AFT Massachusetts

On , we recognize the rich heritage and culture of indigenous peoples in America and long history of Native communities all across this country.

How can schools navigate AI while protecting students' safety, privacy and learning?

Join AFT President Randi Weingarten and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 12:30pm ET for a national conversation on AI policy, safety standards and classroom practice.

Register now: https://glrcenter-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XGHgg_JnRLGb135_2lwbCQ #/registration

Celebrating literacy and community at the Witherspoon Arts and Culture Awards Breakfast and the America 250 GET LIT Literacy Parade! The first ever literacy parade in MA was organized by The Witherspoon Institute (WIN), a nonprofit community leadership think tank for youth in the arts based in Boston founded by Alda Witherspoon, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

Several AFT members were recognized for their contributions to the Boston community:

Congratulations to Brenda Chaney on receiving the Best Teacher / Parent Community Liaison Award, CasSandra Samuel on receiving the Best Para Librarian Award, Boston Librarian Allen Shaw Knight, who received a citation from Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune for his decades of service at the Shaw-Roxbury Library and Jessica Tang, who served as the Parade Grand Marshal.

Congratulations to all of the awardees as well as the Witherspoon Institute for its commitment to literacy, community and the arts.

Members of the Northshore Education Consortium Employees Federation (NECEF) work hard to ensure their students have the services and support they need for educational and social success.

NECEF President Babz Carrapichano was joined by her two predecessors, Ellen Ford and Jake Ziegler, to celebrate the grand opening of Northshore Phoenix High. Formerly known as Recovery High School, it is a critical resource for the region, providing specialized education opportunities for students whose lives have been impacted by substance abuse for over 20 years.

It is one of the six schools within the Northshore Education Consortium, which provides high-quality special education opportunities to nearly 500 local students with emotional, behavioral, and developmental disabilities.

Check out President Tang’s response to the Boston Globe published today, correcting their rose-tinted view of the federal voucher scheme.

Opting in would mean publicly subsidizing private schools that pick and choose who they educate—in direct violation of our state's constitution.

To protect the education of all students, Healey must opt out.

Check out our final round of endorsements for 2026! 😍💪

These candidates are the champions we need in the State House—for labor, for public education, for our libraries, for all of us!

Learn more at ma.aft.org/endorsements-2026 and join the AFT MA Activist List to get a weekly digest with actions and opportunities to make a difference in this November’s elections with AFT Massachusetts!

Sign up for the Activist List at tinyurl.com/aftma-activist.

Teamsters Boston & UNITE HERE Local 26 workers are on *Day 34* of their strike at Encore Boston Harbor.

Our union siblings are showing us every single day what worker solidarity and union power looks like in practice—and we’ve got their backs!

Support Encore Boston Harbor workers in their fight for a fair contract by joining them on the picket line and by boycotting Encore!! No shopping. No dining. No spending our hard-earned union dollars at Encore until they give our union siblings a fair contract.

ICYMI: Monday we joined partners from the 40+ organizations that make up the Protect Our Public Schools coalition to call on Gov. Healey to opt out of the latest federal voucher scheme.

With the latest news that states will have no ability to implement standards or guardrails for how this money is allocated, it’s clear that the misleadingly rosy picture painted by supporters of this voucher scheme is just a cover for siphoning public money away from public education.

Gov. Healey: Stand with students. Protect Massachusetts’ exceptional public education. Opt out of the federal voucher scheme!

Read the full article a tinyurl.com/Herald-10-5.

The federal voucher scheme is bad for students.
Bad for schools.
WRONG for Massachusetts.

Public school advocates, unions, and allies converged on the State House today to call on Gov. Healey to opt out of the federal voucher scheme.

AFT MA President Jessica Tang and Boston Teachers Union President Erik Berg spoke to the long history of vouchers siphoning funds away from public schools and how devastating this latest scheme would be for our students and schools, backed up by local presidents and AFT MA Vice Presidents from Boston, Lynn Teachers Union 1037, Peabody Federation of Teachers, and Chelsea Teachers' Union #1340.

With the latest federal regulations clearly stating that states will have *no* ability to ensure that this public money funds public programs that serve all students, it’s clear: Massachusetts must opt out now.

Whether you call it a voucher or a scholarship or a savings account, the result is the same—publicly-subsidized private schools.

Funneling $50 billion in public funds each year to dole out scholarships for the few while waging a multi-step campaign against public schools is not about choice. Ninety percent of parents choose public schools, which serve students from all backgrounds and all abilities. The only ones with choice in this scheme are the private school admissions offices allowed to pick and choose who to admit and privately-run organizations allowed to choose where to send the money with very little oversight.

Once again, we urge Governor Healey to formally and unequivocally opt-out of this scheme to maintain accountability and protect the Commonwealth’s standing in public education.

WE NEED TO AMPLIFY OUR MESSAGE: GOVERNOR HEALEY, SAY NO TO THE FEDERAL SCHOOL VOUCHER SCHEME!

WILL YOU HELP BY JOINING US?

Protect Our Public Schools Press Conference
Monday, 10/05, 1:00PM
MA State House, Rm 350