The philosophy of one state Representative from southeast Missouri is to provide greater access to education and more training with fewer barriers for folks.
Kathy Swan has spent her tenure in the Missouri House, and several years before that, trying to get greater access and remove any barriers to education that the state has, so that an individual can pursue any education or training that is needed.
“My philosophy is to remove any learning barriers that we have, regardless if it is early childhood, K-12, post-secondary training, 4-year college, community college, or adult learners who need additional training or education,” said Swan.
First elected to the General Assembly in 2012, the senior lawmaker has truly aimed to live up to her philosophy. She previously pushed through a bill on dyslexia screening and one on nursing telehealth programs.
In the 2018 general session, seven bills she sponsored crossed the finish line. One of the very first bills signed by the governor was Swan’s visiting scholars legislation.
The bill allows professionals in an area to obtain a visiting scholars certificate, which is similar to a license, to teach in community-business partnerships. The department recently indicted those visiting scholars arrangements can be utilized by career and technology centers around the state, Swan noted.
“We have retired engineers, retired nurses that have spent a lifetime in an area and have a lot of valuable expertise that they can share with students,” said Swan. “So, that was major. In five, ten years…we could have more students learning and more students involved in those types of programs.”
She expects to see a growth in partnership initiatives in different areas and for the program expand into more technical type fields as more people are brought in to teach.
Visiting scholars just doing help train students but it gives students who are undecided on careers and chance to get their feet wet.
“It allows students to test drive careers,” said Swan. “It could be significant, not only for the numbers of programs and the number of students, but it can also be a major experience for a student trying to make a determination on what they might like to do down the road. It can help a student make well-informed decisions.”
And she is planning on continuing on expanding training in the next session as she moves into her final two years in the House. One area she particularly wants to focus on is workforce development.
Every area of the state is different. Each part has a different workforce, different business makeup, different healthcare, and different needs, according to Swan. She said the different areas know what they need, and the state needs to give them the flexibility and opportunity so they can train the workers they need.
With education as a focal area, it is fitting that the biggest lessons Swan has learned are listening and doing your homework.
“It is critical for me to know as much as I can when I file a bill. Then be open to understanding and learning more about the issue the bill would impact, communicating with others about it, being open to understand their viewpoints and compromise where compromise is needed so that you have a really good piece of legislation,” said Swan.
This piece is featured as part of the Missouri Times’ Best of the Legislature 2018 appearing in the January 2019 Missouri Times Magazine.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
