Educational policies play a critical role in ensuring that institutions are run according to the stipulated laws. If these laws are not adhered to, undesirable consequences could result and the prescribed policy measures might be implemented. In making such policies, school administrators in the US have mastered the environmental context and society’s needs. As such, they can predict and effectively adapt to policy changes (Fowler, 2013). Moreover, educational policies minimize the wastage of time, resources, and energy on irrelevant educational activities. Lastly, school administrators are also able to visualize the overarching goals of educational policies. School traditions, structures, values, demographics, and economic trends are among the key elements considered in coming up with educational policies. This paper shall, therefore, expound on demographic and economic motivators in the bill of SB23-029 in the US. The paper further addresses how other states make educational policies, for instance, the HB525 bill passed in the Virginia House.
Economic aspects in educational policymaking are very crucial as they will enable financial stability in policy implementation. Educational stakeholders in the US have therefore, considered the country’s economic climate and structure in making policies. Economic motivators in policy-making are encompassed in the country’s short-term, intermediary and long-term economic indicators (Fowler, 2013). Moreover, political influence on the economic aspects has also motivated educational policymakers. The American business cycle is among the short-term economic aspects considered and it involves recession and expansion. During the expansion, the country enjoys high production, job opportunities, and increased business profits (Parolin et al., 2021). Educational stakeholders in the US monitor the business cycle by reading news updates to enhance awareness. As a result of tax expansion in the business cycle, funds are made available to facilitate public education. Moreover, the educational policymakers in the US are also motivated by the long-term economic aspects. As such, they look into the country’s inflation rate, debt burden, globalization aspects, economic growth rate, and the existing gap between the poor and the rich.
Educational policymakers should also emphasize the demographic nature of a country. In the US, policymakers have looked into the type of population existing, their characteristics, and the changes occurring from time to time. Demographic nature has affected educational policy in the US, especially after the world war. The population of learners increased, forcing them to hire more teachers, build more classes and equip the schools with learning materials. Aging and declining school populations create special challenges for schools, and therefore, policymakers should be equipped with demographic trends to enable them to set effective policies (Parolin et al., 2021). According to demographic trends in the US, among school children, the majority are brought up in poverty, have poor healthcare, poor nutrition, stress, and transience. Some have unique educational and social needs, like bilingual challenges, which are brought about by the US’s diverse population (Fowler, 2013). Policymakers in the US are, therefore, guided by migration and immigration, the aging population, increased diversity, and suburbanization demographic trends in educational policymaking.
On the other hand, the Virginia House passed the HB525 bill, which also gave policies that influenced educational practices. The bill emphasized hazing institutional policies in higher educational institutions and making the institutions nonprofit organizations. The bill also establishes hazing-related obligations for nonprofit, private, and public higher education institutions and identifies the many groups at these institutions to which the regulations apply (Orenstein et al., 2020). Moreover, the legislation mandates that each institution’s governing board include a provision for protection from disciplinary action as a component of its code, rules, policy, or set of principles managing sexual violence.
In conclusion, the public education system is faced with a lot of challenges, including economic and demographic factors. American economic recession hindered effective policy making and therefore, the policymakers resorted to monitoring the country’s business cycle, entailing the short-term economic aspects. Moreover, they also consider the nation’s inflation rate, debt load, features of globalization, economic growth rate, and the gap between the rich and the poor now in existence. Demographic components have also been considered by educationists in policy making. Population diversity and poverty in the US have affected the education system, forcing policymakers to consider demographic trends affecting the formulation of educational policy, including migration and immigration, aging populations, growing diversity, and suburbanization. Lastly, the Virginia House passed the HB525 bill, which underlined the importance of establishing institutional practices in higher education institutions and the creation of nonprofit groups inside those institutions.
References
Orenstein, D. G., & Glantz, S. A. (2020). Cannabis legalization in state legislatures: Public health opportunity and risk. Marquette Law Review, 103(4), 1313. Web.
Fowler, F.C. (2013). Policy Studies for Educational Leaders: An Introduction (4th Ed.). Allyn & Bacon/Pearson. ISBN:978-0132678117. Web.
Parolin, Z., & Lee, E. K. (2021). Large socio-economic, geographic, and demographic disparities exist in exposure to school closures. Nature human behavior, 5(4), 522-528. Web.