Member advocacy halts misguided DESE proposal
We are writing to thank MTA members and staff for once again having an impact on misguided DESE policy proposals.
When we fight, we win!
For weeks, MTA members and staff had been fighting a regulation proposed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that would have vastly expanded the commissioner’s disciplinary authority — thereby trampling on the constitutional and statutory rights of educators.
Specifically, the change would have allowed license actions against educators for misconduct that, in the opinion of the commissioner, “discredits the profession, brings the license into disrepute, compromises student safety or the integrity of the student-educator relationship.”
On Monday, we learned that the DESE will not include this language when it presents final proposed changes on educator licensure and renewal to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on June 27.
MTA field staff collected petitions signed by about 10,000 MTA members in opposition to the proposal. Our advocacy also included a social media campaign, extensive comments by MTA’s Legal Division and the Massachusetts ACLU, and input from MTA’s Center for Education Policy and Practice.
Stay tuned for more details on license and license renewal regulations once the BESE has voted on the full package of proposed changes.
