BOSTON,MA – Today, Marine Corps Veteran, successful business leader, and proven government reformer Brian Shortsleeve, Republican candidate for governor, issued the following statement reacting to the latest MCAS results:
The facts are clear: under Maura Healey, Massachusetts test scores are flat or falling, we are slipping behind other states on national benchmarks, and the trend line in test scores is alarming. If Massachusetts is to continue being a leader in K-12 education, we need to reverse this decline.
We spend more per student than almost anyone in the country, yet families are not getting a return on that investment. Our schools need to get back to basics like reading, writing, and math, strip politics out of classrooms, and they need to be held accountable for results. As governor, I will restore the independent Office of Educational Quality and Accountability that Deval Patrick dismantled so parents and taxpayers get straight talk about school performance, not sugar-coated excuses from education bureaucrats and politicians who get to grade themselves. And I will empower parents with more options to send their kids to high performing schools. Massachusetts’ high education spending must be matched by rigorous standards and unvarnished accountability.