Public Policy Updates: Joint Committee on Education

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Published on Saturday, 30 March 2019 12:16

On Friday, March 22, the Joint Committee on Education held a hearing on education finance bills (note: link has video). The Committee gavelled into session shortly after ten in the morning, and the Committee hearing ended eight and a half hours later. The vast majority of testimony taken during that time centered on reconsideration of the foundation budget. 
In opening the hearing, House Chair Alice Peisch said she would find most useful testimony that centered on the issues surrounding low income students and how the state might be certain additional funding was spent on such students, including the best interventions. Senate Chair Jason Lewis quoted the first Massachusetts Secretary of Education Horace Mann in his Tenth Annual Report to the Massachusetts Board of Education: 

Having no other mines to work, Massachusetts has mined into the human intellect; and, from its limitless resources, she has won more sustaining and enduring prosperity and happiness than if she had been founded on a stratification of silver and gold, reaching deeper down than geology has yet penetrated.

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Public Policy Updates: March Board of Ed

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Published on Tuesday, 26 March 2019 18:27

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met in Malden for their regular meeting on March 26, 2019. The agenda is here; the video of the meeting is here. 

The major news of the meeting was the announcement by Board Chair Paul Sagan that he would be completing his term at the close of the meeting. Secretary James Peyser then announced that Governor Charles Baker would be appointing current member Katherine Craven as the new Chair of the Board, and he would be appointing Matthew Hills, former member of the Newton School Committee, to the empty seat on the Board. Under Massachusetts General Law chapter 15, section 1E, the appointment of the chair is under the purview of the Governor. 

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Public Policy Updates: FY20 Joint Ways and Means Hearing

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Published on Wednesday, 20 March 2019 09:34

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means met on Monday, March 18 at Bristol Community College to hear invited testimony regarding the education accounts for fiscal year '20. This hearing was chaired by Rep. Carole Fiola of Fall River and Senate Assistant Vice-Chair Senator Jason Lewis of Winchester. Bristol Community College President Dr. Laura Douglas welcomed the legislators to campus, speaking of the importance of education in her own family's history.

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Public Policy Updates: February Board of Ed

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Published on Tuesday, 12 February 2019 20:57

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on February 12, largely on charter matters. The agenda is found here. 
Upon opening, Commissioner Jeffrey Riley invited the Board to the upcoming statewide convening on March 14 at UMass Amherst. Specifics regarding the event will be forthcoming.
Public comment largely pertained to and was in support of the charter matters before the Board. Public testimony from MassCreative in support of the draft arts standards also was taken. 

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