Public Vocational Education

Basic education is a top priority on my list. Without it, we would not have a workforce nor a sustainable economy. Teachers have the biggest impact on students and inspire them day in and day out. If a day should come where our education system has failed, you can bet on everything in society failing as well. With that being said, we need to make sure that generations to come will be ready to apply everything they have learned into real life situations, into the workforce, or wherever they are destined to be. After the months I have worked with Senator Rodrigues, the number one concern in our economy is workforce. However, with the admissions policy in vocational schools, we need to start thinking outside the box to come up with a solution that can better help those who have been denied from those schools. For one, schools should never determine the educational outcome of a students career and be forced to only get a high school diploma. I am currently advocating to expand those educational opportunities to non-vocational schools.

I have met with Representatives to come up with a way to implement and fund this policy for all school districts. The benefits of this would include more opportunities for everyone including students with disabilities, english language learners, and other minority demographics. Additionally, this would ultimately solve the problem of the shortages we see in the workforce, improve the quality of life for many, and reducing the number of high school dropouts and the poverty level. With jobs like cashiers, fast food chains, and local businesses adapting to new technologies that would save labor costs, there are very few places for someone who only has a high school diploma to work. It is time to start realizing this situation and make sure that our educational opportunities are expanded to help kids have certification in a vocational practice.

Current projections have the number of jobs within the commonwealth increasing around 21% in the next few years, with only 1.5% of the workforce according to the Massachusetts Economic and Research and Sam Turken with WGBH. A lot of the workforce that relied on post-secondary trade schools saw it's nightmare during the covid pandemic, as college dropout rates soared to around 25% according to Forbes. There is a high need in vocational education, as well as how this will effect businesses for years to come, and the quality of life for the next generation. It is with my full intent that the regulation created by DESE will be repealed no later than 2025, as I work with Representatives and the committee on education to help provide funding for this in all public high schools and ensure our children get the least restrictive educational opportunities.