No Apology, by Gov. Mitt Romney (R, MA): on Education
Mitt Romney:
China & India graduate more science & engineering PhDs
Increasing productivity begins with innovation and innovation begins with good ideas. More often than not, good ideas come from educated minds. America's post-WWII commitment to public higher education directly contributed to the burst of productivity
that rocketed our economy beyond every other. But other nations have made as great or greater a commitment to higher education than we have, particularly in engineering, computer science, and information. 15 years ago, China and India awarded about half
as many master's degrees in these fields as did the US. Today, they graduate more than two times the number of students in these fields as we do. While our annual number of degrees has hovered around 7,000 to 8,000, China's has risen from 1,784 to
12,130--50% greater than ours. This is a stunning reversal of global preeminence in the priority attached to the highest level of educational attainment. Not surprisingly, China, Japan, and Taiwan claim a growing share of the world's patents.
Source: No Apology, by Mitt Romney, p.120
Mar 2, 2010
Mitt Romney:
Failure to educate minorities is a civil rights issue
The "achievement gap" has been lamented for decades but distressingly little has been done to combat it. About half of African American and Hispanic American students drop out before receiving a high-school degree. The result is that we are virtually
assuring the creation of permanent underclass. It is an inexplicable human tragedy when millions of American children barely attain a third-world education in a nation that offers all its citizens access to free public schooling.
Our current failure to educate our minority populations is the foremost civil-rights issue of our generation.The minority proportion of the US population is projected to rise from 26% today to 34% by 2030, and if the achievement gap and dropout rate
among minorities continues, the average educational level of the nation's entire workforce will continue to decline dramatically.
There is no greater indictment of American government than the sorry state of American education. It is an epic failure.
Source: No Apology, by Mitt Romney, p.198-199
Mar 2, 2010
Mitt Romney:
2003: Bold reforms: required H.S. graduation test
In 1993, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the state to raise education funding levels in low-income school districts to a minimum acceptable level. Funding in low-income districts would be dramatically increased, but all students would be regularly
tested in math and English. And the agreement provided that in 2003--my first year as governor--students would have to pass a test in order to graduate from high school. And finally, the state opened the door to the creation of charter schools.
Objections to the graduation requirement became increasingly intense as the first school year of my administration was drawing to a close. 92% of our seniors had passed the test, and those who had not would be entitled to summer school and another try.
The parents of the 8% of students who failed to pass the test were vocal & angry. Despite the program's apparent early success, the Massachusetts teachers' union launched a $600,000 ad campaign, calling the graduation requirement "flawed and unfair."
Source: No Apology, by Mitt Romney, p.201-202
Mar 2, 2010
Mitt Romney:
Teachers' union has deadening impact on student achievement
Teachers' unions do their very best to secure insulations from performance for their members, and the results are lack of accountability, rising pay as a simple function of years on the job, and near-absolute job security. These have a deadening impact
on student achievement. I don't blame teachers' unions for asking such gold-plated benefits; the unions'' job is to work for their members. I blame administrators, school boards, and parents for saying yes, even when schools are manifestly failing their
students.It is not the unions' job to fight for our children. That job is our job, and it's the task of the people we elect to represent us. Our elected representatives' role is to sit across the table from the unions and bargain in good faith in
the interest of children and parents. But the teachers' unions long ago discovered that they could wield influence--and, in some cases, overwhelming influence--over the selection of our representatives on school boards and in state legislatures.
Source: No Apology, by Mitt Romney, p.217
Mar 2, 2010
Mitt Romney:
Vetoed abandoning three new Massachusetts charter schools
The provision for new charter schools came under attack during my term. The legislature passed a bill that put a moratorium on any new charter schools--a law went into effect immediately. Yet because the bill was enacted at the beginning of summer,
it would force the abandonment of three new charter schools only recently constructed and scheduled to open in the fall. The teachers for these schools had already been hired.
The students had applied, been accepted, and had notified their regular public schools of their decision to attend the new charter schools. It was an egregious exercise in special-interest-driven legislation, and evidence of how fervently the
teachers' unions oppose school choice. I vetoed the bill. And while Republicans made up only 15 percent of the legislature, enough Democrats joined with me to uphold my veto, and the new schools opened as planned.
Source: No Apology, by Mitt Romney,p.203, Mass.Voting Record Sec.312
Mar 2, 2010
Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019