Senator Robyn Kennedy Talks Gas Tax, MCAS, and School Technology

Gas Tax Suspension and the State Budget

By-Hank Stolz
Graphic-Radio Worcester/ Photo: Submitted

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Worcester, MA-State Senator Robyn Kennedy stops by the Radio Worcester diner to talk about the budget, falling MCAS scores, ballot questions and more.

The conversation between Hank and Kennedy begins with whether she supports the Governor’s request to suspend the gas tax.

“Losing $120 million in revenue is really going to hurt that and that’s something that I really don’t think I could support right now,” said Senator Kennedy.

MCAS Scores and Graduation Requirements

Hank asks about falling MCAS scores and that leads into a conversation about MCAS as a graduation requirement.

“I don’t support the MCAS testing. I think that there are better methods. We know there are better methods to understand where kids are at and what they’re learning and how they’re learning,” said Kennedy.

Hank a supporter of MCAS as a graduation requirement pushed back talking about why he felt the test needed to be implemented in the first place, “I didn’t want to have the kids from Dover Sherborn… have a better education than the kids in Westminster Ashburnham.”

Cell Phones, Chromebooks, and Classroom Learning

Hank also wonders if the debate over phone use and the amount of time students spend looking at screens has played into the decline in test scores, Kennedy makes clear there is a distinction between supervised educational technology (Chromebooks) and personal devices, “I would separate out the free use of an individual’s own technology like a cell phone versus a school supervised tool like the Chromebooks” she said we need to look at how to implement technology.