Education is the key to making a difference in people's lives in both economic opportunity and cultural enrichment.
Funding Excellence in Education
Our dependence on the property tax for the bulk of funding education creates conflict. It pits parents of schoolchildren against those who no longer have children in school and traditional public schools against charter schools. While the State mandates taking care of children with special education needs, it does not adequately aid communities who must allocate resources across the academic spectrum.
I want a state school funding formula that enables local government to provide quality education and maintain fiscal solvency. I will support legislation for:
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low student-teacher ratios
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state funding for new school buildings on the basis of both community need and income
- more generous loan forgiveness programs for college graduates who go into teaching, particularly in Math, Science and economically disadvantaged communities
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state assumption of special education costs that are more than double the average cost per pupil
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property tax rebates to elderly and working families who live in communities that invest in spending more on education
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Excellence in Higher Education
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While Massachusetts has a reputation for prestigious private colleges and universities, we shortchange public institutions of higher learning. I want a higher education system that lives up to our reputation for excellence in education.
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We need to make tuition affordable for all students. While our colleges should be accessible to varied academic levels, we should create schools within our system of higher education that are as rigorous as our most prestigious private colleges. To these ends, I drafted legislation that would give scholarships to Massachusetts public colleges and universities for high-achieving students who agree to support their communities by tutoring their peers to help them pass the MCAS.
By creating a fair and effective state policy for funding both secondary and higher education, we can ensure that, in the tradition of Horace Mann, Massachusetts will remain a leader in education.
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