Mitt Romney spoke with pride during Monday’s presidential debate about a scholarship program that offers high-achieving Bay State students “a four-year, tuition-free ride at any Massachusetts public institution of higher learning,” but the awards cover only a fraction of students’ total costs and most recipients turn them down.
And while Romney said the scholarships go to students who rank in the top quarter of their high school classes, his original proposal would have awarded scholarships to students who scored in the top 25 percent statewide on the MCAS — a criterion that favored white, suburban students.
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That would be mostly because Romney is specious, untrustworthy or perhaps just senile.
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President Obama did not challenge Romney's claim that he was responsible for the scholarships; he challenged Romney's claim that he was responsible for Massachusetts being ranked 1st in the nation. Here is the transcript: MR. ROMNEY: — just about education, because I’m — I’m so proud of the state that I had the chance to be governor of. We have, every two years, tests that look at how well our kids are doing. Fourth graders and eighth graders are tested in English and math. While I was governor, I was proud that our fourth graders came out number one of all 50 states in English and then also in math, and our eighth graders number one in English and also in math — first time one state had been number one in all four measures. How did we do that? Well, Republicans and Democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in place education that focused on having great teachers in the classroom. And that was — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Ten years earlier — MR. ROMNEY: That was — that was what allowed us to become the number one state in the nation. And this is — and we were — PRESIDENT OBAMA: But that was 10 years before you took office. MR. ROMNEY: And we — absolutely. In fact, the Boston Globe published a story in early July of 2012 that noted most of the credit belongs to sweeping legislation that was passed in 1993, which is almost exactly 10 years prior to Romney taking office as Governor. Obama is right - Romney just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with respect to education.