SB 274 Summary

• Establishes the Task Force to Diversify the Educator Workforce to conduct a comprehensive study of minority teacher recruitment and retention programs, evaluating implementation of prior legislation and assessing whether the state is meeting its goal of hiring at least 250 new minority teachers and administrators annually (with at least 30% men).

• Task Force must submit findings and legislative recommendations to the education committee by January 1, 2023.

• Creates or restructures three councils: the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council, the Minority Teacher Recruitment Policy Oversight Council, and the Task Force to Diversify the Educator Workforce, with specified membership and collaboration requirements.

• Requires the Department of Education to identify research-based recruitment practices, establish public and private partnerships, modernize educator certification processes, adopt competitive cut scores on educator assessments, and develop implicit bias training for school hiring personnel by July 1, 2022.

• Directs the Office of Higher Education to administer a minority educator loan reimbursement grant program in collaboration with the recruitment councils.