House Bill 4419 and Senate Bill 2668, identical bills aimed at supporting climate education in the Bay State, died in the Massachusetts legislature when the last day of formal sessions for the 2023-2024 legislative session passed.
If enacted, these bill would have established the Interdisciplinary Climate Literacy Trust Fund to support interdisciplinary climate education in the state, prioritizing underserved communities and communities that are disproportionately affected by climate change.
The bills would have also authorized local school districts to implement interdisciplinary climate literacy plans. Guidelines for the development and implementation of such plans would have been provided by an Interdisciplinary Climate Literacy Advisory Council.
These bills replaced a number of previously introduced climate education bills — House Bills 470, 491, 496, 504, 576, and 3387 as well as Senate Bill 260 — and were passed by the Joint Committee on Education, as NCSE previously reported.
