Educators, unions and lawmakers press committee to extend paid family, medical and bereavement leave to public educators

A steady stream of educators, union leaders, public‑employee lawmakers and bereavement advocates urged the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development to extend paid family and medical leave (PFML) to public educators and to adopt a separate bereavement leave guarantee for the loss of a child.

Teachers and education support staff described how the current exclusion of many municipal and school employees from PFML forces them to rely on accrued sick time, unpaid leave or employer goodwill. "Under our current contracts, we are left with little options to care for ourselves and our families while worrying about how to manage the lack of paid leave," said Kelly Powers, a teacher in Duxbury, who testified in support of House Bill H2125 and companion Senate bill S1339.

Testimony included multiple personal accounts. Acadia Jewett and Eileen Roddy, both from Scituate and former teachers or union leaders, described colleagues who exhausted sick leave because…