Why Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts education plan backfired
Ask Mitt Romney to name his signature education initiative as governor of Massachusetts and he’ll likely answer that it was the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program. The scholarship, established in 2004, covers tuition at in-state public colleges and universities for students who score in the top 25 percent of their district on the state’s 10th-grade math and English standardized tests.
Mitt Romney at a rally in Virginia Beach. (Photo by Tony Alter)“I got more hugs on Adams Scholarship day than I did at Christmas,” Romney said in a May speech about education. “And parents—more than once—told me that they had been worried they would not be able to afford college and that the scholarship would make a difference. Here in America, every child deserves a chance. It shouldn’t be reserved for the fortunate few.”
The cost of college is one of the major barriers for many poor students, so it seems logical that paying for their
Mitt Romney at a rally in Virginia Beach. (Photo by Tony Alter)The cost of college is one of the major barriers for many poor students, so it seems logical that paying for their
First “parent trigger” moves to a crucial vote after court ruling
About nine months ago, at a small park playground a few hundred feet from their children’s struggling school, a group of parents chanted, cheered and delivered passionate speeches about their growing frustration with Desert Trails Elementary.
Desert Trails Elementary School principal David Mobley, left, is handed 465 signatures representing nearly 70 percent of students from the school by Olivia Zamarripa after a Desert Trails Parent Union press conference where parents hope for a dramatic overhaul of the low performing school while trying to use California’s so-called Parent Trigger law at Desert View Elementary School in Adelanto, Calif. (Photo by DAVID PARDO, Victorville Daily Press)That Jan. 12 park rally — which drew a throng of camera crews and reporters from around the state to the tiny desert city of Adelanto, Calif. — marked the beginning of a bitter battle in the national spotlight. That was when the Desert Trails Parent Union announced its petition to use the so-called “parent trigger” law to force a major
Desert Trails Elementary School principal David Mobley, left, is handed 465 signatures representing nearly 70 percent of students from the school by Olivia Zamarripa after a Desert Trails Parent Union press conference where parents hope for a dramatic overhaul of the low performing school while trying to use California’s so-called Parent Trigger law at Desert View Elementary School in Adelanto, Calif. (Photo by DAVID PARDO, Victorville Daily Press)