Dear Friends,
This is the first edition of my e-mail newsletter, The Khan Chronicle. In each edition you will find information on issues before the Legislature, my own legislative initiatives and projects related to the City of Newton on which I am working.
Since it is October and we are now well into the beginning of the school year, this newsletter will highlight two of my education related bills, one dealing with school nutrition and physical exercise and the other encouraging the infusion of an international perspective in our public schools. I am also including information on some of the Legislature’s accomplishments in the 2005-2006 Session. For more information regarding my work on Beacon Hill, or in Newton, visit my website, www.kaykhan.org.
I hope you find the newsletter interesting and informative. If you have suggestions for future newsletter topics, or comments or concerns don’t hesitate to call me at (617) 722-2011 or e-mail me at Rep.KayKhan@hou.state.ma.us.
Thank you,
Kay Khan
State Representative,
11th Middlesex District (Newton)
Legislative Wrap-Up
The Legislature passed a number of measures in this session that will improve the quality of life for people in Newton and communities across the Commonwealth.
The biggest accomplishments were in the areas of health care and economic development.
Our health care reform law (the first of its kind in the nation) was passed to make affordable, quality insurance accessible to 95% of the state’s 500,000 uninsured residents within three years. This landmark law, based heavily on the work of the Legislature, creates an atmosphere of shared responsibility while still setting the precedent that quality health care is a right, not a privilege. The law requires individuals, businesses and government to participate in controlling both skyrocketing medical costs and the growing number of uninsured.
It will expand coverage and significantly lower the cost of health care for low income families and individuals. During the grueling months of the health care reform debate, I as Co-Chair of the Legislative Mental Health Caucus, worked with the Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse to ensure that the new law would include equal insurance coverage for mental health services.
The House also passed a comprehensive economic stimulus package designed to make bold investments in workforce training, infrastructure, technology and cultural facilities. This legislation will provide funding for local initiatives that encourage economic development and promote cultural enrichment. Included in this new law is my legislation to promote international education in Massachusetts public schools.
Other significant legislative victories include a bill raising the minimum wage for the first time since 2001 and legislation promoting stem cell research in Massachusetts. Despite Governor Romney’s objections, the legislature enacted a law to establish Massachusetts as a center for cutting-edge, life-saving research. The legislature is currently battling Governor Romney over the restrictive and penalizing limitations his administration has placed over this research.
The legislation raising the minimum wage from $6.50 to $8.00 over two years, reaffirms our commitment to Massachusetts’ working families. This long overdue pay increase to the lowest wage earners acknowledges the rapidly expanding rate at which the cost of living expenses are increasing. It has also provided Massachusetts with one of the most competitive minimum wages in the country.
While the 2005-2006 Legislative Session will not formally end until December 31, 2006, we will spend the next few months developing policy priorities and a comprehensive agenda for the next session. All new legislation must be filed by the middle of January, 2007.
For more information regarding the work of the 2005-2006 Legislative Session click here to refer to my Legislative Record.
From Beacon Hill to The Garden City
One of my responsibilities as your state representative is to serve as a liaison between constituents, city officials and the people and departments responsible for state government. I am also responsible for advocating and when necessary securing funding and programming for efforts to improve life in the Garden City. This legislative session was very successful for all of us who represent Newton. We were able to secure more than $22 million in state aide for Newton in the 2007 Budget.
Social service and community agencies in my district are the beneficiaries of significant state support. The West Suburban YMCA will receive $50,000 and the Newton Community Service Center’s Young Parents Program will receive $80,000 this fiscal year. We were also able to secure $50,000 to support the Lower Falls Improvement Association’s effort to renovate the Hamilton Community Center.
Federal money is also essential. Working with Congressman Barney Frank’s office, we were able to secure nearly $2 million toward making the Auburndale Commuter Rail Station handicap accessible.
I am continuing to work with residents of Waban, West Newton and Auburndale to secure noise reduction measures from the Mass Highway Department and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. My office is helping Newton-Wellesley Hospital develop a comprehensive domestic violence prevention and treatment program. I have joined the Newton Centre Task Force and am looking forward to helping in that long-term effort. Finally, with the support of the Newton Public Schools, I filed legislation, discussed elsewhere in this newsletter, supporting and promoting international education. Related to this work, I have recently joined the Advisory Board of the Newton-Tanzania Collaborative, an initiative of Newton North and South High Schools to build a partnership with secondary schools in the Dar es Salaam region of Tanzania. On behalf of the Collaborative I met with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in September at the State House to discuss these efforts.
Supporting International Education
One of my accomplishments this session is the passage of legislation encouraging expanded international education in our public schools. This proposal was included as part of the 2006 Economic Stimulus Package, together with initiatives to promote stronger math, science and technology curricula. The goal of these programs is to provide students with a better and more well rounded perspective on the world and the preliminary tools to prepare for work in the competitive global market place.
We need to provide children with opportunities to succeed in an altered global landscape. We now live in a world where technology and international partnerships mean national borders are no longer boundaries between countries. Today, one in six American jobs is tied directly to international trade, and major businesses in Massachusetts and throughout New England are investing in an international workforce located in China, India, Latin America and elsewhere. China, for example, with its booming population and quickly expanding economy, may hold the key to our future economic viability.
The Newton community has been a leader in Massachusetts in this area, introducing international curriculum and foreign language study to students. For the past twenty-five years students at Newton North and Newton South High School have participated, through the China Exchange Initiative, in the Newton-Beijing Jingshan Partnership. This program allows students from Newton to spend from two to four months in Beijing while students from that city attend school in Newton. There have long been exchange programs with France, Spain, Nicaragua, and other countries, all of which require both cultural and linguistic education. Recently students and teachers at the high schools created the Newton-Tanzania Collaborative which will pair Newton schools with schools in Tanzania. Efforts are being made all over the state to prepare our children for tomorrow; however, we need to see more happening in our public schools to address our rapidly changing environment.
With the passage of this legislation, the Massachusetts Department of Education has begun a process to develop supplemental curriculum that can be integrated into the existing education frameworks. The new law calls for the establishment of a fund to offer local school districts grants to begin or expand international education initiatives and foreign language programs. With this fund, Massachusetts public schools will have the resources to develop international exchange programs, sister school partnerships, complimentary international curricula, expanded foreign language courses, and professional development and exchange opportunities for teachers and administrators.
Massachusetts now has the opportunity to catch up with the 23 states already including a comprehensive international curriculum in their classrooms.
Healthy Choices in Our Public Schools
With the school year off to a tremendous start, many parents may have noticed a change in the food schools are offering. This is due to the new federal school nutrition standards adopted as part of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, passed by Congress.
Both the state and federal governments are rightly trying to do something about the childhood obesity epidemic. One third of children in Massachusetts, ages two to five, are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight; close to 10% of Massachusetts teenagers are considered obese. Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults and will have a range of health risks such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, type II diabetes and increased chances of heart disease. Since 1996 when the Massachusetts Board of Education eliminated the mandated minimum hours of physical education instruction, the percentage of students participating in rigorous physical activity has fallen dramatically. According to the 2003 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, one third of students do not participate in a physical education class during an average week and all measures of physical activity have decreased with each grade level. Nationwide obesity is not only a problem for the health of Americans, but a problem for their wallets. Medical expenses resulting from obesity total $117 billion annually, nation-wide. For youth aged six to seventeen, obesity-associated hospital costs have increased more than threefold in the past 25 years, from $35 million in 1979-1981 to $127 million in 1997-1999.
The new federal requirements raise the issues of school health and student nutrition to a new level of recognition by obligating schools that participate in federal reimbursement programs to create and adopt district wide school wellness policies. These policies must include: goals for nutrition education, physical activity and other school-based activities that are designed to promote student wellness; nutrition guidelines for all foods available on each school campus ; guidelines for reimbursable school meals; and community involvement, including parents, students, and representatives of the school system. As a district which participates in federal reimbursement programs, the Newton School Committee adopted a new wellness policy this past June. The policy has been incorporated into the Newton Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for the 2006-2007 school year.
To complement the new federal requirements, I have proposed legislation to create a system of oversight at the state level and empower local communities to increase community participation in the creation of nutrition, physical activity, and physical education standards. I believe the new federal law takes an important first step in teaching our children to lead healthier lives. However, the statute falls short of creating a long term sustainable change in school nutrition, lacks effective oversight and fails to provide enforcement mechanisms.
The legislation I have filed engages both the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the establishment of standards and approval of wellness policies in communities. Under the legislation, the entire community would be responsible for establishing a district-wide wellness policy. School districts would create “Wellness Advisory Committees” made up of parents, teachers, students, administrators, school committee members, school nurses, food services managers, physicians, nutritionists and any other interested community members. Together, the members of this committee would create a policy based on both federal and state requirements. My legislation further requires school districts to keep pace with advancing science and technology by regularly updating their wellness policies and resubmitting them for state approval.
Making student nutrition a priority for every community raises the stature of the issue and puts a healthier lifestyle within reach of all our children. I plan to refile this legislation for the 2007-2008 Legislative Session.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Legislative Wrap-Up
- From Beacon Hill to The Garden City
- Supporting International Education
- Healthy Choices in Our Public Schools
