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From YouTube: Student Opportunity Act Signing
Description
For the past five years, Mayor Walsh and public school advocates from Boston and across the Commonwealth, have fought to change the state's education funding formula to better serve the needs of today's students. We are moving in the right direction. Inside the gym of America's oldest public school, The English High School in Jamaica Plain, Governor Charlie Baker signs the Student Opportunity Act in to law.
A
B
B
B
B
Baker
for
being
here
today
to
sign
this
incredible
bill,
I
want
to
thank
rep,
senator
Lewis
for
your
incredible
work
in
all
of
the
elected
officials,
senators,
House
members,
city
and
state
reps
here
who
worked
so
hard
on
this
bill
for
our
children
today.
Here
it
is
a
great
day
in
Massachusetts
and
I
also
want
to
thank
especially
our
BTU
president
Jessica
tang
and
all
the
great
teachers
who
helped
fight
for
this.
Go.
E
E
You
don't
try
to
remember
the
last
time.
I
saw
this
many
numbers
and
Legislature
in
the
same
place
outside
of
the
state
Senate
chamber
or
the
House
chamber,
and
honestly
I
can't
remember
the
last
time.
I
saw
this
many
members,
which
should
speak
to
how
important
this
legislation
is
to
so
many
of
us
here
in
Massachusetts,
I.
E
Think
as
many
people
know,
we
started
down
this
education
road
many
years
ago
in
1993,
when
we
passed
the
original
education
reform
legislation
which,
along
with
several
modifications
that
took
place
over
the
course
of
the
next
several
decades,
catapulted
Massachusetts
from
sort
of
a
middle
of
the
pack
player
to
being
among
the
very
best
K
through
12
education
systems
in
the
country,
but
over
the
period.
At
that
time
there
were
several
reports
that
were
done,
including
a
seminal
piece
of
work
by
the
foundation
budget,
Review
Commission.
E
That
indicated
that
Massachusetts
had
work
to
do
with
respect
to
the
way
it
funded
and
the
way
it
supported
it.
Schools,
especially
those
schools
that
provided
educational
services
to
a
significant
number
of
low-income
english-language
learner
and
special
ed
children
and
I,
want
to
give
a
special
shout
out
to
the
two
chairs
of
the
Education
Committee
Jason
Lewis,
and
the
Senate
and
Alice
Pike's
in
the
house.
E
You
know
there's
a
moment
in
a
very
famous
movie
about
high
school
basketball
called
the
Hoosiers
by
Indiana
basketball
team
and
the
coach
tells
one
of
his
players.
I
want
you
to
cover
that
guy,
so
tight
that
you
can
tell
what
flavor
his
gum
is
and
at
one
point,
during
a
timeout,
the
coach
looks
up
at
the
kid
and
says
what
flavor
is
it
now?
E
E
Passionately
give
a
special
shout-out
to
the
Speaker
of
the
House
Robert
DeLeo
to
the
senate.
President
karen
spoke
and
to
all
of
their
members
who
are
here
with
us
today,
because
they
put
a
tremendous
amount
of
work
and
to
making
sure
this
happened
as
well,
and
I
also
want
to
say,
because
I
recognize
a
lot
of
the
faces
in
the
room.
There
are
so
many
people
who
engaged
in
this
debate
in
this
discussion
and
stayed
strong
stayed
engaged,
stayed
determined,
persevered
that
helped
see.
E
E
A
fellow
who
is
late
to
the
press
conference
Jeff
is
no
stranger
with
a
Boston
Public
Schools.
He
was
the
principal
of
the
Clarence
Evans
Middle
School
in
Charlestown.
He
worked
in
the
central
office
in
Boston,
his
kids
go
to
school
in
Boston
and
he
was
the
receiver
superintendent
in
Lawrence,
where
he
showed
that,
in
fact,
you
can
build
a
great
urban
education
system.
E
E
There's
a
reason
why
this
is
the
Student
Opportunity
Act,
because
this
legislation
is
about
making
sure
that
every
kid
in
the
Commonwealth
of
mass,
regardless
of
where
they
live,
where
they
go
to
school,
where
they're
from
has
the
opportunity
to
get
the
education
that
they
need
to
be
great,
and
you
should
all
take
tremendous
pride
in
what
you've
accomplished
in
getting
this
ball
over
the
goal
line
to
use
a
football
analogy.
I
know
you've
got
this
thing
coming
up,
but
now
the
hard
work
for
the
rest
of
us
really
begins.
But
thank
you.
G
F
To
be
at
your
school
and
as
we
come
together
as
a
Commonwealth,
we
count
our
blessings
this
week
and
this
bill
signing
is
certainly
among
the
blessings
that
we
can
celebrate
here
in
the
Commonwealth
this
week
and
I
want
to
thank
the
governor
and
our
colleagues
in
government.
All
the
are
your
colleagues
in
the
state
legislature,
the
legislative
leaders
and
Senator
Lewis
and
Alice
Pais
representative,
the
speaker
and
the
Senate
President.
F
These
are
the
people
who
wake
up
in
government
every
day
and
think
about
how
we
can
make
this
state
run
better
and
deliver
better
service
to
the
people
of
this
Commonwealth.
This
is
a
really
big
accomplishment
for
this
team,
but
the
real
big
part
of
this
is
it's
the
right
investment
in
the
future
of
our
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts,
because
it's
an
investment
in
you.
You
are
the
future
of
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts.
F
You
see
yourself
in
one
of
those
jobs,
because
we
need
you,
and
the
final
thing
I
would
say
is
there
are
some
of
you
that
are
graduating
some
of
you
that
are
freshmen
in
this
room
right.
We
have
the
whole
range
when
you,
when
you
graduate
from
high
school,
some
of
you
will
go
on
to
college.
Some
of
you
go
on
to
your
jobs
and
start
your
careers.
We
need
all
of
you,
give
it
your
best
in
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
and
by
signing
this
bill
today.
We're
gonna
do
our
very
best
for
you.
H
H
H
Want
to
thank
I
want
to
thank
the
governor
and
the
lieutenant
governor
for
their
commitment
to
education
here
in
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts.
I
know
we're
here
today
signing
a
bill
in
Boston,
but
this
dis
truly
is
a
city
statewide
bill
and
I
want
to
thank
the
governor
and
for
his
commitment,
lieutenant
governor.
Thank
you
very
much
for
your
commitment
to
our
kids.
H
H
H
Minute,
I
think
what
executive
privilege,
yeah
instance,
what
it
all
about
legislators
that
are
here
and
all
the
elected
officials.
Thank
you
past
and
present
for
the
work
you
did.
This
is
as
I
spent
16
years
at
the
State
House
and
I
worked
on.
We
worked
on
a
lot
of
different
piece
legislation
and
I
have
to
say
this
is
up
there
in
the
in
the
top
right.
Three,
that's
going
to
make
a
direct
impact
on
so
many
young
people's
lives
in
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts.
So
thank
you
for
that
this.
H
This
is
award-winning
in
so
many
different
ways:
the
opponents
that
becoming
a
man
in
this
script
for
young
leaders,
we
have
multi
talented
young
people
behind
us,
those
of
you
that
are
not
from
Boston
just
take
a
look
in
the
bleaches
that
you
see
the
kids
in
the
school.
Also
in
the
school
50%
of
the
students
have
English
as
a
second
language
at
home.
Many
of
them
are
immigrants.
Many
of
them
are
first-generation,
like
I
am
with
first
generation.
When
you
want
to
see
what
Boston
is.
H
H
Sure
that
that
everyone
has
an
opportunity,
I'm
grateful
for
the
legislature
today
I'm
grateful
because
they
took
a
system
from
the
20th
century
that
worked
way
back
then
and
brought
it
into
the
21st
century.
In
the
funding
PA
funding
piece
raising
funds
is
important,
making
sure
the
formula
works
for
our
students
is
important.
What
this
bill
means
is
over
100
million
dollars
across
the
state,
which
is
roughly
eighteen
hundred
more
per
student
here
in
the
city
of
Boston.
H
It's
going
to
allow
us
the
opportunity
to
do
even
more
and
make
even
more
advances
and
gains
in
this
in
the
school
department
in
Boston.
That's
important
for
us,
together
with
the
governor,
talked
about
those
words
about
partnerships.
We
need
to
continue
to
work
with
each
other,
not
against
each
other.
If
we
truly
want
to
make
sure
that
our
districts
across
the
Commonwealth
and
our
districts
are
different
urban
district,
the
suburban
districts
are
different.
The
makeups
are
different.
The
kids
are
different.
H
The
challenges
our
young
people
have
a
different,
and
what
I
don't
want
to
do
is
point
out
what
the
problems
are.
I
want
to
say
how
do
we
fix
the
situations
in
our
schools
and
that's
what
we're
doing
here
today
we're
working
towards
a
goal
of
fixing
the
situations
in
our
schools.
It's
about
making
sure
that
the
outcomes
that
our
young
people
have
are
successful.
So
these
young
people
someday
can
be
sitting
in
this
auditorium
sitting
in
your
seats
right
here
as
future
leaders
to
make
sure.
H
We
have
made
historic
investments
in
Boston
over
the
last
five
years
in
the
city
of
Boston,
since
I've
been
mayor
and
the
team
around
me
has
been
there
we're
going
to
continue
to
make
historic
investments
and
we're
going
to
continue
to
change
our
schools
one
school
at
a
time,
so
that
young
people
have
an
opportunity
to
be
successful.
Look
at
the
face
of
these
young
kids
in
here.
H
They
can
be
anything
they
want
to
be
any
one
of
these
kids
can
be
anything
they
want
to
be
when
they
graduate
high
school
when
they
go
on
to
college
and
go
into
the
life.
That's
what
it's
all
about
so
I
want
to.
Thank
you
all
for
the
opportunity.
I
truly
want
to
thank
the
advocates
in
this
room.
Today
there
are
teachers
that
were
advocates.
There
are
principles
that
were
advocates.
There
are
parents
that
were
advocates.
They
amazed
that
were
advocates.
There
were
school
committee
cell
advocates.
H
Some
of
the
folks
couldn't
be
here
today
from
all
across
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts.
All
of
you
made
this
happen.
You
should
be
proud
of
the
work
that
you
did
to
make
sure
that
we
got
to
this
point.
I
want
to
thank
the
legislators
and
legislative
leaders.
I
want
to
thank
that,
the
time
that
the
speaker
took
out
of
his
schedule
to
meet
with
me
and
a
delegation
of
people
and
a
whole
bunch
of
people.
H
I
want
to
thank
the
Senate
president
for
the
time
that
she
took
out
of
her
schedule
to
meet
with
all
of
us
and
the
cheers
of
the
community
for
the
countless
hours
that
you
put
into
play.
It
can
never
be
understanding
the
work
that
you
put
into
this
piece
of
legislation
and
I
want
to
thank
you
for
that,
because
without
your
leadership,
without
your
guidance,
we
wouldn't
be
here
today.
So
thank
you
for
that.
H
I
also
want
to
thank
the
budget
directors
of
all
the
different
agencies
in
the
city
of
Boston,
just
instead,
but
the
budget
directors
of
all
the
different
departments
around
the
common
wall,
because
you
sat
at
a
table-
and
you
said
how
we
gonna
make
this
happen,
and
you
made
the
information
available
for
people.
So
I
want
to
thank
you
for
that.
H
C
H
It's
it's
important
to
dream
in
life,
because
if
you
told
me
that
I'd
be
standing
in
this
hall,
as
the
mayor
of
Boston
someday
I,
probably
would
say
when
I
was
your
age,
maybe
maybe
not
it
wasn't
that
focused,
but
I
got
elected
to
the
Statehouse
in
1997,
and
this
next
speaker
got
elected
to
the
Statehouse
a
couple
years
later
and
she
sat
behind
me
and
we
would
never
realize,
probably
in
our
wildest
imaginations,
that
someday
I'd
be
mayor
of
Boston
and
she'd,
be
the
president
of
state
Senate.
G
G
G
I
ran
for
the
legislature
to
change
the
chapter
70
formula,
and
here
we
are
today
amongst
all
of
us
celebrating
this
incredible
milestone.
I
want
to
thank
our
host
the
superintendent
and
principal,
but
especially
the
students
here
at
English
high
school.
Thank
you
for
sharing
your
pep
rally
with
us
so
that
we
could
have
a
pep
rally
for
this
big
day:
Thank
You,
governor
Baker
and
lieutenant
governor
for
your
commitment,
the
speaker
for
your
friendship
and
partnership
with
this.
Thank
you
for
the
mirror
for
your
voice
and
Mayor,
Spicer
and
levira.
G
I'd,
especially
like
to
thank
Senator,
Jason
Lewis,
who
took
the
mantle
and
ran
with
it
his
willingness
to
work
collaboratively
to
work
very
long
hours
to
feel
the
anxiety
and
the
frustration
of
wanting
to
get
this
done.
Your
compromise,
your
thoughtfulness
and
your
ability
to
listen,
you
and
rep
Pike.
If
you
remember,
went
around
the
state
and
listened,
and
that
is
the
heart
of
what
we
should
do.
As
legislators,
you
listen
to
all
the
stakeholders
and
you
pulled
it
together
and
you
did
it
so
well.
G
Your
hard
work
and
dedication
helped
to
get
this
bill
over
the
finish
line,
and
so
I
say.
Thank
you.
I
want
to
thank
the
Commissioner
and
Dessie
staff,
and
the
secretary
I
also
want
to
thank
Senator
Rodricks,
who
worked
on
this
conference
committee.
Senator
O'conner
Senator
Tom,
senator
D
Dominico,
who
was
one
of
the
prior
conference
committees,
senator
Chang
Diaz,
and
to.
G
G
G
J
J
I'm
so
proud
to
be
here,
as
we
celebrate
a
milestone
for
our
Commonwealth.
This
legislation
makes
a
deep
commitment
to
the
way
we
fund
education
in
Massachusetts
and
will
make
a
profound
difference
in
the
lives
of
our
students
throughout
this
great
state.
This
legislation
will
close
the
opportunity
gap.
It
ensures
that
all
students
have
access
to
the
types
of
classrooms
and
supports
that
they
need
in
order
to
succeed
in
school
and
beyond.
Congratulations
to
all
of
you.
J
I
must
also
tell
you
that
I
am
equally
proud
of
the
process,
the
collaborative
process
that
created
this
legislation
in
order
to
ensure
that
we
continue
to
meet
the
changing
needs
of
our
schools
and
our
students
I'm
deeply
appreciative
of
the
hard
work
that
went
into
this
legislation,
not
just
in
recent
months,
but
over
the
years
by
chair
lady
Ella
splash
in
August
of
2018.
The
chair
was
by
my
side
as
I
brought
together
a
group
of
key
foundation,
budget
review.
J
Commission
members
in
my
office
and
at
that
point
gave
my
board
that
the
house
would
successfully
pass
this
legislation.
I
appreciate
her
tireless
work
on
behalf
of
all
of
the
Commonwealth
students
for
her
commitment
to
bringing
all
stakeholders
to
the
table
in
ensuring
that
we
were
always
putting
students
for
us.
Thank
you
very
much,
madam
chair.
J
J
Sincerely.
Thank
you
for
partnering
us
with
us.
I
can't
tell
you
how
thrilled
I
am
to
be
here
today,
because
someday
were
all
going
to
remember
this
day
and
we're
all
going
to
remember
what
the
historic
day
this
day
was
and
what
a
great
day
it
was
for
our
students
of
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts.
Thank
you
very,
very
much.
J
I
know
the
pleasure
of
introducing
the
gentlemen
in
the
Senate
who
led
the
Senate
in
in
his
work,
as
was
mentioned
by
the
Senate,
the
president,
a
gentleman
who
I
had
the
honor
to
serve
with
in
me
in
the
house
for
many
years
and
I'd
have
to
say
without
who
home
we
would
probably
not
be
here
today.
Let's
give
a
warm
welcome
to
the
Senate
chair
of
the
Education
Committee
senator
Jason
Lewis.
K
K
The
students
Opportunity
Act
users
and
the
networking
recomm
it's
our
Commonwealth
to
one
of
its
most
fundamental
values
that
every
child
deserves
access
to.
A
high
quality
public
education
doesn't
matter
whether
what
your
family's
income
is
whether
they're,
rich
or
whether,
like
former
governor
Deval,
Patrick,
likes
to
say
you're
temporarily,
broke,
doesn't
matter
what
the
color
of
your
skin
is,
whether
you're
black
brown
or
white
doesn't
matter
whether
you
were
born
in
Boston
or
Bangladesh,
doesn't
matter
whether
you're,
able
bodied
or
disabled
every
single
child
deserves
access
to
an
excellent
public
education.
K
Massachusetts
will
never
have
the
most
progressive
school
funding
formula
in
the
nation
disciplined
to
meaningfully
address
the
troubling
very
troubling
opportunity
and
achievement
gaps
that
persist
in
our
public
education
system,
as
the
co-chair
of
the
Education
Committee
has
been
an
incredible
privilege
to
help
lead
this
effort,
but
like
the
Senate,
President
and
I
know
many
of
my
colleagues.
This
is
also
very
personal.
The
issue
of
providing
adequate
and
equitable
state
funding
to
all
of
our
local
schools
and
communities
was
what
first
motivated
me
to
run
for
the
state
legislature.
K
A
decade
ago,
I
had
seen
firsthand
in
my
own
daughter's
elementary
school,
the
impact
of
losing
librarians
cuts
in
art
and
music
and
other
programs.
The
first
and
actually,
the
only
time
that
I
had
visited
the
State
House
prior
to
being
elected,
was
when
I
joined
out
of
parents
on
a
bus
to
Beacon
Hill
to
lobby
for
more
school
funding,
and
one
of
those
parents
is
with
us
here
today.
K
We
are
neutral
instead
of
gratitude
to
all
of
the
education
stakeholders
whose
voices
were
instrumental
in
shaping
the
student
Opportunity
Act
and
getting
it
across
the
finish
line:
our
students,
our
parents,
teachers,
administrators
teacher
unions,
business
groups,
community
groups,
Department
of
elementary
and
secondary
education,
social
justice
advocates
and
others.
Thank
you
all.
Thank
you
very
much.
K
I
greatly
appreciate
the
strong
collaboration
between
the
House
of
Representatives
and
the
Senate
that
made
this
effort
successful
with
very
special
thanks
to
my
co-chair
representative
Alice
PI
she's
been
an
absolute
pleasure
to
work
together
with
you
and
we're
not
done
yet.
We've
got
a
lot
more
work
still
to
do
on
early
education
and
other
issues,
speaker
DeLeon
and
Senate
presidents
spelke.
Thank
you
so
much
for
entrusting
me
with
this
important
responsibility.
K
K
K
K
We
have
ahead
of
us
now
as
we
implement
the
student
Opportunity
Act,
but
I
was
so
excited
that
this
legislation
and
the
historic
level
of
new
funding
that
it
will
provide
to
all
of
our
public
schools
will
make
a
meaningful
difference
for
students
and
educators
today
and
for
future
generations
to
come.
Thank
you.
L
Well
good
afternoon,
thank
you
very
much
Jason
for
those
kind
words
I
appreciate
being
on
the
the
at
the
podium
up
here
with
this
distinguished
group
of
people,
every
one
of
whom
was
instrumental
in
getting
this
bill
over
the
finish
line.
I'd
particularly
like
to
acknowledge
the
work
of
the
the
speaker,
the
Senate
president,
the
chair
of
the
Ways
and
Means
Committee
and
I.
L
The
representative
Tucker
representative
Kerry,
the
gentleman
from
Woburn
I
think
that
without
the
work
of
all
of
these
people,
we
would
not
be
here
and
I
would
be
remiss
if
I
did
not
also
acknowledge
the
the
hard
work,
starting
with
her
service
on
the
foundation
budget.
Review
Commission
of
Representative
Ferguson,
the
lady
from
Holden,
but
I
would
very
much
like
to
acknowledge
and
thank
this.
Everyone
affiliated
with
English
high
school,
the
principal.
L
L
So
I
just
like
to
make
one
point:
oh
and
I
see
another
member
of
the
Education
Committee
representative
Vargas,
who
may
neglected
to
mention.
I
would
like
to
just
make
a
point
that
I
think
is
important
that
we
recognize.
While
we
have
much
to
celebrate
today
and
the
signing
of
this
piece
of
legislation
is
historic.
I'd
like
to
point
out
that
this
is
just
the
first
step
down.
What
I
predict
is
going
to
be
not
an
easy
road.
L
L
And
along
those
lines,
it's
important
that
we
hope
will
be
adults
responsible
for
that
education,
accountable
and
I
include
in
that
everyone,
starting
with
those
of
us
in
state
government
down
to
the
teachers
in
the
classroom.
During
the
course
of
developing
this
legislation,
I
saw
too
many
examples
of
districts
with
persistent
gaps
and
achievement
that
we're
spending
far
in
excess
of
the
amount
that
we
are
now
establishing
as
the
foundation
budget
base,
but
somehow
the
neediest
students
were
receiving
the
least
accountability
is
not
a
dirty
word.
L
It
is
the
mechanism
by
which
we
ensure
that
the
funding
we
provide
is
spent
in
a
way
that
benefits
the
students
for
whom
it
was
intended.
This
bill
is
designed
to
make
sure
that
all
of
us
put
the
students
first,
we
must
never
lose
sight
of
that,
and
on
that
note,
I
would
like
to
turn
this
over
to
the
students.
It
is
my
pleasure
to
introduce
aimsley
Pina,
the
first
female
football
player
at.