Fact check: Can Mike Rogers ‘put a shop class in every high school’?

US Senate candidate Mike Rogers says he’ll put shop classes in every high school
Rogers’ campaign has not explained how he plans to do that or help fund necessary expansions
Congress is limited in its ability to direct school curriculums but can use funding to incentivize schools

On the campaign trail, in media interviews and in political advertisements, Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers has told voters he’ll “put a shop class in every high school.”

Shop class “not only exposes students to skilled trades and high-paying jobs, but it also gives them a reason to apply math outside of the classroom,” he wrote in a recent guest commentary for Bridge Michigan.

Could he do it? That’s tricky.

He could push to incentivize shop classes, but the US Senate — let alone a single senator — could not simply order high schools to offer shop classes because curriculums are set at the state and local level.

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Rogers has not provided specifics on his plan or said what federal authority — or funding — he would use to accomplish the goal.

Asked for details about his pledge, Rogers’ campaign instead repeated his desire to do so without explaining how.

Bridge Michigan is diving into the facts as part of our coverage of the fiercely competitive US Senate race between Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

The shop class claims

Rogers has pitched shop classes and other vocational training as both an education and economic boost.

“As Michigan’s Senator, I’ll invest in the skilled trades and put a shop class in every high school,” he says in an ad that features him walking through a construction site. He goes on to say that training more builders and firing more bureaucrats will help lower housing costs.

He also touted the proposal in an Aug. 31 commentary for Bridge.

“Measuring materials, calculating angles, and working with fractions help students apply math skills in practical scenarios — scenarios where students understand why math is important,” he wrote. “That’s the type of education that empowers and inspires students.”

Asked for details, Rogers’ spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet instead touted the idea, saying shop classes prepare “the next generation for good-paying, future-ready jobs. Jobs that AI can’t eliminate and China won’t steal.”

While Rogers use of the phrase “shop class” evokes memories of a subject he says his father taught, experts say career and technical education classes have evolved and now often include high-tech programming.

Current class offerings in Michigan range from plumbing to computer programming, mechatronics, digital design and more.

Michigan is already trying to get more CTE classes in schools. Last year, about 115,000 of 434,000 high school students were enrolled in a career tech program through 390 separate buildings.

That training can help students land jobs without going to college, but the state says most high-demand and high-pay jobs of the near future will still require bachelor’s degrees or higher.

Rogers’ opponent, El-Sayed, “believes every child deserves a strong education—including in the trades—and will ensure every Michigan family has pathways to affordable higher education and good-paying union jobs, said spokesperson Roxie Richner.

Asked about Rogers’ proposal, she criticized his 2001 vote for the No Child Left Behind Act, which incentivized schools to focus on core subjects. Some experts say the federal law made career tech classes less common but note other data suggested a drop-off before its passage.

Congress, curriculums and cost

So could Rogers put a shop class in every high school?

State and local governments have the primary responsibilities for setting and maintaining K-12 school curriculums — not the federal government.

But Congress has a role in funding career and technical education. Senators also could push to expand grants that fund such classes,

Congress has shaped K-12 curriculums over the years by tying funding to desired changes. That included the No Child Left Behind Act that Rogers supported, which required schools receiving Title I funding to meet annual progress goals based largely on standardized-test performance.

Requiring shop classes could create significant expenses for schools that don’t already offer them, including the need for new instructors. Building a new career tech classroom for programs like welding, automotive or woodshop could cost at least $1.5 million per school, according to one recent construction industry estimate.

What’s more, federal law bars the Senate from mandating curriculum. States have far more authority, but “typically delegate considerable discretion to local school boards over such matters,” according to The Regulatory Review, University of Pennsylvania Law School publication.

And when it comes to private schools, the federal government has even less ability to dictate or incentivize certain classes, including shop.

The bottom line

Adding shop classes is a big campaign promise for Rogers, but he’s offered no details about how he would do so.

Theoretically, he could champion career tech and push to increase funding, but he has limited options to try to put one in every high school.