HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3147        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 606

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Kenneth I. Gordon

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to address inequities the Massachusetts public school system.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3147        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 606

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act to address inequities the Massachusetts public school system.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall establish an educational inequities task force. The task force shall implement a pilot program in all K-12 public schools in Middlesex County to report on how students are disciplined and educated, and detect disparities in treatment and academic success among students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The task force shall report annually for no less than 10 years on the following metrics: (i) the gender and race of the educators, (ii) student involvement in gifted programs, (iii) disciplinary actions (iv) graduation rate, and (v) average GPA among groups.

(b) The task force shall administer a pilot training program for all educators at the K-12 public schools in Middlesex County. Educators shall be required to participate in 40 hours of paid training per year on diversity, inclusion, and implicit bias. The task force shall make recommendations on the content of the program, which may include: (i) formal training, (ii) lectures, (iii) book discussions, and (iv) targeted discussion groups.

(c) The task force shall consist of 19 members: 2 of whom shall be the chairs of the joint committee on education or their designees, who shall serve as co-chairs; 2 of whom shall be the chairs of the joint committee on higher education, 4 of whom shall be members of the house of representatives to be appointed by the speaker of the house, 1 of whom shall be a member of the black and latino caucus, 1 of whom shall be a member of the Massachusetts House Asian Caucus; 2 of whom shall be members of the senate to be appointed by the senate president; 2 of whom shall be appointed by the governor; 1 of whom shall be the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, or a designee; 1 of whom shall be a member of the Boston Teachers Union; 1 of whom shall be a member of the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance; 1 of whom shall be the president of the Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People New England Area Conference, or a designee; 1 of whom shall be a member of a League of United Latin American Citizens Council in Massachusetts; and 2 professors at the University of Massachusetts appointed by the President of the University of Massachusetts.

(d) Not later than December 31, 2027, the task force shall file a report analyzing the preliminary data from the pilot program. The report shall be filed with the governor, the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, and the chairs of the joint committee on education. The task force shall use the 2017 Disciplinary Report data from the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights as a comparison for relevant metrics and make policy recommendations based on the findings.

(e) The task force shall file a final report no later than one year after the pilot program ends on the data collected during the pilot program. The report shall be filed with the governor, the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, and the chairs of the joint committee on education. The task force shall analyze the data, assess the impact of the 40-hour training program described in (b), identify notable trends in the data, and make policy recommendations based on their findings.