Education

Providing a quality education to all students has always been a close ideal of mine. The district has seen large increases in Ch. 70 funding as well as increases to our charter school reimbursements while also keeping down the costs of school choice. The FY23 budget includes $9,689,521 to provide an additional $30 per pupil in minimum aid beyond the required $30, for a total of $60 per pupil. This funding acknowledges the effects of inflation on minimum aid districts. The charter school reimbursement line item was also increased to accomodate covering 100% of a district's cost to send a student to a charter school for their first three years of enrollment. I have been a big proponent of supporting early college programs with additional funding that way our students can save on the costs of higher education by enrolling in an AP class in high school. I have also fought for more student representation in governing authorities that oversee charter schools. I have supported the efforts of other legislators to reshape the assessment process (MCAS) that it is more conducive to the everyday teachings in the classroom. Teachers and staff know more than anyone else on what is best to educate our kids, not government bureaucrats. North Attleboro has been very successful in embedding social and emotional core competencies into the curriculum. This is an area that should continue to be explored on the state level. Additionally, I will continue to fight for debt free community college in our Commonwealth so that everyone has access to an associate’s degree. I will advocate and fight for funding for our public universities and colleges to support professors and students. I have fought for making our state colleges and universities test-optional for admissions purposes. Our office also supported the continuation of the universal school meals program to ensure that every student recieves access to a free lunch or breakfast at school. No child should leave school hungry.

I have also brought funding back to our district such as funding for a robotics program at North Attleboro High School and for air ventilators to ensure that our students and staff have clean air in their schools. We also worked to include funding for the School Nurse Liasion Project to help address the mental health needs of students. We were also able to secure a bonding authorization to build a playground at Amvet Boulevard Elementary School as well as funding for a design study for a playground at the Robinson Elementary School in Mansfield. I have also been one of the leading advocates on getting North Attleboro High School in the pipeline with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to either build a new or renovate our high school. We were very pleased with the progress we had made when we learned that North Attleboro made it into the eligibility period for getting a feasbility study. We will continue to support this project to get it across the finish line.