Governor Romney just finished his State of the State speech. Education dominated his remarks. He spoke of a "Legacy of Learning" initiative that will appropriate millions of dollars for new construction and renovation of existing buildings. He will also target the bottom 10% of school districts (Lowell and most other city's are undoubtedly in this group). Schools in this group will receive $20 million for after school and summer school programs; there will be mandatory parent preparation days to teach parents how to support their kids in school; there will be $5 million in grants for disciplinary problems and $3 million to train math and science teachers. An interesting component would give principals the power to remove any teacher who wasn't performing. According to the governor, this will "put principals and parents back in charge of schools." Our reaction? This all sounds good, but it's really not a lot of money. Lowell's education budget is more than $120 million per year, so $5 million here, $2 million there won't make a big impact when it's distributed state wide. And it's the state legislature, in the end, the sets the budget. They can simply ignore everything the governor proposed tonight. The legislature won't finalize its budget until the spring. In the meantime, stay warm....