Category: Front Page News

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA) and its Education Committee submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on Education hearing on October 31, 2013, on bills S.203 and S.254. These bills – acts to involve youth in civic engagement – provide youth input in the development of a curriculum to provide the means for students to be knowledgeable and informed and encourage active engagement in the democratic process.  In addition we support the inventory of school district compliance with section 2 Chapter 71 of the General Laws in S.254.

Since the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993, LWVMA has monitored the development of statewide curriculum frameworks and has written to the Board of Education supporting a strong civics component in the social studies framework.

The mission of the League of Women Voters is to inform citizens and encourage their participation in the democratic process, and in pursuit of that mission, we strongly support civic engagement and education throughout grades K-12.  The urgency of this mission was recently underscored by the results of a National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP) National Civic Exams which reported:

“Fewer than half of American eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights on the most recent national civics examination, and only one in 10 demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches….The scores indicated that only about a quarter of 4th- and 12th-grade students, and about one-fifth of 8th graders, ranked at the proficient or advanced levels.” http://nationsreportcard.gov/civics_2010/civics_2010_report/

LWVMA urges the Massachusetts Legislature to enact S.203 and S.254 so that schools and students in Massachusetts will have the knowledge and skills to truly participate in a constitutional democracy such as ours.  It is imperative that students from grade school into high school and beyond understand our country’s principles and institutions.

The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, which includes LWVMA, held a lobby day at the State House on Wednesday, Nov. 6, starting at 10 a.m.   Attendees reinforced the public’s demand for such legislation, and told their Senators and Representatives that we want meaningful gun safety legislation in Massachusetts.

Click here to see the LWVMA Action Alert with details about the Action Day.

The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence is a statewide network of groups working together to pass meaningful new gun laws in Massachusetts and nationally. The Coalition expects that proposed legislation will include bringing Massachusetts into compliance with the National Instant Check System for background checks. The

Coalition members also identified four key priorities for any proposed bill:

• Universal background checks whenever a gun is sold at the time of sale, including all private and internet sales;
• Extending the suitability standard for licensing to include firearm identification cards;
• Purchases limited to one gun a month;
• Improved data collection and sharing on the sources of guns used in crimes.

LWVMA has testified at all five hearings the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security held on gun legislation. Lobby day enabled legislators to hear from people in their districts on this topic.

If you were not able to attend, you can watch a video presentation by clicking here.

Many League members were in attendance at “How Women Become Political” on October 7, and LWVMA was an organizational partner of the event, but many of you were not able to attend because it sold out early.

The featured speakers included progressive activists Gloria Steinem and Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley. They were joined by Swanee Hunt and Kerry Healey, who work together on Political Parity, a nonpartisan effort to unite leaders from both political parties to advance women’s high-level representation nationally. The highlight was their panel discussion, moderated by Callie Crossley, Enjoy!