Bill aims to give GED proper respect
Dalby, Hickey: Legislation important for fair employment
TEXARKANA, Ark. — Arkansas has 300,000 adults ages 18 to 64 without a high school diploma or the equivalent, and state Rep. Carol Dalby wants to do something about it.
The Texarkana Republican is the lead sponsor of House Bill 1091, which was introduced to the 94th General Assembly in January. The bill aims to add a section to state law to clearly define a GED certificate as equal to a traditional diploma.
Dalby, who is serving her fourth term in the House, described the legislation as “extremely important,” especially for employment purposes.
“It is our hope that by having this definition out there that it will encourage people to see the importance of having a high school diploma or GED,” Dalby said to the Gazette about her collaboration with state Sen. Jimmy Hickey Jr., who is sponsoring the legislation in the upper chamber of the Arkansas Legislature.
The bill states: “For purposes of employment in the State of Arkansas or a political subdivision of the State of Arkansas, earning a high school diploma through the passage of a nationally recognized high school equivalency exam, such as the GED test, shall be treated the same as the receipt of a high school diploma from an accredited Arkansas secondary school.”
Hickey, a Texarkana Republican serving a sixth term, and Dalby first discussed clarifying the GED certificate in state law last year. The senator said the general belief was the certificate was always treated as the equal of a high school diploma, something implied by the certificate’s common name — general equivalency diploma.
“Most everybody I talked to thought it was already in place,” Hickey said.
However, the need for the legislation became apparent as he and Dalby
heard reports of salary bias by some employers in the Natural State.
“What we found out is that there are some organizations out there that were trying to pay a lesser amount if you had a GED instead of a diploma,” he said.
Dalby and Hickey declined to identify the employers or the industries. However, Dalby said the bill is not designed to punish businesses.
“It’s a pro-education bill,” she said.
Should it become law, the proposed legislation could dispel the misconception that a GED diploma represents lesser learning and fewer employment options, thus motivating people to complete their education.
“For employment purposes, it’s good. Go get it,” said Dalby, a former member of the Texarkana Arkansas School District Board of Trustees.
Her counterparts in the
Arkansas House seem to agree. The bill passed unanimously on Jan. 25 and now is in the hands of the Senate Education Committee.
“I talked with the Senate Education chair (Jane English, R-North Little Rock), and she said it is a good bill,” Dalby said.
If the bill passes committee, Hickey, also a former member of the TASD Board, will take the lead in presenting it to the full Senate for a vote.
Passage in the Senate would send the legislation to the desk of Gov. Sarah Sanders to be signed into law.
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Read the full text of House Bill 1091 here.