Dan and his wife Kara are active Boston Public School parents. Their daughters Ella and Audrey are heading into 7th and 5th grade. Like other families, they are currently homeschooling due to COVID-19. Their son Myer, a public school graduate, is home from graduate school. Dan and Kara both attended Massachusetts State Universities.

Ryan requested and received a $1M increase to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) FY’20 budget line item for the Early Course to College program. This program is an introductory program that allows high school students to obtain college credits while still in high school. Many Chelsea High, Charlestown High and Phoenix Academy Charter students use this program to gain college credits.

Triangle, INC, a job training and placement program for developmentally disabled young adults has received state funding through Rep Ryan’s work in the budget process. This regional program serves constituents in Chelsea. For his efforts Rep. Ryan received Triangle’s 2018 Recognition Award.

Ryan’s imprint is on the landmark Student Opportunity Act, passed into law overwhelmingly last year. Some of the issues he championed in previous sessions, while the bill was at an impasse, were included. For example, Ryan has asked for and received increases in charter school reimbursements back to cities and towns for their school districts in past budgets. He continued to advocate for full charter reimbursement as an item that all sides of the Charter divide could agree upon. 100% reimbursement, phased in, was included in the final bill. Ryan was also successful in adding money into what became known as the ‘pothole’, a line item in previous budgets that would reimburse Gateway Communities, such as Chelsea, for money lost to changes to the federal school lunch program under the old formula. Many of the provisions in the new bill addressed the inadequate funding for Gateway Communities.