• WeMassachusetts Democrats believe that a high quality, publicly
funded education is the cornerstone of our
society, our economy, democracy, and our
economy.society, and that every child and young person in the
Commonwealth deserves access to high quality adequate education as
• In order to meet our constitutionally mandated by the Supreme
Judicial Court’s landmark McDuffy decision.
obligation to provide for equal education opportunities for all children, we
support increasing state aid to schools, through Chapter 70.
• We strongly support the
Commonwealth’s on-going studies of effort to improve public educational practices and their at all levels and applaud
innovations in public education that complement the improvements already
underway through The Education Reform Act of 1993. We believe all reforms
should be evaluatede to students.
in order to strengthen those that are working well and revise or eliminate
those that prove ineffective.
We believe education must be a top priority at all levels
of government, and we reject policies that direct funds away from the children
and the programs in our public schools to finance political promises of tax
reductions or to other unrelated purposes. • We
support just and equitable funding mechanisms that provide for education programs from pre-kindergarten through higher
education, and for opportunities for lifelong learning.vibrant public
schools in all communities, and w
• We oppose efforts in Washington
to downgrade support amendments providing
assistance to poorly performing schools rather than the sanctions imposed by
the federal Elementary and Secondary School
Education Act, known as the “No Child Left Behind” Act support,
financial or otherwise, for educational excellence.
• We strongly oppose any effort to change the state constitution’sal current prohibition against the provision
of taxpayer dollars topublic funding of
private or religious schools, and we oppose schoolincluding the use of credits or vouchers proposals,
whether state or federal, which direct public funds away from public schools
and toward private or religious schools.
• We call upon the state to change funding of Commonwealthsupport the current cap on Ccharter schools to ensure that funds are not
drained from established public schools. We support efforts to ensure
adequate resources to help students achieve high standards set by the state.
• We support full funding for regional school
transportation.
• We support comprehensive, authentic, and multiple means of assessment
for students, schools, and districts, as stated in the Education Reform Act of
1993.challenging academic standards in core subjects for all
students. We believe that school systems, teachers, and administrators also
must be held to strong standards of accountability. We recognize the
responsibility of our state and local communities to provide the support and
assistance needed for students and schools to achieve these objectives. We
support curriculum standards and fair student evaluation mechanisms, including
but not limited to periodic testing.
• We oppose high stakes testing, including the use
of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests as a solely decisive determinant of graduation
from high schoolrequirement.
• We believe that smaller
class sizes mean better schools, and we strongly support state funding to ensure that all schools provide small class size,and
federal proposals to hire the additional teachers required.
• We support funding programs and
establishing policies incentives to attract, hire, and retain
motivated, competent teachers. We endorse alternative certification for
those pursuing teaching as a career change, as long as there is adequate
teacher preparation to ensure quality teachers, and we support scholarships and
loan forgiveness to attract teachers to urban and rural areas, and expanded
opportunities in training and professional development.
• We oppose the expanding trend toward hiring part time and contingent workers,
especially adjunct professors, and the misclassification of contract workers,
as a means of avoiding paying benefits and other employment guarantees.
We have high hopes and expectations for all students, and
w• We believe that educational
opportunity must be made available without regard to race, gender, economic
status, or disability. closing the achievement gap
among public schools is a 21st century civil right.
• We reaffirm our support full funding for
classroomall mandated programs,
including Sspecial and Bilingual Eeducation and English as a
Second Language programs., that can help children reach their fullest
potential, and for state and federal laws barring discrimination in our
classrooms. We believe it is vital for all of our students to be able to
compete in the global world and encourage greater use of Global Education
curricula and the teaching of foreign languages in elementary schools as well
as in the upper grades.
• We support increased funding for METCO to continue its important role in
minority student achievement and desegregation.
We believe early childhood education is vital to
subsequent success as a student. • We strongly
support the implementation and full funding of high
quality, universal early childhood education with
developmentally appropriate programs for all children under age 6 in the
Commonwealth. We pledge to seek additional resources to provide quality child
care for working parents. We recognize the need for upgraded wages to attract
and keep sufficient qualified staff, and the importance of state and federal
funds specifically earmarked to hire and retain experienced child care teachers.
We support the extension of HeadStart to all eligible children, especially
those at risk, and and care, expansion of early
education programs in our public schools, and state funding to ensure that all
school districts offer full-day kindergarten throughout all public
schools of the Commonwealthto all families who want
it.
• We believe that to
better promote academic success, combat crime and substance abuse among
teenagers, and aid working families, Massachusetts must develop a strong
network of support state funding for
after-school and summer enrichment and learning opportunities to be
available toprograms for all children. We
propose to do so in part by leveraging the public’s considerable investment in
school buildings by turning them, wherever possible, into true community
centers serving all ages throughout the day and the year.
We know that parental involvement is an important
determinant of children’s success. We must give parents the opportunities to
exercise their responsibility as parents, including through parenting classes
for new parents, flex-time, paid leave and time off to participate in
parent-teacher conferences.
We recognize that technologies like the Internet are
reshaping the worlds of work and education and the pursuit of knowledge in our
society, and we believe the state must act to bridge an emerging “Digital
Divide” that threatens to leave individual students and whole communities
behind. The state must continue to make resources for educational technology,
including hardware, wiring, software and staff training a leading priority
within its infrastructure investment program.
We believe that initiatives like School-to-Work and
effective vocational curricula that help students acquire the skills needed for
high wage jobs are of vital importance in today’s sophisticated economy. We
support cooperation among educators, employers, and labor to ensure the creation
and preservation of good jobs in the Commonwealth, and the next generation of
well qualified workers to fill them.
We believe in strong discipline standards in our schools
and support rigorous, fair and consistent discipline policies to ensure a safe,
secure school environment. We support alternative education programs for
students who disrupt the education environment for other students. We abhor
acts of violence in schools, whether directed against peers, teachers, staff,
or administrators. We endorse measures that promote safety, including violence
prevention and early intervention efforts, strict enforcement of drug free
school zone laws, and peer mediation.
• We support increased state
and federal funding to build, renovate, and
modernize the Commonwealth’s crumbling our schools and colleges. because we recognize that far too
many of our students attend schools that have leaking roofs, poor air quality,
and insufficient space to provide quality education. As we expand early
childhood and full-day kindergarten programs, we must build additional
classrooms.
• We believe in makingsupport increased funding to our public higher
education system, to ensure that we can attract and retain
top-quality faculty and staff, and to ensure that all students in Massachusetts
have access to an affordable, high quality, regionally accessible public higher education. to all students, through
national
• We support state and federal programs like Pell Grants and Stafford
loans, and through additional state-sponsoredto
provide grants, loans and scholarships to
college students, espcially for those attending. We commend our
elected officials in state and federal office for past work in combating proposed
cuts to these programs, and pledge our opposition to future such efforts. We
believe that public investments in the operation and infrastructure of
our system of state colleges,; but we reject scholarships based upon performance on the
MCAS.universities and other post-secondary institutions yield
economic dividends that far exceed costs. We support a “Fair Share” approach
which distributes the cost of attending these institutions equitably among the
state, students, and their families, and which is based on ability to pay.
• We believe that no adult
should be turned away from learning English as a Second Language or obtaining
their GED due to lack of space. We recognize that the current long waiting
lists atsupport adult education programs
make it difficult for adult learners to improve their literacy skills. We urge
employers, unions, and the state to work together in addressing this problem
through and support increased state and federal funding to ensure that all adults have access to funds
for ESOL, ABE, and GED, and by offering workplace literacy programs
on-site at companies and at union halls or language
classes.
Developed by Brad Johnson (Boston Ward 4). Presented as a service for the 2005 Massachusetts Democratic Convention by Democracy for America: Boston.