(Indianapolis, Ind.) – A local state lawmaker is making another push to require students to push their pencils to paper and learn cursive writing.

Last year, State Senator Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) authored a bill that would require the state’s schools to teach cursive writing. The requirement was removed from the Indiana Department of Education’s Common Core Curriculum in 2011, leaving the decision up to individual school districts on whether to teach the handwriting method.

“While keyboarding has grown as a needed course for students in this digital age, cursive writing is a must-have skill as well,” Leising said last year of her bill. “What will happen when we’re still writing notes in long-hand and future interns or job applicants can’t read our writing to complete a simple task?"

In 2012, the bill passed the state Senate but failed to gain sufficient support in the House.

Now, Leising has filed a similar piece of legislation for the 2013 session which began Monday. If Senate Bill 120 becomes law, it would revise a law laying out education requirements to include cursive writing in both public and private schools starting July 1, 2013.

SB 120 is scheduled to receive a hearing at the Committee on Education and Career Development on Wednesday.

LINKS:

Cursive Could Become Law (from 2012)