Lawmakers Want Students To Learn Cursive Writing Again

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Cursive writing could be returning to Louisiana's public school classrooms.

With a 37-0 vote Tuesday, the Senate gave final legislative passage to a bill requiring public schools, including charter schools, to introduce cursive writing instruction by third grade. Instruction would have to continue through 12th grade.

The proposal by Sen. Beth Mizell, a Republican from Franklinton, would take effect July 1, 2017, to give schools time to prepare.

Mizell says her bill was prompted by a land surveyor who said he was having trouble finding younger people who could read the cursive on historic land notes. She says she worried students were losing their own signatures.

The bill heads next to Gov. John Bel Edwards. A handful of states have similar requirements, including Arkansas.

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Senate Bill 275: www.legis.la.gov

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