A lot of Massachusetts Democrats have been eyeing the governor's seat, some of whom have declared their candidacy and some who have not. State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz announced her bid for governor last summer, before Gov. Charlie Baker shared in early December that he wouldn't be seeking a third term. Chang-Díaz has since released a series of progressive policy proposals, including a sweeping plan to protect Massachusetts against the consequences of climate change.
We're sitting down with all the major declared candidates for governor, starting with Chang-Díaz. She joined host Arun Rath on GBH's All Things Considered Friday to discuss her vision for the commonwealth, including what she sees as the government's role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Arun Rath: So we want to talk about the new Green Deal proposal and everything — but first off, let's talk a little bit about your CV, your time on Beacon Hill. What would you say are your proudest accomplishments during your tenure as a state lawmaker?
Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz: In some ways, this is like asking a legislator to choose between their children. But I will say that the Student Opportunity Act is a bill that actually I sort of think of as my third child — I have two actual human being children. But it was passed in 2019, and some folks will already be feeling the effects of the Student Opportunity Act in their lives and in their children's lives right now.
The first several million dollars are in the pipeline this year to schools, and as I've been around the state on the campaign trail over the past several months, I've actually been able to be in conversation with a few school superintendents and principals and have asked them, you know, “What are the first things that you're doing with these dollars?”
Because the bill, once it's fully phased in, is going to pump $1.5 billion — with a B — into our K-12 public school system, heavily targeted to our lowest-income districts where there is the greatest need. And in those districts, what I have been hearing from principals and superintendents and some teachers is that their first investments of those dollars have pretty consistently been in social-emotional support personnel for our young people, which — even before the pandemic — is what I was hearing constantly from educators, that there was such a shortage and that we needed more of in schools. But now, of course, you know, in the midst of the pandemic, the need is even greater. There's just so much trauma that young people are bringing into schools.
But that was a five-year battle to get that legislation passed, and it shouldn't have to be that hard in a state like Massachusetts to achieve equitable funding in our schools. And that's honestly a big part of why I'm running, is that, in my 12 years in office, I've seen that we are able to do big things in Massachusetts when we decide to do well.
Rath: And that, of course, brings us right up to the present. And going back to that, what we were talking about initially, education in general has been something that I know you've been passionate about. And you mentioned that you do have two kids. I mean, all of our kids are going through something awful right now. I imagine that you have to be seeing it firsthand with what they've been going through with a pandemic. Just starting there, going forward as governor, what would tell the working families that you're talking about and that you represent?
Chang-Díaz: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that we there are a couple of things we have to acknowledge when we think about this. One is that the tremendous load that working families have been carrying — and their children have been carrying. That existed before the pandemic, for long before the pandemic. You know, the crisis that we are seeing right now: the housing crisis in Massachusetts, the wealth divide in our state, the crushing commutes that people have been sitting in. Those are those are problems that we have left to simmer for years in the lead-up to the pandemic.
Now, the pandemic, of course, has spiked most of those problems to new levels and has opened the eyes, I think, of many people who maybe weren't as conscious of them. So you know where, for example, we had health disparities in Massachusetts before the pandemic, they're supercharged by this pandemic. Where we saw educational disparities in Massachusetts before the pandemic, they are made even more vast by this pandemic.
Just right now, with the surge that we're in with omicron, we're dealing with the potential for rolling blackouts in our schools in terms of closures because of staffing shortages or high transmission rates in schools. We know that families of means, they're going to be able to weather that and they're going to be able to pack additional supports around their children. But low-income families, immigrant families, families of color who were already sitting in the opportunity and achievement gap don't have margin for error. And when they lose those school days, and when parents lose the wages that they may lose because they're going to be forced to be at home providing care for their children when the schools close, those are those are disparities that many families may not be able to recover from.
Rath: In terms of the particulars of this emergency that parents and kids are facing, the debate over whether schools should be open at this point, the staffing shortages that are taking place. As governor, how would you address all of that?
Chang-Díaz: We have to acknowledge that conditions move very quickly in this pandemic, and I don't have all the answers. I don't pretend to have all the answers. But I have some guiding principles.
First of all, government must be an active partner with individuals in tackling the pandemic, right? Government is a key actor in beating this pandemic. Individuals are key actors, as well. But when government simply tells people in platitudes to “stay safe” and “keep schools open,” but then sort of walks away from the podium, that's nowhere near enough. If government is not sharing the load with individuals, with families, with workers, with businesses in doing the work of what it means to stay safe and keep our core institutions open — that means things [like] practical systems that the government is in the best position to put in place, that can help people carry the load. Things like getting a vaccine credential system up and running, so that for businesses and individuals that want to participate in vaccine requirements — in order, for example, to enter a restaurant — that we should have a vax credential system in place so that each institution, each business, does not have to reinvent the wheel on their own on how they're going to check those credentials.
We need to have clear, science-driven policy in place, like a statewide mask mandate that is in line with CDC guidance for public indoor spaces. We need to have better testing availability.
And that brings me to the second principle, which is really about thinking around the corner, thinking ahead. You know, we can't anticipate everything that's going to happen in this pandemic, but there's a lot we can anticipate. We could anticipate from the very beginning that this pandemic was going to hit communities of color and low-income communities worse. We could have planned better for that with safety nets, with vaccine rollout. We could have anticipated that there was going to be a tremendous spike in demand for testing around the holidays.
Rath: And we could so easily talk for another hour or more just about schools and COVID, but I have to ask about the climate change plan. And people can check this out, your op-ed about this is on the GBH News website. But tell us a bit, in general, about what you're calling a new Green Deal for Massachusetts.
Chang-Díaz: You know, you mentioned in the intro about the Green New Deal plan — that it is a plan for averting the disasters of climate change. And that is absolutely true. But it is also the case that this is a plan not just for averting disaster, but it is a plan for grabbing an opportunity, a wonderful opportunity that is right in front of us as a commonwealth. To create tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs and creating economic activity and opportunity in our state. And we have to recognize it as such: that it is both a negative to be averted and a positive to be grasped. And the plan really lays out a roadmap for doing both of those things.
It calls for more aggressive timelines, which I am convinced that we can meet as a state for transitioning our electricity grid to 100% renewable electricity by 2030. It calls for expanding and electrifying and making fare-free our public transit systems across the state. That includes establishing East-West Rail, as well as robust regional rail transit networks. And it calls for collaboration between the state government, local communities and the renewable energy sector to invest in the 21st-century green economy that we need in order to power that transition.
And we need to put the investments in place, not just in the physical infrastructure, but also human infrastructure, right? Because we need people who know how to build, plan for and sustain and maintain all of that green energy infrastructure. And that's where the tremendous economic opportunity comes into play for us.
Rath: Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, it's been great speaking with you. There's so much more we could talk about, we might have to get you back before too long. But until then, thank you so much.
Chang-Díaz: Arun, thanks for having me.
Rath: That was Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz. We'll have Democratic candidate for governor Danielle Allen on the show on Monday. This is All Things Considered.
