Today is Primary Election Day in Boston! We are excited to have three strong BTU affiliated candidates running for City Council. Please consider supporting Brandon Bowser , candidate in District 9 and current BPS/BTU teacher. Ricardo Arroyo , brother and son to BTU members is running as a District 5 candidate, and Annissa Essaibi George , former BTU member is running for City Councilor At-Large. As we continue to fight for more funding and equity in our public schools, it is important that we elect representatives who will listen to and advocate for our communities. Please make sure to vote today! You can find a full list of BTU-endorsed candidates here.
Last week, the Joint Committee of Education released the Student Opportunity Act , which could result in an update in an outdated funding formula and an investment of $1.5 billion into public schools across Massachusetts. This is the result of your hard work and advocacy to make sure that our voices are being heard!
This is a great first step — however, we still have work to do to ensure that the investment makes it to Boston schools. We will continue to advocate throughout the legislative process to ensure that the final bill is a strong one and includes a long-term fix for districts impacted by a both loss of funding to charter assessments and lack of full reimbursements.
This Wednesday, join a phone bank at the BTU, another location near you or call from home to thank legislators for their support and urge them to adopt important amendments that will help Boston and other districts in the final bill. Read our statement on the Student Opportunity Act and find fact sheets on the bill on our website.
Additionally, we are kicking off the fall with many exciting opportunities for educators. In particular, be sure to register for our upcoming Fall Leadership Conference: Building Community in our Schools — the deadline to secure lodging is this Friday! If you’re interested in more exciting opportunities for leadership development, make sure to check our Professional Learning & Development section below.
Lastly, the recent contract settlement provides for ESL services to be provided by a separate teacher in single-teacher inclusion classrooms. If you are a teacher in a single teacher inclusion classroom, and you have not been offered ESL services by an ESL teacher who pushes in or pulls out your students with ELD Levels 4 and 5, please contact BTU Vice President Erik Berg at eberg@btu.org . Have a great week!