Wisconsin Rep. Joel Kitchens, co-chairs; and Minnesota Sen. Heather Gustafson, vice chair. During the 2023-2024 biennium, the committee:

• hosted an in-person policy workshop for legislators on state strategies for building the Midwest’s energy workforce;
• developed a resource for legislators on policy options to address teacher shortages and bolster states’ educator pipelines;
• organized in-person meetings on topics such as the state-led integration of education and workforce initiatives; literacy education and the science of reading; state laws on academic remediation; trends in higher education policy; and Michigan’s innovative employer-led, sector-based approach to workforce development.
• held webinars for legislators on addressing teacher shortages and another on tech and workforce development for rural areas; and
• contributed policy articles to the CSG publication Stateline Midwest on topics such as the role of school librarians in the Midwest’s K-12 schools;  improving the oversight and delivery of early learning and child care; reforms of college-level remedial education; state policies to address chronic absenteeism; new laws on financial literacy; efforts to boost states’ and provinces’ legal-immigration workforces; the rise and spread of “science of reading” laws; Michigan’s sector-based approach to workforce development; Indiana’s new career scholarship accounts for K-12 students; Education Savings Accounts in Iowa and other states; and the varying governance models used by states to oversee and develop education policy.

Resources from 2024 committee meeting in Columbus

The MLC Education & Workforce Development Committee meets in person at least once a year as part of the MLC Annual Meeting, most recently in Columbus in 2024 and Detroit in 2023.

• “Developmental Education Reform in Illinois” | Mike Abrahamson, Senior Manager of Research & Policy, Partnership for College Completion
• “Reforms to Developmental Education: A Synthesis of the Evidence” | Katie Beal, External Affairs Associate, MDRC
• “Academic Recovery in Ohio: An Overview of K-12 Achievement & Learning Acceleration in Ohio” | Ohio Sen. Andrew Brenner
• “The Workforce Connection: Elevating Career Development in Primary & Secondary Education” | Steve Dackin, Director, Ohio Department of Education & Workforce, and Rick Carfagna, Vice President of Government Affairs, Ohio Chamber of Commerce
• “Science of Reading Implementation: Indiana’s Priorities for Early Literacy” | Rebecca Estes, Assistant Secretary for Educator Talent, Indiana Department of Education
• Stateline Midwest article on “Colleges, States Rethink Approach to College-Level ‘Remedial’ Education; New K-12 Supports Also Considered”
• Agenda