Education

Every six months or so, I try to write to some or all of my elected officials, just to maintain what I believe to be a good habit for all citizens. Here's what I emailed this morning.

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A belated thanks for enacting the Commonwealth's first true school funding formula in twenty years as part of the 2008-2009 state budget.

As we continue our decades-long transition from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, investing in education at all levels becomes increasingly important, lest too many people and communities get left behind, clinging to old ways of doing business when the rest of the world has gone "flat" (to borrow a concept from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman).

The Commonwealth in particular is challenged in this way, with countless towns that have seen better days as major job categories have winnowed due to automation, outsourcing, and decline. Education can help retool people and communities to be more competitive for an increasingly accelerating, frictionless, and globalized economy.

Thanks for your leadership in this regard, and please consider future such decisions in light of our Commonwealth's competitiveness in a global and "flat" economy.