Senate designates February as Montessori Month with brief floor presentation

The California State Senate adopted Senate Resolution 69 on Feb. 24 designating February as Montessori Month.

Senator Nilo presented the resolution on the floor, describing the Montessori method developed by Dr. Maria Montessori and noting her demonstration of the method at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Nilo summarized Montessori pedagogy as child-focused, with specially designed learning materials and independent work, and cited data from the American Montessori Society, saying there are approximately 5,000 Montessori schools in the U.S. serving over 1,000,000 children and close to 600 public Montessori programs in California, including charter programs serving roughly 40,000 students.

The resolution drew no substantive debate. The clerk called the roll and the presiding officer announced the recorded result as 'Ayes 37, No 0,' and declared the resolution adopted. Senator Nilo introduced a group of Montessori educators and students from the California Montessori Project (CMP) in the gallery, noting the CMP is a tuition-free charter network serving approximately 3,000 students at six schools in the Sacramento area.