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By Tim Murray
Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President & CEO
Massachusetts’ vocational-technical and agricultural high schools are a Massachusetts public education success story. Unfortunately, Gov. Healey‘s decision to eliminate the current admissions process for these schools – instead of providing focused leadership to address the waiting list of some 11,000 students seeking this highly successful form of education – represents a further retreat from the Massachusetts tradition of having high standards and aspirations for our students.
As a longtime advocate for voc-tech education, I personally want to thank state Rep. Frank Moran and the Massachusetts House leadership for seeking to put a pause on Gov. Healey’s ill-advised policy in the state budget and create a statewide task force to look at ways in which we can expand voc-tech education for all students. Unfortunately, Rep. Moran’s proposal was omitted from the state budget reported out of conference committee. Without this or any other immediate action by the Legislature, Gov. Healey’s misguided admissions lottery will take effect and it will have a profound adverse impact on our students. Voc-tech and local school districts, and municipalities, will be forced to deal with the aftermath of this failed policy.
Gov. Healey‘s decision to eliminate requirements around student attendance, academic performance and behavior for voc-tech admissions cannot be viewed in isolation. This, coupled with the failure of our state’s leaders to come up with an alternative to the MCAS after two years of discussion prior to the 2024 ballot question, will result in poorer academic outcomes for Massachusetts students. It also undermines our position as a national leader in public K-12 education. Our educational leadership has been a calling card for Massachusetts in competing for the jobs, companies, and industry sectors of both the present and future. As a result, we risk losing ground economically in every region of the state.
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Timothy P. Murray became president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce in June of 2013. Prior to the Chamber, Tim was elected Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2006, following a historic grassroots campaign alongside Governor Deval Patrick. As Lieutenant Governor, he worked to promote job growth, delivered landmark reforms in ethics, education, pensions, and the transportation system. He was a former three-term Mayor of Worcester, New England’s second largest city. Tim attended public schools in Worcester and St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury. He studied at Fordham University in New York City and put himself through Western New England College School of Law, attending classes at night, while working days as a substitute teacher and housing advocate.
