Issue Position: Public Education

Issue Position

LEGISLATIVE IMPERATIVES:
All students deserve a high quality education with small class sizes and fully funded programs for special education and English language learners

Guarantee universal access to high-quality Pre-K education

Ensure all students of public universities graduate debt-free

MY PLATFORM:
Free and high-quality public education is a fundamental and essential right that upholds the "American dream" - any child can better their station through dedicated study and with generous public investment. In reality, however, our education experience varies widely depending on our zipcode, race, and class due to the overall systematic defunding of our education system; the lethal combination of segregated housing and schools funded by property taxes; and the construction of an education system based on white supremacist notions of achievement, opportunity, and success. Instead of serving as a cornerstone of a vibrant democracy and as a vehicle for all people to become thriving successful adults, our current education system manifests and reinforces the racism and classism that pervades our society. One of the reasons that the "American dream" is deferred is because of the inequities and injustices that exist in schooling.

I am a product of public schools. I was incredibly lucky to grow up in one of the most well-funded and highest performing school districts in the state according to state measures of academic achievement. My predominantly white, upper-middle class classmates and I benefited immensely from the high quality education that we received. Many young people in Massachusetts are not so fortunate. Disparities between school experiences based on zip code are perpetuated by state policy makers. Every single child deserves the high quality education that I am so fortunate to have received.

In 2018, I was made very aware of the hypocrisy of our current approach to funding schools in Massachusetts when the House Chair of Education, who represents the well-funded district I grew up in, opposed the Promise Act. This legislation sought to implement the Foundation Budget Review Commission's recommendations to more equitably fund our schools. All children deserve the right to an excellent education, like the one that I was lucky enough to receive, regardless of zip code. As your representative I will fight for fair and equitable funding for all our schools.

To address educational inequities we must re-examine the purpose of why we send our children to school and therefore who benefits from "traditional" education; the ways we fund our schools; and the history of racism in our schools. We must strive towards reshaping schools into institutions that are equitably funded, culturally responsive, in which families are meaningfully engaged, and educators have autonomy. Our schools must become liberatory and uplifting for all students.

I believe this can only be done through collective action and power building, and we're doing it already. Last fall, I organized with the teachers unions (MTA and AFT) and the Fund our Future campaign to build a broad coalition of unions and progressive activists to push our legislature to pass the Student Opportunity Act, successfully bringing $1.5 billion to our schools. I currently run workshops for the MTA to equip educators to effectively advocate for their public schools and for their students. We do this through sharing and building on their stories and their students' stories, and tapping into those experiences to make hard asks of their legislators. I will bring this lens of community power and coalition building to the state house as your representative.

WE WILL FIGHT FOR:
The formation of a Massachusetts education coalition made up of diverse educators, families, and youth from across the state to share power in decision making at the state level

Increased pay for all educators, especially for educators of color who bear an increased burden and privilege of supporting students of color

Immediate investment in early education and universal access to high-quality Pre-K

A moratorium on high stakes testing and the permanent cancelation of the MCAS

Debt-free higher education and the Cherish Act, which would fully fund public higher education by raising more than $500 million per year

The right of youth school committee members to vote on their school boards

The development of guidelines for culturally competent and historically rigorous curriculums at all grade levels

Universal recess

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