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“As public schools and colleges struggle to educate students safely this year, the legislature must provide the resources to address students’ many needs,” said AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos. “Health and safety of course remains the number-one priority, but young people also require enhanced educational opportunities; better and more reliable Wi-Fi and devices; expanded social and emotional supports such as mental-health, guidance, and school nursing services; reliable access to no- cost healthy food and to stable housing; and so much more.”

“Now more than ever, students burdened by debt and facing a difficult job market need affordable public higher education,” she continued. “But severe budget cuts at our community colleges, state universities, and UMass campuses are leading to layoffs and furloughs when they should be offering more support to students, not less. The COVID-19 pandemic and recession have caused unprecedented trauma and disruption for students and workers in our public schools and colleges. Now more than ever, we must fully fund public education to support students and families through this crisis.”

“Many legislators with a background in law or government don’t understand what our classrooms are really like, or struggle to relate to the challenges that educators, students, and families face every day. When it comes to legislating for our schools, there’s no replacement for a lawmaker with real-world teaching and parenting experience,” said AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos. “Teresa English has the experience, the ideas, and the energy to help deliver the schools we and our students deserve.”

“The BFT is excited about having somebody who truly understands education from the ground up as our state representative from Billerica,” said Dave Adams, president of the Billerica Federation of Teachers. “We look forward to having a representative that will advocate for full and fair funding for our schools, who will follow the science when it comes to the pandemic, and who will lead on issues of social justice.”

“Teresa is an empathetic and effective educator in the classroom, and a passionate and courageous advocate in her union and the community,” said Lawrence Teachers Union president Kim Barry. “Those of us who have seen her work first-hand know that we need her fighting for us in the State House.”

The right to vote underpins every other right we have. This year, we face four interlocking crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession, the reckoning with systemic racism, and the consequences of climate change. With just a week left until Election Day, many votes have already been cast, but there’s still time to make your voice heard at the ballot.

“This election is about electing real leaders at all levels of government who will get COVID-19 under control so we can get back to school safely. It’s about investing in our recovery, not cutting public services that our students, families, and communities depend on,” said AFT Massachusetts Beth Kontos. “It’s about ensuring fair, unbiased federal courts that will uphold women’s rights and protect our access to affordable healthcare. This election is truly important, and with new election laws in place during the pandemic, it’s important that all AFT Massachusetts members have a plan for how you will cast your ballot.”

“We’re concerned about the health and safety of our students and our educators, and that’s paramount in our minds. We believe it’s imperative to assess the health of our buildings before we return to the classroom; the ventilation systems must be evaluated and improved. We need the water in our bathrooms to be at 100 degrees at all times; I’m not sure that’s happened at any school I’ve worked at,” said AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos. “Our families need assurance that these health and safety checks have happened and will be maintained throughout the school year. We’re doing this because we care about the children and the families they go home to.”

“The current plan is backwards. We cannot bring all of our students back in person in September on the first day of school as much as we want to,” said Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang. “What we need to do is have a thoughtful approach where we have to get remote learning right…It’s likely there’s going to be another surge, and we cannot just scramble overnight to try to get remote learning right like we did in the spring.”