Recently, Representative Marjorie Decker won a quite intense primary election. Without an opponent in the upcoming general election, she will be re-elected on November 5th as the state representative for Cambridge. The Register Forum conducted an exclusive interview with her, asking about her views on education. She connected a well-rounded education to mental health support, having previously worked on many bills related to mental health in youth.
Before the pandemic, Decker worked on a nationally regarded bill that supported hands-on training for gateway communities, communities that are severely underfunded and under resourced. This bill also created a council to spread information and resources to staff, parents, and government officials, all working with children. When asked about this bill, Decker said, “It brings the department of education, as well as the department of mental health together, because often we are working and serving the same families.”
Representative Decker also connected her work on education with her work on anti-poverty initiatives, telling the Register Forum, “Education is not just this siloed place where teachers teach and children learn; it’s about also understanding what are all the other needs around them.”
Having experienced poverty herself growing up, Decker describes education as “what made the difference” in her life. She was the first in her family to break the cycle of poverty, and for her, having people to support her education and mental health was what changed her life. Now that she pursues a career in government, Decker advocates for expanding opportunities for early childhood education. In addition, Representative Decker has also written and passed legislation that addresses school-based mental health and behavioral healthcare.
On November 5th, in addition to Rep. Decker’s re-election, voters will cast their ballots on a very important issue: should MCAS be a state-wide high school graduation requirement? The controversial topic has been heavily debated since MCAS testing began in Massachusetts in 1993. Question two, addressing the controversial topic, moves to greatly diminish the impact that the standardized test has on students. Voting yes would move to remove the current requirement, while voting no would cause the Massachusetts testing requirement to stay the same. When asked about her thoughts on Question two, Decker said, “I do support question two,” explaining, “Teachers go above and beyond to assess, ‘What are each of my students doing? What do they need?’ That is not the MCAS.” She also pointed out that there is a lot of money spent on MCAS and asked, “Are we making the best out of the money that we are investing in MCAS? … It hasn’t been the promise it was sold to us as.”
As a Cambridge Rindge and Latin graduate herself, the Register Forum asked Marjorie Decker if she had anything to say to the CRLS students of today. Very enthusiastically, she responded, “[CRLS students] are coming out of a powerful community that is cheering them on, and that loves them.”
