Today, Lt. Governor Candidate Tim Murray called on Governor Romney to appoint a parent representative to the Board of Education in accordance with MGL 15:1E. The law states that one member of the board shall be a representative of parents of school children selected by the Governor from a list of 3 nominees provided by the Massachusetts Parent Teachers Association. Yet, while the MPTA provided the Governor with a list of three highly qualified nominees, Roberta Schaffer, whose previous term had expired, has been filling the parent representative seat in order to promote the Governor’s own agenda.
Not only has she continued to hold the seat nearly a year after her term expired, but she serves as the representative of parents of school children while she herself has no children in the Massachusetts Public School system.
“Mitt Romney continually talks about the need for accountability in Government, but somehow sees himself as an exception. He cannot be trusted to follow the law regarding how appointments should take place, and has been delinquent in his responsibility to keep his appointments current.” Murray said. “Education is the most important issue facing families in Massachusetts, during my tenure as chairman of the Worcester School Committee we have seen a dramatic improvement in our school systems; Worcester High School is now listed as one of the top 100 in the nation. None of that would have been possible without the hard work and input of the parents.”
In light of the recent developments in the Turnpike Authority Board, the Governor’s tendency to violate state law with his selections pervades his administration. While the process is designed to limit patronage appointments, Mitt has managed to fill some of the most important seats on the Commonwealth’s Governing boards with his political allies. Romney has also stalled or delayed filling seats that could potentially fall to those in opposition to his agenda. In fact, it took almost a year to fill the seat designated for organized labor on the Board of Education.
“It’s not as if these are insignificant boards, these are major policy making authorities. Romney’s willingness to exploit the system so blatantly and at such a high level speaks only to his tendency to avoid statutory accountability all together. The absence of a true parent representative on the Board of Education shows a total lack of respect to the thousands of parents across the state, that serve on Parent Teacher Organization’s and school site councils,” said Murray.
For more information on the candidate, please visit www.timmurray.org.
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