Fair Share Amendment Rally Highlights Education, Transportation Needs
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Local officials, educators, and activists rallied Monday in support of the Fair Share Amendment at Berkshire Community College.
The amendment would impose a 4 percent surcharge on earnings past the first $1 million to support transportation — including fixes to roads and bridges — and education.
It is expected to generate about $2 billion yearly for the state and will be on the ballot for voters in November.
"It's a bit of a no-brainer," state Sen. Adam Hinds said. "There's a reason why we, all the delegation, have locked arms on this and voted for it every single time it comes before us to make sure it gets to the ballot, it just makes sense."
The kickoff event was hosted by the Berkshire Fair Share Committee, which works with the Fair Share Campaign's Western Massachusetts regional organizing team.
"As a teacher, I've seen the effects of budget shortfalls and discontinued grants on the consistency of educational programming," former teacher Sheila Irvin said.
"As a member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the BRTA Advisory Board, I've seen the inadequacy of state and federal funding to meet the transportation needs of Pittsfield and other cities and towns."
Hinds and state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, John Barrett III, and William "Smitty" Pignatelli spoke on the importance of top earners contributing a "fair share" for necessities such as affordable education and transportation infrastructure.
All three representatives advocated for the proposed east/west passenger rail to connect Berkshire County with the Boston area and everywhere in between.
Barrett said North County communities, including Adams and North Adams, have not seen linear benefits from the Student Opportunity Act that was passed in 2019 and views this as an opportunity to even out the playing field.
"I think what we have to look at here is making sure that everybody in this state receives a proper education, receives the money needed no matter what that zip code is," He added.
"We're not seeing that today, even with the Opportunity Act, and what we have to do now is saying to the people of this state, 'we have to invest in our most important product that we have out there,' and that's our kids, and that's what we this is all about."
As a trustee of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, he said there has been "devastation" at the college and a loss of students who are not being adequately funded.
MCLA student Paula Kingsbury-Evans, who is challenging Barrett in the primary and was also in attendance, believes that the amendment can be "incredibly beneficial" to her peers and students across the state.
"The Fair Share Amendment will provide this greatly needed support for MCLA if it's passed in November. Even before the pandemic, MCLA's enrollment numbers were declining year to year but if the amendment is passed, these funds can be used to subsidize access to higher education, potentially increasing our enrollment numbers," the candidate said.
"This is particularly important for an institution like MCLA because it has a large population of lower-income students and has a strong focus on social mobility, in fact, MCLA was ranked 21st in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report for their work in social mobility and they ranked number one among all Massachusetts colleges and universities."
Kingsbury-Evans said the state college's low cost for tuition and housing encourages non-traditional students and those from lower-income communities to pursue higher education and added that an increase in public transportation funding will also improve access for students.
Farley-Bouvier emphasized the fact that the surtax would only apply to earnings over $1 million and pointed to the role that early education plays in the community.
"Early education and care is at the very center of our economic development here in the Berkshires and across the rest of the state," she said.
"We have seen, especially over the last two years, if we don't have a robust system of early education and care, we don't have a robust workforce, period, and in order to have high-quality early education, we have to pay the educators and that includes the early educators.
"We don't ask you to pay for fifth grade but we ask you to pay for preschool. Why is that? We have to change this narrative."
It is estimated that Berkshire County has fewer than 20 millionaires who may be affected by the amendment.
Pignatelli said that he would be willing to bet the majority would understand the surtax.
"I think it's about education information, getting the right information out there," he added.
"It's gonna be critically important over the next several months and I really believe that small handful of people in Berkshire County will not be adversely affected by that."
A number of local governmental boards have endorsed the amendment, including the Pittsfield City Council and School Committee and the Dalton Select Board.
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