Advocacy
The Safe and Supportive Schools Commission recommended maintaining funding for the the line item for Safe and Supportive Schools to help the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) carry out the functions that are asked of it in the law.
Update FY 24 Budgeting Process:
Both the MA House of Representatives and the Senate include appropriations for the Safe and Supportive Schools Line Item in their respective FY24 budgets. The House allocates $650,000 and the Senate budget allocates $522,154. TLPI advocates for the Conference Committee to adopt the House appropriation to help fund more school districts in creating a safe and supportive school environments for all students.
In line with the Commission’s recommendations (see Eighth Annual Commission report), carry out the many duties necessary to support implementation of the Safe and Supportive Schools Framework,
This includes:
- the Commission requests that the Safe and Supportive Schools line item (7061-9612) continue to be funded in FY 24 in order to ensure that the Department, schools, and the Commission have the resources to help foster throughout the Commonwealth implementation of the cost-efficient approaches envisioned in the statute for creating safe and supportive school cultures.
- providing technical assistance to schools;
- supporting and promoting efforts to advance and strengthen educational equity, including prioritizing racial and ethnic equity, as well as equity as it relates to gender identity and sexual orientation, as key levers for strengthening safe and supportive learning environments. T
- supporting the safe and supportive schools grant program and helping grantees pilot and share with other schools ways for developing and implementing school action plans;
- building capacity at the state and local levels to help schools more actively and effectively engage families and community partners in ways that are meaningful to students and families, and that are grounded in anti-racist and equity focused goals.
- prioritizing student voice
Click on the link above to join our coalition and learn more about opportunities to advocate for safe and supportive schools during this budget season. TLPI will not share any contact information you provide with third parties.