Maura Healey leaned into her self-proclaimed title as the “education governor” to be during a pair of campaign stops in Worcester on Tuesday, where she plugged vocational education and pledged to push for better pay for paraprofessionals and education support staff.
“I am a huge proponent of education and support for educators because I know how foundational that is to the life and wellbeing and success of every child and person in this state,” the presumptive Democratic nominee for Massachusetts governor said, speaking at the Massachusetts Teachers Association office in Worcester.
Flanked by roughly two dozen educators, mostly paraprofessionals and education support staff she said are “not well compensated,” Healey branded herself the “education governor” should she be successful in the upcoming statewide election and pledged to fully fund the Student Opportunity Act, which will boost public education funding over the coming years.
The two-term attorney general turned gubernatorial candidate touted Massachusetts’ history setting up the “first public school in the country” but said in the present day, “a lot needs doing” to support educators and students across the commonwealth.
“Especially due to COVID as the demands only grew and the toll only worsened on educators and students, we know right now that there is a lot of work that we need to do in our state to make sure that our students and our educators are supported and that’s why I will fully fund the student Opportunity Act and support implementation,” Healey said.
Healey said she is “committed” to ensuring adequate “wraparound services” to address students’ “social and emotional needs” including anxiety, depression and trauma as the state emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It really is something that we would allow a situation where our educators are making as much as they would make if they left to be a camp counselor in the summer, or to take a job at Walmart as a greeter or go to work at Amazon. They are not making what they need to make to support their own families,” she said.
The MTA, which is the state’s largest educators union with roughly 117,000 members, endorsed Healey in the governor’s race last month.
Building off Healey’s remarks, MTA President Merrie Najimy plugged the so-called “fair-share amendment,” which she said would tax Massachusetts residents’ income in excess of $1 million a year and funnel “constitutionally guaranteed funding to go toward public education and public transportation.”
Massachusetts public schools, however, are catching criticism for their delayed rollout of $2.5 billion in coronavirus relief funds. Statewide, districts have spent less than 30%, the Boston Globe reported.
Critics of the proposed graduated income tax that would tax an additional 4% surcharge income over the million-dollar mark argue there is no guarantee additional funds would actually go to education or transit needs because it is not explicitly outlined in the proposed constitutional amendment that voters will decide on in November.
Healey, whose mother and stepfather were educators, also hosted a round-table with state and local educators at Worcester Technical High School, where she said “demand is outstripping availability, so I really want to change that.”
In Worcester, more than 1,100 incoming freshman students applied for 550 available vocational slots in at Worcester Tech and across the district, officials said.
Technical high schools offer a curriculum designed to teach high school students a specific career or skill set before they go toward a college education. These schools also teach math, science, geography and other foundational subjects.
“One of the greatest responsibilities facing our next governor is attracting and retaining talent in the Worcester region,” said Tim Murray, President and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. “This requires close collaboration with businesses, schools and community leaders to bolster workforce development and expand economic opportunity for all.
Healey agreed the option to pursue education in the trades fostered by technical education is especially important as Massachusetts rebuilds and positions its workforce as people return to work amid the pandemic.
“We have such tremendous opportunity, I think here in Massachusetts with our industries, you know, whether it’s life sciences, or healthcare or clean energy, clean tech, a lot in IT and networking and crypto,” Healey said.
Healey said she’d like to see institutions like Worcester Tech “synch up” with the business industry to target programs to available jobs.
“It’s about workforce,” Healey said. “And this is the sort of ready-made. We can have this and have people available and that is incredibly important to Massachusetts’s competitiveness right now.
Healey is the sole remaining Democrat in the statewide race for the governor’s office. Republican challengers former state Rep. Geoff Diehl and Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty are also in the running.
Doughty this week released his jobs “roadmap” which would also focus on building up the trades and blue-collar workforce.
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