Education

We can’t defer spending on a child’s education like we can with a road repair.  Each child is only in school once.  They can’t go back and redo their education when more money is available. When we cut education aid for our communities, our children are forced into overcrowded classrooms and don’t learn as well.  The impact of these cuts can last a lifetime.  That is why I voted against local aid cuts in this year’s budget.

Massachusetts leads the nation in the quality of our elementary and secondary education and is first in college graduates.  This has enabled us to attract companies that depend on a well-educated workforce.  As a result we have the fourth highest income in the country, per capita. There is no more effective long-term economic development strategy than investing in education.

Unfortunately we are in danger of losing our lead in education. Since 2001, State spending on elementary and secondary education has decline 7.5% while funding for our State colleges and Universities has declined an alarming $38.6%.

We now spend more money on programs and tax breaks designed to stimulate economic development than we do on public higher education.  Much of this economic development spending is done without any ability to evaluate its effectiveness. 

If we required more accountability in economic development spending, we would find that spending on public higher education offers a higher rate of return than many other strategies.  This would allow us to shift more of our resources to public higher education where it would do more good in the long run.