BOSTON—House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. issued the following statement after hearing Massachusetts was passed up for Race to the Top funds.While I am disappointed by the Race to the Top announcement, I am even more surprised that Massachusetts ranked so low on the list of eligible states. In addition to passing a reform package, we were all led to believe that Governor Patrick’s close relationship with President Obama certainly would have helped secure at least a better ranking than 13 out of 16.
Massachusetts has always been among the leaders in national education, while consistently setting high standards. Governor Patrick expected us to jump through hoops and was very critical of the Legislature for not finishing this issue last fall. It appears that the Patrick-Murray Administration, despite the extra time, was unable to put together a strong and compelling application.
