My testimony to the Massachusetts Legislature’s Join Committee on Education regarding the Student Representative Voting Rights bill H.474 introduced by Rep. Farley-Bouvier (was the last one to testify):
Good evening Chair Lewis and Chair Garlic as well as the honorable members of the Joint Committee on Education,
I’m William Garrity, I’m 19 years old, and I am a former student representative to and current candidate for a seat on the Pittsfield School Committee. I am here to speak in support of H.474 An Act Relative to Student Representative Voting Rights.
Cities and towns in Western Massachusetts have been having a hard time attracting and retaining members to public bodies such as school committees. For instance, in my race for a seat on the school committee there are only 6 candidates for 6 seats, leaving such an important race uncontested. In neighboring Lenox there were no candidates on the ballot for the 3 open school committee seats this past election cycle, though 3 write-in candidates did step up to the plate. This is starting to become a recurring problem that is only going to get worse as time goes on.
What is a better way to get more people serving on our public bodies than to prepare them young. This is why I support giving two student representatives, elected by their high school peers, full voting rights on their school committee. For the students it gives them a voice on the most powerful body in which its actions directly impact their educational environment while giving them a learning experience into the inner workings of government and how to serve on a public body. And hopefully these student representatives will come back to serve on a public body again.
Lets face it, the role of student representatives has been deprioritized by school committees. There are quite a few school committees that do not even have student representatives. And for the ones that do most do not follow the legislative intent of the law, which is to have a student voice at the table on matters before the committee, not to only give reports on school sporting events and plays. Giving student representatives voting rights on their school committees will re-energize the role of the student representatives while also getting more students involved in the government process, and hopefully continue to stay involved after they graduate like I have.
I thank you for your time and I respectfully ask for this bill to be reported out favorably.