Glenn Daigon: Public Education’s Big Midterm Election Wins
Writing for The Progressive, Glenn Diagon tallies up a few of the wins for public school supporters in the mid term elections.
Massachusetts Question 1, another progressive ballot measure, proposed an additional tax of 4 percent for incomes over $1 million, dedicating this new revenue toward public education, roads and bridges, and public transportation.
“Long before the pandemic, Massachusetts needed new investments in our transportation and public education systems,” spokespersons for Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, told the Fall River Reporter. “These investments are needed now more than ever to lift up our economy for everyone and to ensure Massachusetts remains a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Question 1 passed, garnering 52 percent of the vote.
In West Virginia, the legislature was attempting to insert itself into the work of the state’s Board of Education–and you can guess why.
Supporters asserted it would hold the board, and the public education system it oversees, accountable to the people of West Virginia through their elected officials. Others had a different take. Conservative backers also saw the board as being too passive in addressing how race was taught in classrooms and lacking enthusiam for “school choice” programs.
“It could change the direction of public education every two years, when you have a new legislature coming in; that’s not what you want,” said Dale Lee, President of the West Virginia Education Association. “In a public school system, you want continuity, you want to have experts making decisions about public education, and the experts or the educators in the field, not the legislators who are coming in at all different aspects of life.”
Voters supported Lee’s position, voting down the amendment by a fourteen point margin.
Read the article here for other wins for public education in this cycle.