Saturday, August 22, 2015

Give educators a voice on the BESE

Please take immediate action to support a bill giving educators a voice on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education!

 

Click here to sign a petition in favor of this proposal. 

 

The petition will be submitted to the Joint Committee on Education, which will hold a hearing on this MTA priority bill in early September.

 

Here’s some background.

 

Many people are shocked to learn thatcurrent law forbids public school educators from serving as members of the BESE — the board that governs our profession. Most educators are not even able to attend board meetings because those meetings are almost always held during school hours.  As things stand, individuals who stand to profit from decisions made by the BESE are welcome to seats on the board, but no place is designated for professional educators. 

 

There is a high school student on the board, and one labor representative, but there is not one active teacher or paraprofessional. It’s time for the BESE to include the experts in the field the board governs.

 

H. 375/S. 269 are House and Senate versions of a bill that would add two educator representatives to the BESE, one nominated by the MTA and the other by AFT Massachusetts. These will be among the bills heard at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Room A-2 of the State House.

 

Please see the attached document for details about hearing dates on other MTA priority bills. In a subsequent message, we will send you more information about the charter school legislation being heard on Oct. 13. More information on all MTA priority bills can be found here.


Don’t forget to sign the petition on the BESE bill by clicking here!

 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He is such a bully and a thug!