MLC Education & Workforce Committee News

2025 Quarter 2 | The Council of State Governments (CSG) | Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC)

MLC Education & Workforce

Committee Newsletter

Co-Chair

NE Sen. Jana Hughes

Co-Chair

MN Rep. Bernie Perryman

Vice Chair

KS Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin

Committee Happenings

Greetings members of The Council of State Governments Midwestern Legislative Conference Education & Workforce Committee. Whether you are a returning committee member or newly appointed to our group, we hope you will be able to take advantage of the various meeting opportunities and policy resources we will offer throughout the 2025-26 biennium.

The primary purpose of the Midwestern Legislative Conference and committees like this one is to encourage an open dialogue among legislators and policymakers from across the region as well as to provide a nonpartisan forum for learning and collaboration.

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Kickoff Webinar Scheduled for June 13

Be sure to attend the first event of the biennium, an online meeting on Friday, June 13.

Starting at 2 p.m. Eastern, our committee will host a kickoff webinar open to all legislators, legislative staff and interested others. The event is designed to let participants share noteworthy developments on issues related to education and workforce policy and begin making plans for the committee for the 2025-26 biennium.

In addition to this roundtable discussion, representatives from the Urban Institute will be delivering a presentation on a new Education-to-Workforce Framework Data Tool. This tool displays success indicators through interactive data across geographies and years — allowing communities to explore measures of success and challenges across the education-to-workforce pipeline.

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MLC Annual Meeting on July 27-30 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

In late July, the various committees of the Midwestern Legislative Conference will host in-person sessions in conjunction with the MLC Annual Meeting in Saskatoon. This family-friendly event brings together legislators and their guests from the region’s states and provinces for four days of learning, collaboration and networking opportunities.

There is still time to register for the conference. Please visit csgmidwest.org for more information about the MLC Annual Meeting and to register for the event.

For those interested in attending, please keep in mind some important dates that will feature committee-related content.

On Sunday, July 27, the committee will host its annual business session. This session serves as an opportunity to not only hear presentations on important education and workforce development policy, but also to better understand how your fellow lawmakers are tackling similar issues in their home states and provinces.

On Monday, July 28, there will be an afternoon concurrent session that will provide a contextual overview of how states and provinces are recruiting legal immigrant workers to help close short-term and long-term workforce shortages, as well as compare and contrast the recruitment and retention strategies being used in the United States and Canada.

Then, on Tuesday, July 29, there will be another afternoon concurrent session that will provide some insight on how educators can effectively and ethically incorporate artificial intelligence into the classroom, and the role of state/provincial lawmakers in establishing overall use guidelines.

Finally, take advantage of some outstanding site tour opportunities scheduled for Wednesday, July 30.

Education & Workforce Articles

In a continuation from last biennium, this section will highlight recent articles that have appeared in the CSG Midwest publication Stateline Midwest about public policy issues related to education and/or workforce.

A story that appeared in the first issue of 2025 takes a look at changes made last year in Michigan and Nebraska to expand state-required paid sick leave -- via a state supreme court decision and a voter-approved ballot initiative, respectively.

Since publication, lawmakers in both states have passed legislation meant to amend which workers should receive paid sick leave coverage, and the minimum number of hours that will be required.

The Stateline Midwest article can be found HERE. For an update on the Michigan policy, you can check out the following Detroit Free Press article HERE; also, the Nebraska legislature's "Unicameral Update" publication reported on the recent changes in that state HERE.

Research Resources

Saved by the Bell: State Approaches to Bring the Chronic Absenteeism Crisis to a Screeching Halt

Our colleagues at CSG South recently published an issue brief describing the actions state governments have taken to address chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools. The report highlights, for example, an emphasis on non-punitive interventions, establishing "attendance review teams" within schools, and new data collection requirements.

Last year, a Stateline Midwest story detailed a successful legislative effort in Indiana that requires schools to develop "truancy prevention plans," which seek to preemptively intervene in student behaviors before they are considered chronically absent.

For more information, you can read the CSG South issue brief HERE and the Stateline Midwest article HERE.

Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out in September 2025.