House Bill 6023 would revise Michigan’s school code provisions governing the Michigan Merit Examination (MME), the statewide high school assessment given to 11th graders and certain 12th graders. The bill keeps the MME as a required graduation-related assessment, but updates its structure and administration by specifying the subjects and components it must include, allowing a pupil to elect the Classic Learning Test (CLT) to satisfy the college-entrance portion, and adding a workforce-readiness test component that students may opt out of beginning with the 2026-2027 school year through a parent- or guardian-signed waiver. It also requires the state to provide informational materials about the workforce-readiness assessment and its benefits to students and families.
The bill adds several operational requirements for the testing system. It directs the state to ensure score reports are returned by the start of 12th grade, to provide standards-specific feedback, and to include individual subject scores on high school transcripts along with attendance information. It also requires contracts for test development, scoring, and administration to include deadlines and penalties, and it sets quality standards for vendors. The bill further limits the total testing time to no more than eight hours if alignment and validity can still be maintained, requires accommodations for students with disabilities, and allows home-schooled and nonpublic school students to take the exam under specified conditions.
HB6023 would also reinforce the academic content of the MME by requiring it to test grade-level or course-level expectations and to include social studies content tied to genocide education, including the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, in the social studies component and related state assessments. The bill defines social studies broadly to include U.S. history, world history, world geography, economics, and American government, and it clarifies that English language arts includes reading and writing. It also preserves federal compliance requirements tied to the Every Student Succeeds Act and related federal assessment rules.
The overall sentiment reflected in the bill text is generally pro-testing reform and pro-transparency, with an emphasis on making the assessment more useful to students, parents, schools, and employers. The bill appears designed to broaden options, improve reporting, and reduce administrative problems while maintaining a statewide standardized assessment. Because there were no committee transcripts or recorded votes provided, there is no documented public debate in the supplied materials to indicate support or opposition from specific lawmakers or stakeholders.
Notable points of potential contention include the addition of a workforce-readiness test and the waiver process, the option to use the CLT instead of the existing college-entrance component, the requirement to place attendance data on transcripts, and the mandate to include genocide-related content in social studies testing. Another possible issue is the bill’s conditional enactment clause, which makes it effective only if House Bill 6024 also becomes law.
HB6023 would amend section 1279g of the Revised School Code, changing the statutory requirements for the Michigan Merit Examination and related school-district duties. It would affect the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, the superintendent of public instruction, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, nonpublic schools, home-school families, and test vendors by imposing new requirements for test content, administration, scoring timelines, reporting, transcript disclosure, accommodations, and vendor performance standards. It would also create a new parent/guardian waiver process for the workforce-readiness component and allow the CLT as an alternative for the college-entrance portion of the exam.
No committee testimony or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of legislative debate or stakeholder positions in the supplied materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed positively as an assessment modernization and accountability bill, with goals of improving transparency, shortening testing burdens, and giving students more options. The absence of voting history or transcripts means overall support or opposition cannot be reliably characterized beyond that general policy direction.
The most likely areas of contention are the bill’s new workforce-readiness testing requirement and the opt-out waiver process, which could draw differing views from education advocates, employers, and parents over whether the assessment is useful or burdensome. The CLT option may also be debated by supporters of alternative college admissions tests versus those concerned about consistency with existing state testing. Requiring attendance information on transcripts and mandating genocide-related content in social studies assessments may also raise policy or curriculum concerns among school officials and advocacy groups. Because no transcripts or votes were provided, specific opponents or supporters cannot be identified from the record supplied.