DFER Massachusetts
From Our Blog
DFER Endorses State Rep. Nick Collins for MA State Senate
April 23, 2013
Contact:
Devin Boyle | 202.445.0416 | Devin@dfer.org
Liam Kerr | 617.684.6426 | Liam@dfer.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Democrats for Education Reform Endorses Candidate for MA State Senate
State Rep. Nick Collins Tapped for His Commitment to Education
Boston, MA, April 23rd, 2013 - Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) today endorsed State Rep. Nick Collins in the First Suffolk State Senate Special Election. Collins was chosen by DFER, an advocacy group supporting Democratic leaders throughout the country, for his commitment to education.
“Rep. Collins is at the forefront of improving our public schools,” said Liam Kerr, State Director of DFER Massachusetts (DFER-MA). “As a community member, he has played a vital role in the development of successful, innovative schools in Dorchester and South Boston. As a legislator, Rep. Collins has demonstrated a focus on improving public school options for all children in the state. We urge all education voters to join us in supporting Nick Collins for State Senate. As a Senator, Collins will ensure that our kids get the high-quality education they deserve.”
A recent poll by the nonprofit Education Reform Now showed education has emerged as the most pressing issue for the Boston electorate, with nearly half of likely voters citing the quality of schools as one of their top two concerns.
Collins has been involved in the development of high-quality schools in the First Suffolk District, rallying community members to help create the state's first charter-like Innovation School at the Clap School in Dorchester. He was also a founding board member of the UP Academy Charter School in South Boston, which posted the largest improvements of any middle school in the state.
In the coming days, Democrats for Education Reform phone banks and voter outreach will alert the education-focused electorate to Collins’ strong education credentials through the primary election on Monday, April 30th.
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Charters Schools are Beyond an Experiment
December 7, 2012
By Liam Kerr, DFER Massachusetts State Director
Politician [pol-i-tish-uh n] noun: The only animal that can sit on a fence and keep both ears on the ground.*
This definition fit Massachusetts’ politicians straddling both sides of the charter school debate just a few years ago. In our state, which is home to the nation’s second-oldest charter school system, a common fence-straddling approach was to offer the rhetorical question: “Weren’t charter schools just experiments to find effective practices for regular schools?”
This position had many advantages. It avoided a reactionary, self-preservation response: “Charter schools take from the local pot of money we control”; or ideological conspiracy theories: “Those liberal charter fans have been brainwashed into a right-wing takeover of public education.”
It also projected an air of change while averting the need to support any politically challenging reforms. If public charter schools are just experiments, it is easy to justify limiting their number without any regard to the quality of education provided - as the official platform of the Massachusetts State Democratic Party stated until 2009.
Massachusetts Democrats took a strong step away from this line of thinking in 2010. The Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, a piece of legislation related to the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top competition, doubled the number of charter schools in the lowest-performing cities - not to experiment, but as fully legitimate schools for effectively educating children.
Why have some Massachusetts Democrats begun to evolve from viewing high-performing charter schools as small scale experiments to viewing them as part of a multi-faceted solution?
Two reasons.
First, over the last two decades many charter schools emerged from their “experiment” with incredible results. These successes drew the attention of parents, community leaders, and policymakers.
"Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts."
October 24, 2012
By Liam Kerr, DFER Massachusetts State Director
That slogan highlights the prescience of Massachusetts voters who in 1972 gave recently deceased Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern his only state in the Presidential race against Richard Nixon. Yet, 40 plus years later, nowhere does it apply more than our state’s attitude toward K-12 education. Break out the foam fingers - we’re #1.
The reason Massachusetts is ranked number one in education in our country always seemed simple to me. Democrats fight for kids. Massachusetts is the most Democratic state in the country. So, schools in Massachusetts have to be the best - obviously. End of story?
Maybe not. I’d really like to accept our top spot at face value. It would make life much easier. Unfortunately, we have to dig a little deeper.
Although our schools are considered the best in the country, many Massachusetts’ students still suffer stark inequalities in K-12 education. For example, compared to the other 49 states, our fourth graders have the second largest achievement gap in reading. Clearly, there’s something wrong here. Our most vulnerable continue to fall behind.
Courageous Democratic legislators in MA have attempted to address these inequities over the past 20 years, overcoming political opposition to improve conditions for children in our hardest-to-serve communities. In 1993, Democrats passed what some consider the nation’s strongest accountability system and we became the second state to allow for the development of charter schools.
The success of that accountability system and many of the original charter schools laid the groundwork for reforms nationwide and led visionary Democratic leaders to advocate for similar policies, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama.
However, the struggle goes on. If we want to proudly wave our foam fingers, we must fight to educate all our kids and close achievement gaps that still exist in our state. To begin to address these issues, Massachusetts - like most states - must do more to attract, train, and retain excellent teachers in high need areas. We must do more to give education entrepreneurs the freedom to get great results for more kids. And we must support a new generation of courageous Democratic legislators that will never stop fighting for our kids.
Democrats for Education Reform exists to return the Democratic Party to its rightful place as a champion of children. As we launch our MA state office we understand that the challenges we face in the future may be complex, but Massachusetts has led the nation in education and political changes before. We must do so again and prove that we deserve our place as number one.
Liam has advised nonprofits in Massachusetts, an NGO consultancy in the Czech Republic, a charter school incubator, and a charter school network. He has worked on statewide political campaigns in Massachusetts and Vermont. Prior to DFER, Liam worked for the management consultancy The Parthenon Group and the national venture philanthropy fund New Profit Inc. Read more about Liam here.
REPUBLICAN FY 2013 BUDGET PROPOSAL
March 29, 2012
REPUBLICAN FY 2013 BUDGET PROPOSAL
DRAMATIC AND RECKLESS CUTS TO EDUCATION SPENDING
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives began debate on its budget proposal for FY 2013, the upcoming fiscal year that begins October 1st. The debate resumes on the House floor today.
In Massachusetts:
• Almost 3,500 children will be eliminated from the Head Start program;
• Nearly 43,000 students with disabilities' costs will shift to states and districts as part of cuts to IDEA; and,
• Approximately 65,000 students from historically disadvantaged groups will have reduced or eliminated services due to Title I cuts.
Read more here.
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