BOSTON – Today, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed legislation that updates the existing statute relative to English language education in public schools to encompass the latest and best practices serving English language learners (ELLs) and to recognize the value of bilingualism as a skill essential to improving career and college readiness and competiveness in the global economy. 

An Act for language opportunity for our kids (S.2125), also known as the LOOK Bill, removes the current mandate requiring schools to use Sheltered English Immersion (SEI), or English-only programs, as the default ELL program model, thereby giving schools the flexibility to establish programs based on the unique needs of their students.

“By allowing parents and local school districts the flexibility to choose the most effective programs to cater to the specific needs of their students is not only good public policy but also what is best for our students to be successful,” said Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst).  “We live in a global community and we must be able to adapt to the changing needs of our communities in a thoughtful and constructive way.  This bill achieves that purpose.”

“To ensure that every child in the Commonwealth receives the high quality education that he or she deserves, we must rethink the way we approach educating our English language learners,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett), the lead sponsor of the bill. “By allowing for flexibility to implement new English learning programs, increasing parental involvement, and recognizing that multilingualism is a valuable asset in today’s global economy, this bill takes crucial strides to guarantee that every student receives a fair opportunity at educational success.” 

“Language should never be a barrier to a student’s academic success,” said Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chair Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “This bill empowers parents and schools to develop high quality educational opportunities for our English Language Learner students. It also encourages biliteracy, recognizing that knowledge of other languages and cultures is a true asset in our global economy.”

“The current one-size-fits-all model has proven a failure over the past decade plus at teaching education – period,” said Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz (D-Jamaica Plain), the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. “For the sake of our ELL students, our school budgets, and our workforce, we need to do something different. S.2125 will empower parents and trust educators to make informed decisions about appropriate tactics for a 6 year-old with some English exposure versus a 12 year-old who has received little formal schooling. And in this precarious moment for our country, the bill recognizes that bilingualism is a strength—not a problem to be cured.”

For some children, moving into an English-only program too soon has proven to stunt academic growth and have major implications on future educational success. This has become a growing problem as the number of ELL students in Massachusetts continues to rise. Since the year 2000, the number of ELL students in Massachusetts has doubled to over 90,204 students, or 9.5% of the student population. Last year, 90% of school districts had at least one ELL student and 19% of districts had 100 or more ELLs.

While overall graduation rates for students have risen in the past 10 years, the achievement gap between ELL students and their peers has not significantly changed. In 2016, the dropout rate for ELL students was 6.6 percent, the highest rate of any subgroup of students and three times higher than the rate for all students. Additionally, only 64% of ELL students graduated from high school, as compared to 87% of all Massachusetts students. 

In an effort to reverse these trends, the LOOK bill removes the current mandate requiring Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) as the one-size-fits-all default ELL program model in order to better accommodate the diverse needs of the Commonwealth’s students. Under the bill, school districts may choose from any comprehensive, research-based instructional program that includes subject matter content and an English language acquisition component.

The bill also encourages a high level parental choice and involvement in selecting, advocating, and participating in English learner programs, and requires greater tracking of ELL students’ progress to better identify and assist English learners who do not meet benchmarks.

This legislation also seeks to recognize the value of bilingualism and biliteracy as a skill essential to improving career and college readiness and competitiveness in today’s global economy by permitting school districts to adopt the state seal of biliteracy to recognize high school graduates who have met academic benchmarks, as determined by DESE, in one or more languages in addition to English.

The bill will now move to a conference committee, where negotiators will reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bills.

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BOSTON- Last week, the Massachusetts Senate passed Senator DiDomenico’s bill, An Act relative to healthy youth.  This bill will ensure that school districts in the Commonwealth that elect to provide their students with sex education provide age-appropriate and medically accurate information.

“The amount of information that students have access to today through technology and the media is almost overwhelming.  This bill provides for age appropriate and medically accurate sexual education for students in a school setting to give them the best information available through a trusted source,” said Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst).  “The bill also requires parental notification and allows for review of all materials presented in the classroom.  We need our students to make the best decisions based on the most accurate information.”

“Massachusetts students deserve an education that will prepare them for the future and help them make smart and informed decisions,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett). "As legislators, it is our job to ensure that young people receive comprehensive education on every subject they learn in school, and these standards should also apply to sex education.  This commonsense bill not only guarantees that students receive accurate information to help them make healthy decisions, but also ensures that parents remain informed and are a part of their child’s education along the way.”

“Congratulations to my friend and colleague Senator Sal DiDomenico on his dogged work in support of healthy youth,” said Senator Sonia Chang Díaz (D-Boston), Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. “The bill passed by the Senate today will ensure that health education in our schools is medically accurate and age appropriate, promoting healthy relationships and healthy bodies.” 

Currently, when Massachusetts public schools provide their students with health education that covers sexual activity, there is no guarantee that the information provided is age-appropriate or medically accurate. This legislation changes this by requiring school districts that choose to offer sexuality education follow certain guidelines to ensure that students are provided with age-appropriate and medically accurate information. Under the bill, sexual health education must include but not be limited to:

• the benefits of abstinence, delaying sexual activity, and the importance of effectively using contraceptives;

• ways to effectively discuss safe sexual activity;

• relationship and communication skills to form healthy, respectful relationships free of violence; coercion, and intimidation and to make healthy decisions about relationships and sexuality;

• physical, social and emotional changes of human development;

• human anatomy, reproduction, and sexual development; and

• age-appropriate information about gender identity and sexual orientation for all students.

Sex education programs have repeatedly been shown to work best when they emphasize the value of abstinence, while also teaching students about the importance of protecting themselves from unintended consequences.  This type of comprehensive curriculum is proven to be more effective at delaying sexual activity among young people, increasing the rate in which young people use contraception, while also lowering rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and teen pregnancy.

The bill does not require schools to provide sexuality information.  Local school boards and schools still make all decisions about whether to offer sex education. This legislation also maintains existing state law that allows parents to remove their children from sex education programs and gives school districts clearer guidance on how to notify parents about these programs.

School districts that provide a sexuality curriculum must adopt a written policy to give parents and legal guardians notification and inform them of the right to withdraw their child from all or part of the instruction. Notification to parents and guardians must be in English, as well as any other commonly spoken languages by parents. Districts must also have a process for parents to review the program instruction materials prior to the start of the course, if the parents request it.

This bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

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BOSTON- Senator Sal DiDomenico and his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate unanimously voted to pass an Act Establishing the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. This bill ensures that pregnant workers are protected from discrimination in the workplace. In addition to protecting the health of pregnant employees, the bill also promotes economic security for workers and their families.

“No woman should have to choose between keeping her job and maintaining healthy and safe pregnancy,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico, a co-sponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. “However, the unfortunate reality is that women in Massachusetts still risk losing their jobs when they become pregnant, and many others are exposed to unsafe working conditions that threaten the well-being of themselves and their children. I am proud to support this important piece of legislation, which will undoubtedly make workplaces fairer and safer for all.”

Under this legislation, employers are prohibited from discriminating against an employee or prospective employee due to pregnancy or a condition related to the pregnancy. Employers are also required to provide reasonable accommodations for workers who are pregnant. At the request of a pregnant employee, employers must undergo a good faith and interactive process to determine an effective reasonable accommodation.

Provisions include low cost modifications such as providing employees with a stool to sit on, allowing for more frequent bathroom breaks, and allowing the worker to carry a bottle of water. Employers are not required to provide accommodations that would impose an undue hardship on the employer’s business.

In addition, employers are prohibited from refusing to hire a pregnant job candidate solely because the candidate requires a reasonable accommodation. Employers are not permitted to force pregnant employees to accept an accommodation that they do not want or to take leave if another reasonable accommodation may be provided.

The Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act makes the Commonwealth a leader in addressing pregnancy discrimination and positions the state at the front of a national movement

The bill will now be reconciled with the House version of the bill, which was passed last month, before being sent to the Governor for his signature.

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