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Senator Catrona introduces bill to add a 'success sequence' curriculum for grades 6–12
Summary
Senator Catrona presented sponsor testimony on Senate Bill 156 proposing a locally adapted curriculum based on a 'success sequence' — finishing high school, obtaining full-time employment, and marrying before having children — claiming it reduces poverty; committee members requested underlying data and local flexibility assurances.
Senator John Catrona opened the first hearing on Senate Bill 156 and provided sponsor testimony proposing a curriculum based on a so‑called "success sequence." The bill would instruct the Department of Education and Workforce to establish a committee — including parents and school board members — to review and recommend standards for optional curriculum that, according to the sponsor, would be used as local guidance for grades 6–12.
"What I'm looking to do is introduce a piece of legislation that will take a three‑pronged approach in helping gear that success using evidence that is proven and data that is true," Senator Catrona told the committee. He summarized the "success sequence" as three elements — graduate high school, obtain full‑time employment, and marry before having children — and said research he reviewed (he identified organizations including the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and federal agencies) shows a high correlation between following this sequence and lower likelihood of poverty.
Committee members pressed Catrona for the underlying data and cautioned about how the curriculum would be implemented. Senator Theresa Smith asked whether the sponsor had examined how many people who followed the sequence started in poverty versus those who were already not in poverty; Smith noted long‑running mobility statistics showing only a small share of children born in the bottom fifth who later reach the top fifth.
Catrona responded that he would bring additional experts and documentation in a future presentation and emphasized the bill's local‑control element. "This will not be cookie cutter," he said, adding the bill calls for district-level participation: "We would include school board members...because we want to have an opportunity to bring everybody to the table." The sponsor said the curriculum could be incorporated into existing courses such as financial literacy and career development and that the committee would be designed to allow local adaptation.
No formal action was taken on Senate Bill 156 at the hearing. Committee members asked the sponsor for more detailed, disaggregated data showing how the cited correlations behave across income groups and for a clearer explanation of how the proposed standards would interact with existing local curricula and district authority.
