The New York State Senate is progressing legislation to improve educational equity. This follows the 2019 New York State Education Department’s Educator Diversity Report. The proposed law will create a task force to examine diversity issues and suggest solutions. It will also initiate recruitment programs for minority and bilingual educators, and organize statewide conventions for these educators.
Senator Jabari Brisport sponsors the Task Force on Educator Diversity. The task force will study diversity among New York educators and propose strategies to increase it. The bill aims to address the lack of teacher diversity in the state.
The Underrepresented Teachers of Tomorrow Program, Senate Bill S1192, is sponsored by Senator Roxanne Persaud. It will create a teacher recruitment and retention program, offering awards to attract and retain educators from underrepresented groups. The 2019 Educator Diversity Report showed that while student diversity has increased, teacher diversity has remained largely unchanged.