Massachusetts parents want more than a blank education check, they demand a plan to close the achievement gap in the state.
Statement by the founder of Massachusetts Parents United (MPU), Keri Rodrigues:
The money is not enough to face the serious gap in academic achievement we have in Massachusetts, a crisis that takes our children directly from school to prison and to a future full of poverty, imprisonment and death, in some cases. From Berkshires to Boston, from Chelsea to New Bedford, the time has come to address the massive educational deficits that have made Massachusetts one of the worst states in the nation when it comes to educating children of color.
We need a new and better conversation about education, not only about renewing funding formulas, but about how to use our resources to implement solutions that can solve the problems we face: add additional time in the classroom through school days and years Long-term schooling, investing in improving the quality and diversity of the teachers who run our classrooms and giving access to the most modern facilities to all children in Massachusetts, regardless of zip code.
Our children and families in Massachusetts deserve a deeper conversation about education. And one in which we are all invited to participate.
Massachusetts Parents United is the largest parent advocacy organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with groups in Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield, Holyoke, Lynn, Salem and New Bedford.