Chang-Diaz out as Senate education chief
After eight years at the helm of the Senate’s education committee and amid a push to update the state’s education funding formula, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz has been reassigned and replaced by Sen. Jason Lewis.
Although she won’t chair the education committee anymore, Chang-Diaz took to Twitter on Friday to “set the record straight” regarding her continued advocacy for education, saying, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Chang-Diaz (D-Boston) has been championing a call for change to the state’s education funding formula, which hasn’t been touched since 1993. She filed a bill called the Education PROMISE Act to implement five recommendations made by the bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission in 2015, which found that Massachusetts schools were underfunded by between $1 billion and $2 billion.
“This is critical, generational reform — and I’ll be here, fighting alongside you every step of the way until we get it done right for all our kids, including & especially low-income kids & kids of color who can’t be shortchanged again,” Chang- Diaz wrote.
The Senator, who will now chair both marijuana policy and children, families and persons with disabilities committees, added that she looks forward to working with the new chairman. When talking to reporters after the assignments were announced on Thursday, Lewis (D-Winchester) noted that he was one of the first to co-sponsor Chang-Diaz’s bill.
“I’ve got some big shoes to fill in taking on the leadership of the education committee,” Lewis said. “I anticipate working very closely with her and with other senators as well. You know, education funding is a top priority issue I can say for every senator and representative because nothing is more important in any of our districts than supporting our public schools.”