SENATOR SONIA CHANG-DÍAZ

Massachusetts Senate passes $1.5 billion education funding bill after lengthy debate

MassLive

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Boston, a former Education Committee chair and a leader on education funding reform, said, “This bill stands as our commitment that, in Massachusetts, zip code must not be destiny.”

By Shira Schoenberg | Oct 03, 2019

School funding bill will change the game for disadvantaged students

Blog title

Fulfilling the promise of public education as the great equalizer is our next big goal. Bay Staters believe in it. It’s a goal our constitution anchors us to. Now, that collective effort in advocating, crafting policy, and working together has given us a chance to deliver on it.

By Sonia Chang-Díaz | Sep 30, 2019

Massachusetts lawmakers consider bills to update state gun laws

MassLive

Chang-Diaz noted that mass shootings, especially those involving middle-class white children, make headlines. But she asked fellow lawmakers to have that same “sense of horror, unacceptance, urgency when shootings happen in Dorchester or Roxbury or Springfield or Holyoke or other urban communities, when the child’s riddled body is black or brown and their family is low-income, doing their best to make ends meet.”

By Shira Schoenberg | Aug 28, 2019

Weekend shut-downs set on MBTA subway lines

Dorchester Reporter

“There’s no reason it had to be this way, the situation we find ourself in now is due to years of deferred maintenance. Deferring maintenance is a habit that State leaders need to break,” Chang-Diaz said.

By Katie Trojano | Aug 14, 2019

Massachusetts lawmakers will leave for August break with major unfinished business: education funding

MassLive

“At what point does ‘we’re working on it’ become justice delayed and denied?” Chang-Diaz said the Senate has passed the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission multiple times. “The Legislature has had nearly four years to consider the recommendations — that’s half a kid’s elementary school years,” she said. “There’s no good reason that students will go back to school with no foundation funding plan in place.”

By Shira Schoenberg | Jul 31, 2019

Chang-Diaz seeks breakthrough for funding of education reform

Dorchester Reporter

In an extended interview during and after The Horse Race podcast last week, Chang-Díaz told the Reporter that the dramatic funding boost is necessary to fully meet the state’s obligation to provide a quality education to its students while grappling with the greater cost of educating disadvantaged children. It expands on the bipartisan though last-minute efforts of the last cycle.

By Jennifer Smith | Jun 27, 2019

Public school advocates have $950 million incentive to lobby for education funding bill, study finds

MassLive

Chang-Diaz said the difference in funding between the PROMISE Act and Baker’s plan is “stark” and represents the difference between a school district hiring a fraction of a school counselor or starting a quality preschool program.

By Shira Schoenberg | Jun 17, 2019

To boost equity, give public loans to pot startups

The Boston Globe

The nascent legal pot industry is dominated by white players and out-of-state corporations. Enter state Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz.

May 17, 2019

Massachusetts bill would restore net metering rate for community solar

Energy News Network

“I want to fix it because it is just plain unfair,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate.

By Sarah Shemkus | Apr 25, 2019

Officials, Patriots push for education funding hike

Boston Herald

“Massachusetts still has one of the worst achievement gaps in the nation between rich and poor students,” state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz said in her testimony. “Everybody knows that money alone won’t do it, but we also know that you can’t do it without money.”

By Mary Markos | Mar 22, 2019

Hundreds Show Up At State House Education Funding Hearing

Boston Patch

During eight hours of testimony, hundreds took to the mic to indicate their support for the PROMISE Act.

By Jenna Fisher | Mar 22, 2019

Sen. Chang Diaz uses the spirit of Martin Luther King Day to call for education funding reform

Jamaica Plain Gazette

JP Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz took the podium at the 49th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in the South Boston Convention Center and used the shining light of Dr. King’s example to call for another local fight for justice – that being the justice of equal education funding.

By Seth Daniel | Jan 27, 2019

Here are the basics on the bill to reform how Massachusetts schools are funded

Boston.com

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, the lead sponsor of the PROMISE Act, says it “isn’t about providing ‘new’ or ‘extra’ funds. It's about making good on what we've already promised.”

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa | Jan 11, 2019

Momentum Builds to Revise School Funding

The Boston Globe

Seeking to accelerate Beacon Hill’s often glacial pace, Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz on Wednesday rolled out a revamped version of the Senate’s funding bill from last session alongside four dozen legislators, mayors, and other advocates gathered behind the podium.

By Victoria McGrane | Jan 10, 2019

Reformers rallying around overhauled Senate education bill

State House News Service

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat who was the main architect of the Senate's $1 billion school funding bill last year, Wednesday morning filed a similar bill -- dubbed the Education Promise Act -- that includes language addressing some concerns raised with the previous version.

By Katie Lannan | Jan 09, 2019

Another Push To Revamp School Funding: Will It Pass This Time?

WBUR

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz has again put forward an ambitious bill to increase funding for Massachusetts public schools. Again, a large and vocal coalition has assembled behind it.

By Max Larkin | Jan 09, 2019

The Fight to Fund Education

Politico

"Every year that we wait as a legislature to act on a highly-vetted, highly-researched, highly-debated road map that this bipartisan group of experts has given us, is a year that students can't get back," Chang-Díaz told me in a recent interview.

By Stephanie Murray | Jan 07, 2019

States are turning to civics education in an effort to produce informed and active students.

U.S. News & World Report

"I'm proud to see this important civics education bill signed into law," Massachusetts state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Democrat who heads the Joint Committee on Education, said during the signing. "In light of recent reports of voter suppression and the perilous state of our country's civic and political life today, this legislation is especially critical."

By Lauren Camera | Nov 23, 2018

What's Behind The Beacon Hill Battle Over School Funding

WBUR

Chang-Diaz and others who served said emphatically that the FBRC did not rank its four priorities, and wanted all four met in one fell swoop.

By Max Larkin | Jul 11, 2018

Family separations spur massive rally, Trump issues new order

State House News Service

Sen. Kathleen O'Connor Ives, a Newburyport Democrat, and Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat, also addressed the protesters gathered outside Baker's office together. Chang-Diaz had her toddler son strapped to her chest.

By Matt Murphy & Colin Young | Jun 20, 2018