An energetic, visionary, and proven leader, Eric Lesser will partner with our next Governor to make sure she is the most successful in the country. Together, they will work on the biggest issue our state faces: the skyrocketing cost of living. Eric has a plan to fix our broken transportation system, build more housing, create better jobs, protect our environment, and make our state more affordable and equitable.
Eric understands that Massachusetts has so much going for it. But despite our Commonwealth’s considerable advantages, it’s harder and harder to live here. It’s too expensive – housing is out of control, transportation is unreliable, and childcare costs are crushing families. Meanwhile, small pockets of our state boom while entire regions are left behind. Our current situation doesn’t work: it creates skyrocketing prices and gridlock in some places, and vacuums jobs and opportunity from others.
Eric knows the importance of education. His parents worked their way through college to make a better life for him, and he wants to ensure that such opportunities remain possible for everyone. He is the product of Massachusetts public schools, received a bachelor’s and a law degree from Harvard, and has taught at both Harvard and UMass.
Eric has stood with teachers from Day 1. As a sixteen year-old student at Longmeadow High School, Eric led a Prop 2 ½ override campaign that saved dozens of teacher jobs from budget cuts made on Beacon Hill. It gave him his start in politics, and he’s never forgotten.
Eric knows that early education sets up our kids for success and provides a lifeline for working parents. He believes that our K-12 public schools are the backbone of our educational system, and we can best help them through the pandemic by working with the teachers’ unions in our state.
We must make going to college more affordable, starting with protecting student loan borrowers. Our incredible network of public and private institutions cannot not provide opportunities to students if they leave their graduates saddled with debt.
We must also create strong alternatives to our colleges and universities. Eric is committed to closing the waitlists at our vocational schools as Lieutenant Governor. Around our Commonwealth, thousands of students are prevented from having the opportunity to pursue high-paying careers in the trades, with wide-ranging impacts on our economy. If we want to transition to a carbon-neutral economy and meet the demand for skilled laborers, then we need to open the door for kids who want to pursue vocational education.
Eric authored the Student Loan Bill of Rights, which provides critical protections to nearly a million student loan borrowers in Massachusetts. Among other provisions, the law created a Student Loan Assistance Unit in the office of the Attorney General. The new student loan ombudsman is a champion for borrowers, helping individuals navigate the complex system and taking on predatory loan servicers.
As the Chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, Eric has been a tireless champion for vocational education in Western Massachusetts, an emerging hub of high-tech manufacturing where employers are struggling to attract new talent. He has worked to create more paid apprenticeships and slots at vocational schools so no young person with the desire to learn is stuck on a waitlist.
To strengthen our K12 educational system, Eric fought for the Student Opportunity Act, which made much-overdue changes to the funding formulas for our schools. The landmark bill, passed in 2019, accounts for the resources needed to adequately support special education and English language learner programs, provides additional funding to schools educating more low-income students, increases funding for the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and more.
Eric wants to go big on early education; he is a co-sponsor on legislation that would vastly expand subsidies for families and boost pay for early childhood educators, an essential and underpaid group who are disproportionately women of color.
Eric has always fought to make public education equitable, including charter schools. He has twice voted for the RISE Act, which would require charter schools to become more transparent, accountable, and equitable by placing the final say for disciplinary action in the hands of a three-person committee, eliminating fees, and fixing the broken lottery system. He opposes lifting the state cap on charter schools.
Eric believes that our schools can teach a new generation to understand and solve our most pressing societal challenges. He helped craft a groundbreaking civic education reform that teaches students how to get involved with action civics projects in their own communities, and advocated for legislation that requires Massachusetts schools to teach about the history of genocides like the Holocaust.
As Senate Vice-Chair of the Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission, Eric was tasked with investigating costs, availability, and other concerns surrounding early education and childcare. He stressed the need for increased childcare access, fair pay, and support for the workforce.