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Tune into LTC Channel 8 tomorrow night at 5:00 pm or Wednesday at 4:00 pm to see the video from the April 25 Stand for Children Rally at the State House. There is excellent footage of Stand Lowell activists having in-depth conversations with Representatives Kevin Murphy and Dave Nangle, as well as Governor Deval Patrick addressing the crowd on Boston Common. Interestingly, both reps admit on camera to supporting the Governor’s Municipal Partnership Act as a way to bring needed revenue to Lowell without further burdening property owners, although both also question whether the added revenue will go to the schools. As you may recall, since the interviews on April 25, the City Manager restored $800k in funding for the schools (from his original plan to cut $1.6 million) in the hope that the state would be able to deliver more revenue through the governor’s plan. Now if only our representatives can use their influence with House leadership… (Speaker Sal DeMasi does not support the plan.)

At the rally, Governor Patrick sums it up when he talks about his personal understanding of how education can transform a life and how even with his increase funding for education, “it’s not enough.” I also thought there was an interesting exchange between Rep. Kevin Murphy, who was praising the Lowell Schools and his own son’s very positive experiences, and Stand speaker Gabrielle, who made the point that she wasn’t really worried about her own children, that they were at the top of their elementary class. “But what about the others who are failing?” she asked, “What about the dropout rate at the high school; that doesn’t come from nowhere.” more »