2021-2022

Our bill was attached to the Educator Diversity legislation that was favorably reported out of the Joint Committee on Education.  However, the attachment was made without any accompanying language.  

While we appreciate the intent of S.366/H.682, An Act relative to educator diversity, we are concerned that this bill will be harmful to BIPOC students and educators because it fails to recognize or address the underlying root causes for racial disparities:
 

• The curriculum and pedagogy itself does not speak to or support BIPOC students’ or educators’ experiences without which makes it difficult to recruit and retain BIPOC educators.

• The current curriculum on history, literature and even science and math generally leave out the contributions of BIPOC people implying that our contributions to these areas are less valued and less needed.

• In the context of curriculum deficiencies and lack of school administration support and resources, the burden is largely on classroom educators to develop curriculum materials and age-appropriate pedagogy for students. Educators are impeded by lack of resources to support this work, and often must do it during their “free” unpaid time on top of their regular responsibilities. They face barriers and artificial constraints by state standards and pushback from both white colleagues and school administrators who question why change is needed. The best case situation is one in which this inquiry comes from a place of curiosity and the result is that BIPOC teachers often carry the extra burden of providing professional development for their colleagues to fill in the knowledge gaps in the present curriculum. The worst case situation is one in which BIPOC educators are resented for bringing this information and proposed changes to light, with fellow educators, administrators, and parents feeling defensive or accused of falling short. 

• BIPOC educators not only teach in a classroom, but also serve as go-to mentors for BIPOC students who don’t feel affirmed in school. The emotional labor involved in supporting students in systems which are inherently unsupportive is yet another taxing endeavor for BIPOC educators.

• All of these burdens, additional unrecognized responsibilities, and daily navigation of challenging situations impact the long term professional trajectory of BIPOC educators.
  
  Inevitably, many BIPOC educators give up trying to make the change they want to see; many eventually leave the profession to pursue careers that are less exhausting and bureaucratic;  and very few BIPOC educators go to serve in leadership roles in school administrations. This signals to BIPOC students that education is an inherently white profession.

In order to address these underlying root causes for racial disparities in the educator workforce, we ask that the full revised language from S.365/H.584, An Act relative to anti-racism, equity and justice in education, be incorporated into the Educator Diversity bill for passage by the House and Senate.

This legislative language would create a small, workable commission of educational and community stakeholders appointed by our elected officials, accountable to the voters and their communities, to work with DESE to develop the necessary tools, content, and pilot programs for voluntary adoption by school districts. The commission will also include community voices through the representative from CARE, Inc. In addition, the bill creates a trust fund to hold legislative appropriations and private philanthropy grants that will be used to fund the voluntary adoption of the commission’s recommendations by school districts. No unfunded mandates will result from this legislation. The commission’s work will include: 
 

• Developing K-12 curriculum materials that incorporate accurate histories, stories and contributions of all racial, ethnic and religious groups and teaching materials and practices for age appropriate instruction of the same;

• Promoting culturally responsive teaching in classrooms and school culture;

• Providing professional development and training for educators and administrators in the newly developed curriculum materials and teaching materials and practices;

• Advancing the diversification of the public school workforce, including educators, administrators, counselors and administrative staff; and

• Providing mental health support to address intergenerational and racialized trauma and its triggering impacts on the wellbeing and success of students and educators.