Education and Childcare
Protecting our Children from the Trump Administration
I have spent much of my career helping families and early educators stay informed about changes and threats from the federal government and identifying the tools and rules we have to fight back. This includes connecting families and educators to resources when the Trump administration stops or reduces support, as well as collaborating with local organizations to make sure we do everything we can to fill any gaps.
We need to listen to families and educators who are on the front line and advocate for them full stop.
My priorities include:
Fighting back against the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict what we can teach and ensuring that all students receive a well-rounded, inclusive education. Our schools and curriculum should be inclusive of all the different types of learners, families and cultures who call Massachusetts home and truthfully recount the history of our nation.
Ending information sharing with ICE and ensuring that immigration status does not impact whether a child can attend school.
Investing in Our Buildings
Boston is the oldest public school system in America, and it has its share of aging facilities. However, Massachusetts’s system for funding school building upgrades too often privileges building projects in wealthy suburbs instead of cities like Boston.
My priorities include:
Reforming the Massachusetts School Building Authority to ensure that cities like Boston that serve a high share of low-income students get the resources we need.
Fixing Our School Funding Formula
Our state’s education funding formula was last updated in 2019, and as the Student Opportunity Act is finally fully phased in, it’s time to revisit whether the formula is still working. Boston faces unique challenges that the current funding formula does not adequately account for like the high cost of living, concentrated student need, aging school facilities, and the responsibility of educating large numbers of English learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing housing instability.
My priorities include:
Ensuring Boston receives equitable and sufficient funding.
Updating our state’s education funding formula to more accurately reflect the true costs of educating students in high-cost urban districts like Boston, particularly around special education, multilingual education, and student support services.
Stronger reimbursements for special education and transportation, which disproportionately strain Boston’s budget.
Fully funding the state’s charter school reimbursement commitments to Boston.
Making Early Education and Childcare Work
Education and childcare are infrastructure that supports our children, their parents, and our economy. We must treat early education and childcare as a public good and invest in making it affordable for families while ensuring providers are paid a living wage.