Part-time Governor Mitt Romney Ran the State as if he was still at Bain, Children of Low and Middle Income Families were left Behind and a Harvard Study puts a Red Flag wait a Minute on the Scholarship Mitt Romney Brags about Creating

****Update a larger model of previous graph from that Harvard Study has been included.
Mitt Romney the man who doesn’t speak to much on education but if he did you should know its the same rhetoric Republicans have given for years. Mitt Romney that man who wished he could lead. Mitt Romney the man that brags about being Governor from January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007, while part of that time he was running for President.

In keeping up with being a Governor running for President, in 2004 Romney created the Commonwealth PAC. Someone who brags that much on being governor should be able to speak big on education. However that isn’t the case, so I turned to Romney’s years as a governor to see what if anything he could hace done towards education.

With a little time spent bein involved in the Olympics, Romney spent the majority of his career as business consultant that didn’t mind outsourcing and didn’t mind laying of employees if it increase profits at the end of the day.

The students of UMASS will certainly remember the governor. As a matter of fact they may even sympathise with millions of students facing their student loan rates going up and know not to call on Romney. These students were directly effected by decisions made by then and the only Mitt Romney. Romney wasn’t around as governor long but anyone opposed to his ideals at UMASS were delivered the Bain effect.

The Bain effect where Romney is there to clear out all rebels who have in mind how to provide a more affordable education for the majority. In 2003 while Romney was still Governor UMASS Dartmouth and the Southern New England School of Law were very interested in merging the two schools and creating a public law school. Mitt Romney was against the merger and wanted the UMass board of trustees to fire then UMass president William Bulger, and the majority were against it. When those board of trustee members seat had expired while Mitt Romney was governor the only trustee’s seat he reappointed was the one person who was against the merger.

Prior to and doing talks of a merger the two schools were intertwine where both schools offered some kind of service to the students of each others schools. UMass students had the option to earn a dual JD/MBA program at Southern New England School of Law that could be completed within four years or eight semesters. Vice-Versa UMAss provided to the students of Southern New England School of Law dormitory arrangements, access to meal services, and use of the UMASS library, bookstore, and athletic facilities. Romney was opposed to all of this and he delivered the Bain effect, in other words getting rid of those who supported the merger.

It would be a few years later after Romney left that the two schools would finally merge creating first public law school in Massachusetts and retaining the name University of Massachussetts. The private institutions like Romney were and very much opposed to this merger.

Here is another look at what Mitt Romney may claim to be a shining achievement, where he created a scholarship but if you look at the facts the scholarships really cover a lot of cost. Romney was able how ever to get rid of the caps on creating chater schools and allowing for Universities and corporate sponsors to make more money.

With Romney’s money as Governor he failed to see the real cost of an education. As governor Romney created a tuition but for a lot of students they couldn’t use it because the scholarships failed to cover any significant cost, and while the scholarship was not based on need base but instead academics, a lot of students who fairly one them still couldn’t attend schools in the common wealth of Massachussetts.

MCAS Scores and the Adams Scholarships:
A Policy Failure
A Policy Brief for The Civil Rights Project
at Harvard University
http://www.epi.soe.vt.edu/perspectives/policy_news/pdf/meritbrief.pdf

Students awarded an Adams Scholarship are granted a tuition waiver at any public college or university in the Commonwealth. As long as the student maintains a college grade point average of at least 3.0, the waiver can be used for up to four consecutive years (eight semesters). In the 2005-2006 school year, average tuition at community colleges in the Commonwealth is $734, $954 at state colleges, and $1,714 at the University of Massachusetts. It is important to note that the Adams Scholarships provide a tuition waiver only, and do not cover mandatory fees which exceed tuition at public institutions in the Commonwealth. For example, while tuition at UMass Amherst for resident undergraduates is $1,714 this year, mandatory fees total $7,564. 3
Because the Adams Scholarships can only be used at a public institution in the state, not all students who qualify for the scholarships actually use them. Governor Romney’s office reported that approximately 25 percent of the students who qualified in the first eligible cohort of students (those graduating in 2005) used their scholarships.
4

Below is another sample pulled from a website demonstrating of how Mitt Romney constituents thought about about his ideals regarding education

Would vote NO on moratorium on expansion of charter schools.
Platform indicates voting YES in Part II: Education:Full Funding.

Gov. Romney vetoed a budget line item (“Section 312”) which would impose a moratorium on additional charter schools, and additional enrollment at existing charter schools…
A yes vote would override the veto and impose the moratorium. A no vote would sustain the veto and allow the next round of expansion of charter schools.
Relevant platform section: Full Funding: We call upon the state to change funding of Commonwealth Charter schools to ensure that funds are not drained from established public schools.
Bill Veto Override, sec. 312 ; vote number MAG04-H740 on Jul 20, 2004
Would vote NO on Veto override of federal school breakfast supplement.
Platform indicates voting YES in Part I: Families & Children:No Child Left Behind.

Override Gov. Romney’s veto of a Budget Line Item which eliminated a state supplement to the federally-funded school breakfast program whereby all eligible children shall be provided free, nutritious breakfasts at no cost to them.
Relevant platform section: PART I: FAMILIES & CHILDREN, DIVERSITY & COMMUNITY: No Child Left Behind: “We believe that young people are our most precious resource, and we see inherent worth and promise in every child. Ours is truly the Party that seeks to “Leave No Child Behind.”We endorse, therefore, the goals established under The Children’s Defense Fund initiative of that name, to ensure every child a healthy start [which includes CDF’s support of school breakfast programs].”

http://www.issues2000.org/MA-Gov/Mitt_Romney_Part_iii__EDUCATION.htm