Posts in In the News
In Massachusetts, a Push for Free Community College for All

Democrat Karen Spilka, the president of the Massachusetts State Senate, is spearheading the effort. In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, she said she believes MassEducate will encourage students who didn’t previously see college as a pathway to enroll. The program might even help reverse the trend of Massachusetts’s young people leaving the state, she added.

Read More
Senate To Tackle Road Funding Bill Thursday

The Senate's $150 million outlay, according to a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka, includes dollars for the municipal pavement program, focused on state-numbered routes owned by municipalities; the municipal small bridge program; complete streets funding program, aimed at expanding options for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit as well as vehicles; municipal bus enhancement program; mass transit access grant program, which provides grants for improvements to commuter rail stations and other mass transit stations; and the municipal RTA/EV grant program, providing grants to Regional Transit Authorities and municipalities for electric vehicles and charging equipment.

Read More
Op-ed: Massachusetts needs a robust child-care system

It’s well past time to argue the merits and necessity of a robust early education and care infrastructure in Massachusetts and get to work on implementing a solution. That’s why this week the Senate is taking up the EARLY ED Act, comprehensive early education and care reform that will help teach our youngest learners and stabilize this crucial sector of our economy.

Read More
Effort to raise age of criminal responsibility in Massachusetts gets boost from Boston Celtics

The effort to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 20 in Massachusetts got a big boost Wednesday from a star of the Boston Celtics… "Society continues to evolve. I think the system that serves it should evolve as well," he said. Brown joined lawmakers making the push to keep young people ages 18 to 20 in the juvenile system. "It makes all the sense in the world. I think all of us in this room, including myself, were one decision away from, you know, being in a different situation," Brown said.

Read More