​Michelle Ciccolo is the State Representative for the 15th Middlesex District in Massachusetts, which includes all of the Town of Lexington and part of the City of Woburn. She serves on four Joint Committees, which include Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities; Elder Affairs; Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture; and State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. She is an active participant in a number of legislative member organizations, including the Progressive Caucus, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, the Food System Caucus, the METCO Caucus, the Italian Caucus, the Regional Transit Authority Caucus, the Small Business Caucus, the Climate Alliance Caucus, the Cancer Awareness Caucus, and the National Guard Caucus.
As a former public school parent and a product of the Lexington public schools, I know what good public education can do for a child. But I also know that the great public education that my children and many other Massachusetts children have experienced is not available to all children in our Commonwealth. There are shocking disparities in educational opportunities across our state and I am committed to addressing these inequities at the source.
As State Representative, investing in our public schools is among my highest priority. We need to ensure that no child has less educational opportunity because of where they live, and every child across the Commonwealth has access to the life-changing empowerment that a great education brings.
Because the ability to support educational services through local property tax varies greatly across our cities and towns, it is critical for us to fix the formula for determining the local education funding that comes from the State. I will continue to advocate for fairer Chapter 70 allocations (the law that calculates state education funding) that will increase total funding and produce fairer distribution formulas.
Equal access to educational opportunity also means free all-day kindergarten, especially for lower-income families. Most communities in Massachusetts now offer the important early education benefit of all-day kindergarten, but many charge tuition. We must restore the state’s kindergarten grant funding program, which was cut from the budget in FY2017 so that all of our children can experience the benefits of an all-day kindergarten program.
But all-day kindergarten alone will not be enough to close our state’s opportunity gap. Pre-K education has measurable lifelong benefits and is especially important for the families who can least afford it. I am very supportive of the creation of a universal Pre-K program in Massachusetts.
Teachers are the backbone of our education system, and attracting and retaining talented teachers is critical to the quality of our schools. Unfortunately, with little opportunity for professional advancement and borderline unlivable starting salaries, Massachusetts is facing massive teacher turnover and shortages. Because of this, I enthusiastically support our teachers unions and their right to collective bargaining. Our teachers need to be supported in their efforts to ensure they are well compensated and fairly treated.
With a personal understanding of the benefits of public education and a practical knowledge of how to implement positive change through policy amendments, I hold education access and quality as key issues of our day and top priorities for my campaign.