In welcoming remarks at the CEOs for Cities Fall National Meeting held in Boston Oct. 16-19, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke about the importance of investing in education, research, and infrastructure, even during tough economic times:
When we were hit by the global economic collapse, we cut public programs and thousands of state jobs. But, we also funded schools at the highest level in our history -- even when the bottom was falling out of the rest of the state budget.
... Why do this during a recession? Because if you really believe in creating opportunity, you don’t tell a second grader she has to sit out the second grade until the recession is over. If you really believe in job growth, you don’t tell someone with a great idea for a new, transformative company that those jobs can wait until the amorphous market "feels" like hiring again. If you really believe in the American Dream, you don't leave it to chance.
Because of these investments, our unemployment rate is well below the national average, our innovation economy is on fire, our state's economy is growing twice as fast as the national growth rate, and we are first in the nation in student achievement -- in the top five in the world in math and science.
Read Governor Patrick's complete remarks
here.