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Local legislators are spearheading two bills relating to educational staff today before the Joint Committee on Education.
A proposal from Sen. Pavel M. Payano aims to preserve a diverse school workforce by protecting certain teachers, including those from underrepresented communities, from layoffs, while school bus operators would receive de-escalation training under a proposal from Rep. Andy X. Vargas.
“In a layoff, a school district shall retain a teacher with linguistic proficiency…if the release of the less senior teacher would result in a lesser proportion of teachers with such linguistic proficiency compared to the proportion of students for whom such language or dialect is their first language or dialect,” a portion of Payano’s bill reads.
Other teachers, who are members of a population underrepresented among certified teachers in the district, would also receive protection from layoffs.
The bill is cosponsored in the House by Rep. Priscila S. Sousa.
Vargas’ bill requires training in “de-escalation tactics and techniques,” approved by the commissioner of education, for all school bus operators. “If employed, the operator’s employer shall pay for the cost of the de-escalation training,” the bill reads.