Baker singles out Lawrence Schools, Riley in State of the Commonwealth speech
January 22, 2016

Eagle-Tribune – “Gov. Charlie Baker singled out Lawrence Schools and its leader, Jeff Riley, as an example of the good things going on in Massachusetts.

Here’s an excerpt from his speech Thursday night at the Statehouse in Boston:

“I had a basketball coach in high school who was fond of saying: Don’t confuse effort with results. Work hard, but work smart.

“Too often in government, we confuse how much money we spend on something, or how much we talk about it, with whether or not we’re achieving any positive results.

“The guy who became the receiver of the Lawrence school system four years ago isn’t a big talker. He’s a doer.

“Jeff Riley cut his central office budget by 30 percent and put the money he saved back into the classroom.

“He renegotiated the collective bargaining agreement to lengthen the school day and focus more on student performance, and he brought the charter schools and traditional schools together – to focus on the kids.

“He didn’t get any more money. He just did the work.”

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