Time Travel To The Governorship of Romney

By- Sarah Betancourt

President Obama leads Mitt Romney 60-32 in Massachusetts.

After distancing himself from his record as governor, Romney decided to talk a good game and lay claim of Massachusetts’ strong rankings in education. During Romney’s single term, his state ranked #1 in the nation, but under a Democratic state legislature. The executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees has called Romney “inconsequential.”

In the end, Romney’s influence was a mixed bag at most, and not much of a record to run on. From 2003-2007, Massachusetts’ per capita funding for public higher education decreased from $158 to $137, and in national rank, per capita state expenditures remained at 47th. Under his education policy, 83% of third- to twelfth-grade students learning English as a second language were not improving or speaking English well enough to go to regular classes.

Romney had a failed policy of providing John and Abigail Adams Scholarships that covered tuition for state colleges, but left students paying for fees, which can count for up to 80% of costs for some Massachusetts state schools. As a result, barely 25% of students decided to attend state colleges. If you call that success, I’ll eat my hat.

By: Sarah Betancourt

Sarah Betancourt is a Boston-based journalist who has written for In These Times, Open Media Boston, Spare Change News, Boston.com, the Boston Globe Environment Blog, and has had work appear in video on the National Geographic Water Currents Blog. She writes primarily about Boston politics, labor, Generation Y issues, and environmental policy.