EDUCATION

Massachusetts Democrats believe that a high quality, publicly funded education is the cornerstone of our society, our democracy, and our economy.

We support funding for education programs from pre-kindergarten through higher education, and for opportunities for lifelong learning.

We believe closing the achievement gap among public schools is a 21st century civil right.

We support full funding for all mandated programs including special education and English as a Second Language programs.

In order to meet our constitutional obligation to provide for equal education opportunities for all children, we support increasing state aid to schools, through Chapter 70.

We support the current cap on charter schools.

We support comprehensive, authentic, and multiple means of assessment for students, schools, and districts, as stated in the Education Reform Act of 1993.

We 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.

We support state funding to ensure that all schools provide small class size.

We support full funding for regional school transportation.

We support funding programs and establishing policies to attract, hire, and retain motivated, competent teachers.

We support on-going studies of educational practices and their value to students.

We support increased funding for METCO to continue its important role in minority student achievement and desegregation.

We support the implementation and full funding of high quality, universal early education and care, expansion of early education programs in our public schools, and state funding to ensure that all school districts offer full-day kindergarten to all families who want it.

We support state funding for after-school and summer enrichment programs for all children.

We support 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.

We support state and federal programs to provide grants, loans, and scholarships to college students, especially for those attending public colleges; but we reject scholarships based upon performance on the MCAS.

We support increased state and federal funding to build, renovate, and modernize our schools and colleges and libraries.

We support adult education and support increased state and federal funding to ensure that all adults have access to literacy or language classes.