About the Issue

Though we successfully advocated for a study that requires DESE to study the impacts of layoffs on high-quality, diverse educators, we believe it will only provide further evidence that we must take additional action, when layoffs are required due to financial constraints, to protect Massachusetts’ investments in diverse teacher recruitment and retention. Refiling our legislation will keep a spotlight on this critical gap.

Numerous studies have shown that students succeed when having more diverse instructors in the classroom.

Though Massachusetts has made significant progress in diversifying its teacher workforce, only 10% of teachers identify as a teacher of color - compared with 44% of public school students who identify as a person of color.

Since Massachusetts teachers of color are 2.1x (107%) more likely to be early in their career than are their white colleagues (relative to their representation in the profession overall) Massachusetts’ last-in-first-out (LIFO) policy threatens any progress made and will exacerbate an already yawning gap between the number of teachers who look like the students they serve.

Last in, first out” is a seniority-based teacher layoff policy where the teachers most recently hired are the first to be dismissed. These layoff decisions are often in reaction to budgetary issues and spending cuts, unlike individual teacher dismissals, which can be due to a number of factors, including performance.

Teachers without “Professional Teacher Status” (PTS) must be laid off first. Districts can determine the order in which they are laid off.

Teachers achieve PTS after teaching for 3 consecutive years in the same district. Boston Public Schools uses seniority to determine who among non-PTS teachers is let go.

Once all non-PTS teachers are laid off, teachers with PTS must then be laid off in order of quality. Quality is commonly defined in Collective Bargaining Agreements but must include evaluation scores. If two PTS teachers are equally qualified, districts may use seniority as a tiebreaker.

School districts across Massachusetts faced difficult budgetary decisions beginning January 2024, when federal relief dollars are no longer available, and empty seats can no longer be covered.  We anticipate budget constraints will continue throughout the 2024-25 school year. 

Given that teachers of color are more likely to be early in their careers, they are positioned to be the first to lose their jobs in districtwide, seniority-based layoffs.

More than any other state in the country, this challenge is felt more acutely in Massachusetts, as the Commonwealth has committed significant resources to diversifying its workforce in recent years, including the recent passage of the Educator Diversity Act (EDA).

Currently, teachers of color in Massachusetts are more than twice as likely—or 107% more likely—to be in their first three years of teaching than are white teachers (relative to their representation in the profession overall).

Despite this decline in student enrollment, districts have continued to hire the same number of teachers, and have in many cases increased hiring rates.

Though we’ve made significant progress in diversifying our teaching workforce, LIFO risks us taking a backward step and eliminating any progress made.

Today’s teacher vacancies are concentrated in specific states, districts, and positions. Many rural areas and other high-poverty areas are experiencing shortages. And, high teacher turnover is especially a problem among childcare and special education teachers.

While teacher shortages are acutely felt by many educators across the country, there are actually more teachers per student in schools today in Massachusetts than there have been at any point in the last decade.

According to data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), today’s statewide student-teacher ratio is 11.9, compared with 13.5 in the 2013-2014 school year. The decrease is even larger in Boston, where the student-teacher ratio has decreased from 13.5 to 10.7.

In lieu of this decline in student enrollment, districts have continued to hire the same number of teachers, and have in many cases increased hiring rates.

This sequence, coupled with the elimination of funds that states and districts received from the Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSR) Act, resulted in layoffs across many districts in 2024, and is likely to continue into the next school year.

This means that as student enrollment has declined, As a result, when federal relief funds expire, they will be forced to make tough budget decisions that may include laying off teachers.

Research shows myriad benefits when having a teacher of color in the classroom. This includes helping students break down negative stereotypes, which supports their understanding and confrontation of racism—leading to increased cultural awareness, decreasing implicit bias, and better preparing them to live in a multicultural society.

And, most critically, a diverse teacher workforce helps improve academic performance and social-emotional student well-being.

Data supports this: Black students who had a single Black teacher were 13% more likely to enroll in college—and with two Black teachers, 32%.

Having a Black teacher also cut high school dropout rates by 39% for Black boys from low-income households.

Exposure to Latinx teachers also positively impacts Latinx elementary students’ disciplinary action rates, eventual dropout rates, and likelihood of high school graduation.