The MTA is a strong supporter of the Educator Diversity Act that was reported favorably by the Joint Committee on Education earlier this year. This legislation offers a comprehensive framework to recruit and retain educators of color and builds on important work that is taking place at the state and local levels to diversify the educator workforce. The state Senate has passed an MTA-backed version of the Educator Diversity Act as part of a larger economic development bill and the Senate’s proposal closely aligns with the education committee’s version.

The state House has also passed a version of the Educator Diversity Act as part of its economic development bill. However, the House version is a significant departure from the MTA-backed version of the bill in several concerning ways. It adds consideration of student growth scores as a factor for teachers seeking a license through the additional licensure pathway pilot program, tying students’ MCAS scores to teacher licensure. In addition, this version limits the hiring of teachers who are certified under an alternative licensure process. In practice, this will create a two-tiered licensure system wherein only certain teachers can teach in certain districts. This proposal also omits important language included in the MTA-backed version, including a teacher apprenticeship pilot and a grant that would support recruitment and retention programs in school districts.

The state Senate and House have convened a conference committee to decide which of these two proposals will be included in the final economic bill that is expected to pass the Legislature by late July. That is why we need you to email the members of the conference committee, right away, to urge them to support the version of the Educator Diversity Act that most closely aligns with the education committee proposal.

What the MTA-backed Version of the Educator Diversity Act Would Do

Among many other important provisions, the MTA-backed version would:

• Implement a pilot program to develop additional pathways for earning teacher licensure, including pathways that could allow for the waiver of one of the MTEL testing requirements.
• Establish a teaching apprenticeship pilot program.
• Create a grant program to support local school districts in developing plans and programs to increase educator diversity.
• Direct the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to set statewide educator diversity goals and collect and report on statewide educator diversity data.
• Establish guidelines for local school district plans to increase diversity among teaching, administration and staff positions.
• Require all superintendents, school committee members, district leaders, principals and school district employees to attend diversity and implicit bias training every two years.
• Require every school district to appoint a diversity, equity and inclusion officer or create a diversity team.