Education Committee Testimony Cheat Sheet

An Act Enhancing Learning in the Early School Years through a Ban on School Exclusion in Pre-kindergarten through 3rd Grade H541/S373 | Fact Sheet

Tuesday, September 2nd Hearing

Testimony tips

• Prioritize one or two main points only.  When the committee members deliberate privately, what do you want them to remember if they were to summarize your position in one sentence?  Use your two minutes to go deeply on that point so it is memorable.

• Use Examples, if possible, but keep them clear and brief. Make policy issues real, and illustrate how your point above plays out in real life. 

bill information and Sample Talking Points:

• This bill addresses the role that suspension and expulsion play in removing young students from the classroom during grades where they need to pick up key tools that are essential to their future academic and life success.

• Early school years are a pivotal time for children to develop how they feel about going to school. Young children who are repeatedly excluded often start to see themselves as the “bad” kid, may start to fear going to school, and not connect to the school community in a way that facilitates learning in the long term.

• 3rd grade reading levels across the Commonwealth were poor before the COVID-19 pandemic, with only half of 3rd graders in public schools possessing adequate reading skills. Since schools reopened, “scores for all third graders have slipped below the 50 percent mark. These scores are even worse for vulnerable populations of students, as “75 percent of low-income third-graders, 70 percent of Black third-graders, 80 percent of Latino 3rd graders, and 85 percent of 3rd graders with disabilities are falling behind.”

• School exclusion in the younger grades plays a substantial role in these poor academic outcomes. Quite simply, students cannot learn if they are not in the classroom, and state data shows that public school young children in the early grades miss significant amounts of classroom time due to exclusionary discipline. Further, research has found that “students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma than proficient readers.”

• This population of young students lost 2804 days of lost instruction in the most recent year with available data (2022-23)

• Exclusion in the early grades disproportionately impacts students of color, students with disabilities and low-income students. Black students in grades pre-k through 3rd grade are 4.6 times as likely, and Latine students more than 3 times as likely, to be suspended as their white counterparts. Students with disabilities, who already experience educational challenges, are also excluded more than their non-disabled peers, and low-income students make up 75% of the total early grade population that is subject to exclusionary discipline.

• Boston Public Schools, the Commonwealth’s and New England’s largest school district, has already implemented this policy since November 2018, banning all suspensions for students in pre-k to 2nd grade and suspensions for minor offenses for students in grades 3-5. In addition to Boston Public Schools, 14 states and the District of Columbia have instituted similar bans on the use of exclusionary discipline for young students to ensure more critical classroom instruction time for these important school years.

Hearing Details

• Date: Tuesday, September 2nd @ 1pm

• Link to sign up to testify here. 

  • Deadline to register: Friday, August 29th @ 1pm.

  • Oral testimony is limited to two minutes per person.

• In-person: State House, Room A-2

  • Closest entrance: Bowdoin Street, and go up one floor

  • From Beacon Street entrance: go to the 2nd floor, walk across the main hall of the State House and walk down the Grand Staircase (or take the elevator down to the 1st floor). 

  • The entrance will have staffers with paper sign ups for anyone interested in testifying in-person last minute.

• Virtual: link will be emailed on a calendar invite after registration

• Submit written testimony by:

  • email to jointcommittee.education@malegislature.gov and emily.reynolds@masenate.gov

  • Use subject line: “Education Committee Testimony in Support of 541/S373”

  • Please cc your own state representative and state senator (find them here).

• Deadline to submit written testimony: Tuesday, September 9th

Link to watch hearing online:

https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/5335

Hearing Logistics:

• Timing The first hour (maybe two hours) will most likely be taken up by elected officials who get called first.  The order of bills will not be known ahead of time unfortunately.

• Restrooms: Closest women and men’s public restrooms are located on either side of Room 136.  All gender public restrooms located in the basement (one floor down) between rooms 26 and 27. Men’s is in room 14 and women’s is in room 44.

• Food: Pack a snack or visit the 4th floor cafeteria for vending machine snacks or refrigerated meals.

• Accessibility: Request accessibility services here.