Will Brownsberger -- State Representative, Democrat, 24th Middlesex District

Early Thursday evening the House completed final approval of the Education Reform bill. It is “on the Governor’s Desk” and a signing is scheduled for Monday morning at 11AM at the Children’s Museum, 300 Congress St., Boston.

The House moved forward a version of the education reform bill last night. There is plenty of coverage of the issue in the newspapers, but here is a perspective from the floor.

House leadership has released the draft of the education bill that will appear on the floor next week. The bill is focused on reforms in schools with low test scores. The voices that represent the affected communities speak in unison in calling for these reforms and — subject to hearing new concerns over the next few days — I expect to hear their call and support the bill.

Further below see a proposal made by the Arlington Education Association for an early retirement incentive ERI for teachers. I think this concept deserves some careful study.

The Joint Committee on Education released its draft education reform bill on Tuesday afternoon. I will say now that I do expect to vote for the bill, but elements of it are still in flux, so input is still meaningful.

I’ve recently heard from a number of people with concerns about the health education bill, House 3434. I do support the bill, and I am, in fact, a cosponsor. Actually, the bill adds only a very limited reporting mandate for school districts; it does not mandate any curriculum.

Mary Cummings, a teacher in Arlington, has started an education policy blog from the perspective of the trenches. It’s a welcome contribution.

This post is a summary of the answers to this question that came out during a forum in Belmont in March with Commisioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mitchell Chester.

The final Senate budget is based on a lower revenue estimate than the House budget and includes lower numbers for local aid and many other critical programs.

The Governor’s announcement today of an allocation of stimulus funds for
education was good news for Belmont and Arlington (not for Cambridge).

Education funding is a top personal priority for me. But there are deep questions about how we should deliver education and what the goals of education should be.

Governor Patrick just delivered a pre-release to legislators of his 2010 local aid numbers. The Governor’s budget for 2010 keeps Chapter 70 level.

Should universal post-secondary education be our goal? There is good evidence that the answer is no.

It is not clear that a college education per se supports higher productivity. Rather college completion is an indicator of industry and ability (as well as childhood financial advantage).

The direct evidence about what employers are actually looking for in new hires in “good” jobs is mixed and suggests that personal virtues are more important than particular skills.

There is little to suggest that high school mathematics content is directly relevant to most jobs.

It is hardly clear that our economy is capable of offering everyone the opportunity to realize their full potential, but we at least want to get kids to the starting gate of adult working life with an education that maximizes their early potential.

Observations about where Massachusetts stands in the crisis, how the state is responding, and how the cuts affects our local communities.

March 12, 2009,  the House voted to match the local aid levels proposed in the Governor’s budget — relatively substantial overall increases in Chapter 70 and a protection of municipalities from a shortfall in the lottery fund. 

This page collects links on current challenges to our economy.