Home 
Advocacy Executive Director's Reports Education planning must include municipal leaders
Earlier this summer, Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled his bold and ambitious agenda to make Massachusetts the undisputed national leader in public education and set in motion the planning process to make his vision a reality.
In a commencement speech to a warm and receptive class of graduates at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the governor talked of his 10-year vision to provide universal preschool, full-day kindergarten for all, dramatically increased time-in-learning for all K-12 students with an extended school day and a longer school year, free community college for state residents, an overhaul of the education funding system, and added later, a review of the University of Massachusetts structure.
In the new global economy, Massachusetts needs to cultivate and produce a highly trained and skilled workforce in order to attract business investment and job growth, and, in turn, provide a high standard of living for those who choose to make the Bay State their home. As individuals, families and businesses become more and more mobile, we can become a powerful magnet to draw and keep people here if our education system is beyond compare. If we lack this power, then we will lose out to other regions of the country, and increasingly, other parts of the world.
There is broad consensus that this vision is vital to our success.
From the very first moment after the governor’s speech, the questions have flowed. How much will this cost? Do we have the money, buildings, teachers, experts and overall capacity to do all of this? Who will manage this new and expanded system? What’s the timeline? Who will pay? What will this squeeze out? Can we take this on, and still address the many other issues that are so vital to communities, taxpayers, families, homeowners, companies, and our future?
Local officials were among those who asked these questions, and rightly so. Cities and towns pay for more than 60 percent of K-12 public schools statewide, and under all scenarios, will continue to administer and lead in the delivery of education services across the Commonwealth. Clearly, municipal leaders need to be at the table not to just ask these questions, but to shape the answers as full partners and stakeholders in the planning process that will move the governor’s effort forward.
Just days after the administration initiated this effort, the governor announced that he would be forming a comprehensive planning process called “The Readiness Project.” The governor will soon be naming a 20-person Readiness Project steering committee, chaired by three prominent Massachusetts experts, to be followed by the creation of a number of working groups to conduct research, weigh options and policies, and together, to craft the overall plan that will be presented to the governor in March 2008.
In order for The Readiness Project to be positioned for success, municipal officials must be involved at every level, including the steering committee and the workgroups.
Local leaders share the governor’s vision of improvement, investment, and innovation in education and in our economy. The best way to ensure that The Readiness Project succeeds in laying out a bold, achievable and sustainable plan is to include the communities who will continue to fund and lead in the implementation of this vision.
English historian Arnold Toynbee once said that “enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and, second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.”
Clearly, Gov. Patrick’s vision is broad and audacious enough to take Massachusetts by storm. Yet the vital element to ensure enthusiasm and momentum will be that “definite intelligible plan” to turn the ideal into the real. That’s why municipal leaders, guided by experience, inspired by imagination, and always cognizant of the realities of today, must be at the table.
Advocacy Executive Director's Reports Education planning must include municipal leaders
Education planning must include municipal leaders
Earlier this summer, Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled his bold and ambitious agenda to make Massachusetts the undisputed national leader in public education and set in motion the planning process to make his vision a reality.
In a commencement speech to a warm and receptive class of graduates at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the governor talked of his 10-year vision to provide universal preschool, full-day kindergarten for all, dramatically increased time-in-learning for all K-12 students with an extended school day and a longer school year, free community college for state residents, an overhaul of the education funding system, and added later, a review of the University of Massachusetts structure.
In the new global economy, Massachusetts needs to cultivate and produce a highly trained and skilled workforce in order to attract business investment and job growth, and, in turn, provide a high standard of living for those who choose to make the Bay State their home. As individuals, families and businesses become more and more mobile, we can become a powerful magnet to draw and keep people here if our education system is beyond compare. If we lack this power, then we will lose out to other regions of the country, and increasingly, other parts of the world.
There is broad consensus that this vision is vital to our success.
From the very first moment after the governor’s speech, the questions have flowed. How much will this cost? Do we have the money, buildings, teachers, experts and overall capacity to do all of this? Who will manage this new and expanded system? What’s the timeline? Who will pay? What will this squeeze out? Can we take this on, and still address the many other issues that are so vital to communities, taxpayers, families, homeowners, companies, and our future?
Local officials were among those who asked these questions, and rightly so. Cities and towns pay for more than 60 percent of K-12 public schools statewide, and under all scenarios, will continue to administer and lead in the delivery of education services across the Commonwealth. Clearly, municipal leaders need to be at the table not to just ask these questions, but to shape the answers as full partners and stakeholders in the planning process that will move the governor’s effort forward.
Just days after the administration initiated this effort, the governor announced that he would be forming a comprehensive planning process called “The Readiness Project.” The governor will soon be naming a 20-person Readiness Project steering committee, chaired by three prominent Massachusetts experts, to be followed by the creation of a number of working groups to conduct research, weigh options and policies, and together, to craft the overall plan that will be presented to the governor in March 2008.
In order for The Readiness Project to be positioned for success, municipal officials must be involved at every level, including the steering committee and the workgroups.
Local leaders share the governor’s vision of improvement, investment, and innovation in education and in our economy. The best way to ensure that The Readiness Project succeeds in laying out a bold, achievable and sustainable plan is to include the communities who will continue to fund and lead in the implementation of this vision.
English historian Arnold Toynbee once said that “enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and, second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.”
Clearly, Gov. Patrick’s vision is broad and audacious enough to take Massachusetts by storm. Yet the vital element to ensure enthusiasm and momentum will be that “definite intelligible plan” to turn the ideal into the real. That’s why municipal leaders, guided by experience, inspired by imagination, and always cognizant of the realities of today, must be at the table.
Written by MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith
