I’ve been a public school teacher and I will never forget the struggles—and victories—I saw my students, parents, and fellow teachers go through every day. I know first-hand the importance of providing our schools with the support they need to give every child the chance for success. Our public schools are ground zero for our country’s promise of equal opportunity, and they are the driving engine of Massachusetts’ economy.

 

As your State Senator, I have fought hard to defend education aid from budget cuts, and to make the much-needed case for expansion. I’ve also been willing to take tough votes, on all sides of the education spectrum—to put the needs of kids and families, low-income kids in particular, before the interests of adults—and I’ll never shy away from that responsibility.

 

In 2015, I co-chaired the bi-partisan commission that found that Massachusetts was under-estimating the cost of quality K-12 education by $1-2 billion annually. Since then, I’ve filed legislation to implement the recommendations of that commission and to cure pervasive inequities in public education. After a 4-year campaign of coalition building, organizing, and public messaging about education justice, the legislature unanimously passed and the Governor signed into law a transformative package of new investments that included everything we fought for from the Foundation Budget Review Commission recommendations, and more. The bill I filed at the beginning of the 2019-20 legislative session, the Education PROMISE Act, served as the basis for the final education funding bill, and included the full equity provisions to make a real difference for low-income and English learner students throughout the Commonwealth.

 

I will continue to work ceaselessly to ensure that our schools have the resources and tools they need to complete this job: skilled teachers, universal access to early education, well-rounded curricula, excellent school leadership, and active community and parental involvement. I will also work to give parents the support they need to be active participants in their children’s education.