DESE Commissioner Mitchell Chester (left) and Education Secretary Paul Reville (right) answered questions about the second round of Race to the Top applications and gave strong support for the recently introduced Innovations Schools initiative.
Senator Robert O'Leary (Barnstable), Co-Chair of the Education Committee, urged members to remind their legislators that Chapter 70 funding is key to maintaining quality schools that meet accountability and achievement standards.
Senate Ways & Means Chair Stephen Panagiotakos was equally adamant about the need to trim the budget in order to compensate for declining revenues. A former member of the Lowell School Committee and MASC 2008 Legislator of the Year, the Senator provided some background on recent cuts, explaining that 2010 budgets were supplemented with federal stimulus dollars that have been largely used up.
MASC President Kathleen Robey (Marlborough School Committee) presided over one of MASC's most successful (and quite possibly the wettest!) Day on the Hill programs. More than 300 school committee members, superintendents and student representatives braved the weather to rally for maintaining support for school funding and other MASC priorities in the FY11 state budget. Pictured left to right: Kathleen Robey, MASC General Counsel Stephen Finnegan, MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher.
Charlie Lyons, who introduced House Ways & Means Chair Charles Murphy to the Day on the Hill audience, is a triple standard-bearer for public education. A member of the Arlington School Committee (MASC) before becoming Superintendent of the Shawsheen Vocational Technical School (MASS) he was also a member of the Arlington Board of Selectman and member of the MA Municipal Association in which capacity he served a term as President of the National League of Cities.
House Ways and Means Chair Charles Murphy (Burlington) did not sugarcoat his message to members: there will be no new taxes in the FY11 budget to shore up flagging revenues and he predicted a four percent cut in local aid. MASC Immediate Past President Debra Bibeau (Amesbury) in the background reacts to one of Murphy's humorous asides.
Food, glorious food! An outstanding array of regional favorites, international cuisine offerings and pastry delights was prepared and catered by the students and chefs of 26 of the state's vocational technical schools. What diet?
Members filled the rotunda outside the great hall, enjoying lunch and the opportunity to meet with their legislators and colleagues.
House Education Committee Co-Chair Marty Walz (Boston, right) thanked members for their input and assistance in helping to craft the Education Reform Bill of 2010. Also pictured: MASC Immediate Past President Debra Bibeau (Amesbury, left) and President-Elect Dorothy Presser (Lynnfield, center).
A holiday-themed gingerbread house designed and constructed by the culinary students at North Shore Vocational Technical School.
