Senator DiDomenico testified at an Education Committee hearing in support of his bill, S.262, which would help children with diabetes management in school. DiDomenico explained to his committee colleagues, “I know how hard and time-consuming it is to manage diabetes for many of our students. We are in a time right now where we are reimagining schools and how we can best support our families. This bill will allow countless students to remain in their classrooms and receive the education and school experience they deserve.”

The bill, An Act providing for diabetes management in schools, would allow a school nurse or school physician to designate other school staff to give a glucose monitoring test or insulin in the case a student is unable to self-administer the test or give themselves insulin.

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Senator Sal DiDomenico joined his colleagues, as well as early education and care advocates for a State House rally in support of the Common Start bill. “From my first day in the Senate I have been pushing for expanded access to early education and increasing staff salaries to ensure the educators can earn a good living,” said Senator DiDomenico. “This critical legislation will ensure every child and family in Massachusetts can access affordable, high-quality, early education and childcare and deliver significantly better pay and benefits for early educators. We must pass this bill and keep our state a livable and welcoming home for families of all incomes.”

The Common Start bills in the Senate and the House, respectively, are S.301 and H.489, An act providing affordable and accessible high-quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy.

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The Food System Caucus, which DiDomenico Co-Chairs, has endorsed the bill

BOSTON – Senator Sal DiDomenico testified at an Education Committee Hearing this week in support of his Universal School Meals bill, S261 An Act relative to universal school meals. Senator DiDomenico has spent years advocating for this commonsense legislation as Vice Chair of the Education Committee and is using his new role as Co-Chair of the Food System Caucus to advance this priority. The Caucus recently endorsed several pieces of legislation, including Senator DiDomenico’s Universal School Meals bill. DiDomenico will continue his work to get his proposal passed through the legislature and signed by the Governor.

Senator Sal DiDomenico, Vice Chair of the Education Committee and Co-Chair of the Food System Caucus, remarked to the Committee, “We don't means test anything else in our schools, textbooks, visits to nurses, pens, pencils, or any kind of supplies. The most important thing we can do, feeding kids, we charge for that. It is past time we pass my universal school meals legislation and guarantee that no student goes hungry in a Massachusetts school ever again.”

This legislation, sponsored by Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Andy Vargas, would provide free breakfast and lunch to every child in a Massachusetts K-12 school.

The Food System Caucus is comprised of a bipartisan group of 158 legislators from every corner of the Commonwealth that works to ensure that our food producers and consumers have a seat at the table and advance legislation that will give them the support they need and deserve. This group will now be advocating in support of their handful of endorsed bills, including Universal School Meals.

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