"The dreams of parents and children can only be realized by effort, theirs and ours, and by a system which challenges and stretches and tests their minds and imaginations. We owe these children - our children - such an effort and such a system."
-Speaker Tom Finneran

As Speaker, Tom Finneran has led the House in improving the educational opportunities offered to the Commonwealth's children. The Legislature has doubled the number of full-day kindergarten classes in the Commonwealth and increased the amount of money given to local districts for education spending each year for a total increase of $28 billion over the past ten years. An important part of this funding increase included holding our school districts to higher levels of accountability. The hallmark of the Legislature's education reform was the institution of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS exam. Speaker Finneran supports this standard for holding public schools accountable for providing the Commonwealth's youth with a sound education. The Legislature also passed a comprehensive revision of the Special Education law, making Massachusetts' standard of service consistent with that of the rest of the country. In addition, an animating principle of Tom Finneran's legislative career is his belief that early education is essential to a child's success in life. He is also proud of the advances the Commonwealth has made under his watch as Speaker in reducing childhood hunger and strengthening early childhood literacy programs.

In the coming years, Speaker Finneran looks to sustain the progress that we have made in building the Commonwealth's early education programs and to keep our public schools, colleges, and universities national models of Massachusetts' commitment to lifelong learning.