For immediate release
Contact:
Alex Goldstein (DPC)
617-367-2010
Governor Patrick firmly committed to MCAS as a graduation requirement; accountability measure for student success
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - In advance of Republican Charles Baker's afternoon press conference, the Deval Patrick campaign highlighted 4 facts that Charlie Baker won't tell voters today.
1. When Baker was in charge of the state budget, he proposed dramatic cuts in education funding.
- Wrote FY '97 budget with $30 million cut to higher ed. Globe (1/24/96): [B]oth Birmingham and Flaherty took Weld to task for slashing the higher education budget by about $ 30 million, while increasing the Lottery advertising budget to $ 4.5 million. And education advocates charged that the funding cut contradicted Weld's own State of the State speech two weeks ago, in which he stressed the need for an educated work force to sustain the state's economy.
- Authored "reorganization plan" that included $100 million in cutbacks to public schools and higher ed. Herald (3/2/096): Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham yesterday accused the administration of Gov. William F. Weld of cutting education by almost $ 100 million to create tax cuts. Birmingham said Weld's proposed budget slashed primary and secondary school spending by $ 43 million and higher education by $ 52 million instead of cutting administrative expenses...The salvo was the latest in a war between Democrats in the Legislature and Weld over his proposed government reorganization plan. Baker acknowledged the administration underfunded public schools by about $ 9.7 million by mistake.
- Herald (BH,12/26/95): By Nov. 2, Baker had assembled what a former aide called "the best and brightest in state government" to help with the difficult task of putting the downsizing ideas into a coherent budget proposal.
- Sought $25 million cut to higher ed budget for FY '96. Globe (1/15/95): Baker defended the administration's record on higher education, saying, "We don't define support as how much money you're willing to throw at it." Meanwhile, an administration source said the proposed $ 25 million budget cut would be reduced to $10 million.
2. Charlie Baker's current tax proposals would devastate future education funding. Charlie Baker has called for rolling the corporate, sales, and income taxes back to 5%, while refusing to outline what he will cut. In total, Baker's proposals would cut $2.5 billion dollars from next years budget. (Boston Globe, July 2, Link)
3. Two respected former education commissioners who served under Republican Governors support the state's efforts to raise standards by working with the national guidelines. (Boston Globe, July 20, Link)
4. Despite Charlie Baker's intentionally misleading political rhetoric, Governor Patrick has been crystal clear that Massachusetts will not agree to the national standards unless they are as high or higher than our current standards. Governor Patrick remains firmly committed to the MCAS as a graduation requirement, and as an accountability measure to ensure the success of our students.
