Without question, our top priority is public education. “Ample” funding for education is our constitutional obligation; it is also critical to our competitiveness in the global market and to our good citizenship at home.
We must carefully redefine “basic education” and invest in it with transparency and accountability so we know what we are paying for.
The state must fully fund its own mandates, including special education and pupil transportation.
Even in this constrained budgetary climate, amidst a financial meltdown in the markets, we still need to keep our eye on the ball and invest for the long term in our most valuable commodities – our children.
We often hear that “Children are Our Future.” I disagree. Children are Right Now! We must make sure that our children are ready to learn when they go to school, and beyond that we must pay attention to a host of complex issues in education, including:
- sufficient local control of our schools
- bolstering the infrastructure of school buildings and classrooms
- ensuring sufficient training and compensation for our teachers
- optimal classroom sizes
- a curriculum that embraces a much wider range of skill sets, and
- fair and authentic ways to assess student learning beyond the use of high-stakes tests.
I worked hard in the last session to secure an expansion of early learning programs, to support increased resources for K-12 and to create new high-tech training programs in our area.
I will follow up on that progress and continue championing investments in early learning – kids from birth to age five – and strongly supporting our community and technical schools as a key link to local high-wage jobs.