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Who Backs Barack? a Report on the Massachusetts Legislature

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Who Backs Barack? a Report on the Massachusetts Legislature WHO BACKS BARACK? A REPORT ON THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE BY JOE WILLIAMS & CHARLES BARONE LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT FOR THE OBAMA EDUCATION AGENDA WHO BACKS BARACK? “Our debate seems stuck between those who want to dismantle the system and those who would defend an indefensible status quo, between those who say money makes no difference in education and those who want more money without any demonstration that it will be put to good use.” President Barack Obama, 2010 State of the Union WHAT IS A DFER? Both Democrats and Republicans have failed to address the tragic decline of our system of public education, but it is the Democratic Party - our party - which must question how we allowed ourselves to drift so far from our mission. Fighting on behalf of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals is what our party is supposed to stand for. A Democrat for Education Reform - a DFER - is some- one who supports the lead- ers in our party who have the courage to challenge a failing status quo and who believe that the severity of our nation’s educational crisis demands that we tackle this problem using every possible tool at our disposal. --------------------------- “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” Horace Mann EDUCATION REFORM IN MASSACHUSETTS Nearly twenty years ago, Massachusetts Democrats completely transformed government’s relationship to schools. The Education Reform Act of 1993 marked a watershed in the delivery of public education, dramati- cally increasing educational accountability in exchange for more generous funding from the state. The Act also created Massachusetts’ first charter public schools, a school model that turned out to be a national game-changer. Twenty years later, Massachusetts is consistently ranked number one in the nation on a wide range of educa- tional metrics. The quality of Mas- sachusetts’ charter school system, in particular, is cause for celebra- tion. Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) recently reported that the average increase in learning by Boston charter school students are is “the largest CREDO has seen in any city or state thus far.” The policies that led Massachusetts to success - accountability in exchange for equitable funding, curricu- lar rigor, expansion of high-performing charter schools - are precisely the same ones championed today by President Obama. --------------------------- “Instead of just pouring money into a system that’s not working, we launched a competi- tion called Race to the Top.” President Barack Obama, 2010 State of the Union While Massachusetts revelled in the success of its 1993 education reform efforts, the rest of the country spent twenty years trying to catch up. Despite an overall number one ranking, Massachusetts faced a persistent achievement gap among low-income students and students of color. Thanks to President Obama’s leadership in beginning the Race to the Top program, Mas- sachusetts finally made substantial changes with the 2010 Act Relative to the Achievement Gap. Student outcomes are consistently improving, yet we still have a long way to go. The successes of 2010 Act are replicable - indeed, the Act was structured to be expanded. Now is not the time for Massachusetts to limit success. --------------------------- - 2 - WHO BACKS BARACK? “If someone can tell me where the Democratic Party stands on education reform, please let me know. Because I can’t figure it out. Our party has got to wake up on this!” then-Senator Barack Obama at June 3, 2005 DFER event From day one of his presidency, Barack Obama challenged states to answer his call by reimagining their education policies. Massachusetts legislators had a chance to give the President’s education reform agenda a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. Most supported his agenda - some did not. Where does your Massachusetts legislator stand on the President’s agenda? Based on combination of their voting records from the 2010 Act Relative to the Achievement Gap and legislator responses via email, we have rated the 163 Massachusetts legislators below on their support for President Obama’s education reform agenda. - 3 - Massachusetts Legislators' Stances on President Obama's Education Agenda Vote on 2010 Educa- Stance on the Obama Legislator Name District tion Reform Bill Education Agenda Representative Denise Andrews Second Franklin N/A Representative James Arciero Second Middlesex Supported Support Representative Brian Ashe Second Hampden Opposed Oppose Representative Cory Atkins Fourteenth Middlesex Supported Support Representative Bruce Ayers First Norfolk Opposed Oppose Representative Ruth Balser Twelfth Middlesex Supported Support Senator Michael Barrett Third Middlesex N/A Representative Carlo Basile First Suffolk Supported Support Representative Jennifer Benson Thirty-Seventh Middlesex Supported Support Representative John Binienda Seventeenth Worcester Supported Support Representative Garrett Bradley Third Plymouth Supported Support Representative Michael Brady Ninth Plymouth Opposed Oppose Senator Stephen Brewer Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire Supported Support and Middlesex Representative Paul Brodeur Thirty-Second Middlesex N/A Senator Will Brownsberger Second Suffolk and Middlesex Supported Support Representative Antonio Cabral Thirteenth Bristol Supported Support Representative Thomas Calter Twelfth Plymouth Supported Support Representative Christine Canavan Tenth Plymouth Opposed Oppose Senator Gale Candaras First Hampden and Hampshire Opposed Oppose Representative James Cantwell Fourth Plymouth Opposed Oppose Representative Gailanne Cariddi First Berkshire N/A Representative Tackey Chan Second Norfolk N/A Senator Harriette Chandler First Worcester Supported Support Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz Second Suffolk Supported Support Senator Kartherine Clark Fifth Middlesex Opposed Oppose Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera Tenth Hampden Abstained Representative Nick Collins Fourth Suffolk N/A Support Representative Thomas Conroy Thirteenth Middlesex Supported Support Representative Edward Coppinger Tenth Suffolk N/A Representative Michael Costello First Essex Supported Support Senator Cynthia Creem First Middlesex and Norfolk Abstained Representative Claire Cronin Eleventh Plymouth N/A Representative Sean Curran Ninth Hampden Supported Support - 4 - Massachusetts Legislators' Stances on President Obama's Education Agenda Vote on 2010 Educa- Stance on the Obama Legislator Name District tion Reform Bill Education Agenda Representative Mark Cusack Fifth Norfolk N/A Representative Josh Cutler Sixth Plymouth N/A Representative Linda Dean Campbell Fifteenth Essex Supported Support Representative Marjorie Decker Twenty-Fifth Middlesex N/A Speaker Robert DeLeo Nineteenth Suffolk Supported Support Representative Brian Dempsey Third Essex Supported Support Representative Marcos Devers Sixteenth Essex N/A Senator Sal DiDomencio Middlesex and Suffolk N/A Representative Stephen DiNatale Third Worcester Opposed Oppose Representative Diana DiZiglio Fourteenth Essex N/A Representative Paul Donato Thirty-Fifth Middlesex Opposed Oppose Senator Kenneth Donnelly Fourth Middlesex Opposed Oppose Senator Eileen Donoghue First Middlesex N/A Senator Benjamin Downing Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin & Supported Support Hampden Representative James Dwyer Thirtieth Middlesex Opposed Oppose Representative Carolyn Dykema Eighth Middlesex Supported Support Representative Lori Ehrlich Eighth Essex Opposed Oppose Senator James Eldridge Middlesex and Worcester Opposed Oppose Representative Christopher Fallon Thirty-Third Middlesex Abstained Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier Third Berkshire N/A Representative Robert Fennell Tenth Essex Opposed Oppose Representative John Fernandes Tenth Worcester Supported Support Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante Fifth Essex Opposed Oppose Senator Barry Finegold Second Essex and Middlesex Supported Support Representative Michael Finn Sixth Hampden N/A Senator Jennifer Flanagan Worcester and Middlesex Supported Support Representative Linda Forry Twelfth Suffolk Supported Support Representative Gloria Fox Seventh Suffolk Supported Support Representative John Fresolo Sixteenth Worcester Opposed Oppose Representative William Galvin Sixth Norfolk Supported Support Representative Sean Garballey Twenty-Third Middlesex Opposed Oppose Representative Denise Garlick Thirteenth Norfolk N/A Representative Colleen Garry Thirty-Sixth Middlesex Opposed Oppose - 5 - Massachusetts Legislators' Stances on President Obama's Education Agenda Vote on 2010 Educa- Stance on the Obama Legislator Name District tion Reform Bill Education Agenda Representative Anne Gobi Fifth Worcester Supported Support Representative Thomas Golden Sixteenth Middlesex Supported Support Representative Kenneth Gordon Twenty-First Middlesex N/A Representative Danielle Gregoire Fourth Middlesex Opposed Oppose Representative Patricia Haddad Fifth Bristol Supported Support Senator John Hart First Suffolk Supported Support Representative Jonathan Hecht Twenty-Ninth Middlesex Supported Support Representative Carlos Henriquez Fifth Suffolk N/A Representative Paul Heroux Second Bristol N/A Representative Kate Hogan Third Middlesex Supported Support Representative Russell Holmes Sixth Suffolk N/A Representative Kevin Honan Seventeenth Suffolk Supported Support Senator Patricia Jehlen Second Middlesex Opposed Oppose Senator Brian Joyce Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth Supported Support Representative Louis Kafka Eighth
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