Pavel Payano's family came to Lawrence in the late 80s in search of the American dream. For the past several decades his parents worked as teachers in the Lawrence Public Schools. As a product of the Lawrence Public School system, the son of two Lawrence Public School Teachers, he is deeply committed to improving K-12 education and making higher education more affordable and accessible to working class families.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
The COVID 19 Pandemic taught us the importance of early childhood education and why we need to invest more in it. Pavel is a supporter of the Common Start agenda which seeks to make early childhood education and child care more accessible and affordable to Massachusetts families. Doing so will ensure that we strengthen our economy, reduce inequality and meet the needs of working class families.
K - 12 EDUCATION
Fully funding our schools: We need to fully fund the Student Opportunity Act to ensure that urban districts like Haverhill, Lawrence and Methuen have the funds they need to provide their students an excellent education. Historically urban districts like ours have been underfunded leaving many schools without the tools they need to equitably educate their students. We need to rethink the way we look at our schools and see them as a space where behavioral health and other wraparound services can be provided. Pavel would like to see more investments in school mental health professionals and social workers that can identify a student's family needs (food insecurity, housing, employment, etc.) and work with community organizations to provide the services they need.
Support and Expand Early College Programs: As a School Committee Member Pavel was an early advocate for the establishment of an early college program at Lawrence High School. He has seen how this program has helped hundreds of students earn free college credits while receiving needed support from their high school. Students are graduating high school with a high school diploma and with the opportunity of also obtaining an associates degree. Pavel will fight to expand this program to Haverhill and Methuen as it is a key tool to making higher education more accessible to working class families.
Renovating our school buildings: As a School Committee Member and as a Lawrence City Councilor, Pavel Payano has fought for more state and local funding to fix school buildings that are in disrepair. Urban districts like ours have more buildings that need to be renovated or rebuilt yet it is more difficult for us to obtain the funding to do so. He will fight to reevaluate the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s reimbursement formula to better support districts like Haverhill, Lawrence, and Methuen.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Since he attended UMass Amherst, Pavel has been an advocate of making public higher education affordable and accessible to working class families. It is clear that there is a correlation between college educated workers and higher wage economies. Yet we are seeing that it has become more difficult for working class families to afford a public university. The share of graduates of public four year colleges who have student loans increased from 54% in 2007 to 75% in 2014. Students have also seen their debt increased by 55%. State funding to our public universities and colleges dropped by 31% since 2001. We also cut funding for scholarship programs for targeted student populations. The Commonwealth should provide all residents access to tuition free community college and state universities. We need to invest more in our public college and universities and ensure that they are accessible for all.