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.