House panel reports HB 4362; Michigan ACE Initiative urges statewide K‑12 training

The Michigan House Families and Veterans Committee voted unanimously to report House Bill 4362 to the House floor, and later heard testimony on a proposal to require trauma‑informed training for K‑12 school staff.

The committee recorded an 11‑0 vote to report HB 4362 after a roll call on the motion to report. Afterward, representatives heard from Katie Prout and Lisa Farnham, co‑chairs of the Michigan ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Initiative policy and advocacy work group, who outlined a proposal for statewide ACEs education for school staff and sought legislative support and funding.

Katie Prout, chief strategy officer at the Michigan Federation for Children and Families and co‑chair of the MI ACE Initiative policy and advocacy work group, said the proposal would establish a training curriculum for educators to recognize and respond to trauma in students. “The basis of the ACEs education is for people to be able to look at a person and say, not what’s wrong with you, but what happened to you,” Prout said.

Prout said the work group proposes a six‑module,…