Decision to Reverse Budget Cuts Will Help MA Children

Deval Patrick (incoming Governor of Massachusetts) pledged today that he will reverse outgoing Governor Mitt Romney’s budget cuts. Patrick’s move will benefit children, by providing millions of dollars for early education and child care programs. From the Boston Globe:

"Overwhelmingly, these broad-based cuts, especially coming mid-year, have a serious negative impact on thousands of Massachusetts residents who have planned for the relief and relied upon the services these programs provide," Patrick said in a statement.

The money that Patrick plans to restore after taking office next month includes funding for preschool and kindergarten programs, domestic violence hotlines, and elder outreach.

Patrick said that slightly higher-than-expected state revenues in November and December paved the way for his decision. His administration will look for savings in the second half of the state’s fiscal year.

For more information on specific programs whose funding was cut--and will now be restored---read this report from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Movement for Teaching Global Warming in Schools

I have spent a significant amount of time with youth groups around Massachusetts discussing the ramifications of global warming. (This work has been through Promise the Children’s Green Web program). So I was intrigued to read this story in the Washington Post on Tuesday about the effort to bring global warming education to public schools.

"Global warming is a key subject that many educators and scientists say should be, but isn’t, taught in every school…

...Gerry Wheeler, the executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, said he would put global warming at or near the top of the list of must-teach subjects, along with the science of HIV/AIDS."

There are parallels between the movement to teach about global warming and the movement for comprehensive sexuality education. Both are about giving young people access to the basic scientific knowledge they need to make responsible and beneficial choices.

PATHWAY Act Gains New Momentum for 07, with Sinkford and UUA as Key Advocates

Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-9) will be re-introducing the Protection Against the Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act. Rep. Lee explains the tremendous impact this would have on how both domestic and international funds are directed:

“PATHWAY would strike the earmark requiring that 33 percent of all HIV prevention funding be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs and ensure that all individuals reached by U.S.-funded programs are provided with the necessary skills, information, and methods needed to avoid HIV infection.”

An Inter-Press story describing Rev. Sinkford’s support for the PATHWAY Act has been re-published on several websites, including CommonDreams.

Also on the subject of comprehensive sexuality education, there was a vague but intriguing post on feministing.com about the possibility that Rep. Waxman’s staff will try to redefine abstinence-only education.