Press Release: 7/10/2025

A View from the State House: State Representative Ken Gordon

One way to tell the story of policymaking in Massachusetts could be to have a book with thousands of chapters, each describing one of the state’s many laws, tax policies, or budget items. 

But listen to Representative Kenneth Gordon, a democrat who represents Bedford, Burlington, and one precinct in Lexington, and you hear a single, inspiring story about how Massachusetts invests in helping people have better lives. 

Gordon is an employment lawyer and the new House Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. Previously, he was the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service.

“One of the greatest parts of this job is the opportunity to learn,” Gordon says. “It’s fascinating to delve deeply into areas and meet with folks who have a lot of expertise and consider a lot of points of view.” 

Gordon’s outreach has also included an appearance on Strategies for Children’s 9:30 Call. 

 

Ask Gordon what he’s learned so far, and he says that for a geographically small state, Massachusetts has a lot of educational diversity. 

“Many of the challenges that we face are statewide. But some challenges differ from one area to the next. In rural areas, largely located in Western Massachusetts, the population is declining, so there are kindergarten classes with only a handful of kids, and we have to manage that. And there are limited opportunities to raise funds through property taxes, so how do we manage that? 

“There are communities where the vocational school is the most attractive option for students, and there are communities that don’t have vocational schools. In Boston a significant part of the conversation is about charter schools. But in Bedford, we don’t have charter schools.”

The solution, Gordon says, is thoughtful lawmaking.

“The easy part is identifying the problem because people come to us with problems. The hard part is to find an appropriate solution that doesn’t create another problem. That’s what’s fascinating about legislating.”

 Gordon’s work has included tackling problems in early education. Gordon and Representative Adrian Madaro along with State Senators Jason Lewis and Susan Moran filed the Common Start bill, which called for “dramatically increase the affordability and quality of early education and child care for all Massachusetts families.”

“We had to think about how to create access to preschool education and early child care for families that don’t have it, how we could make something affordable for people without straining the public budget,” Gordon said. 

“That meant understanding that helping families access early education and child care helps our economy. It’s releasing the bottleneck of parents who can’t go to work because they don’t have child care. So there’s a cost in tax dollars but it’s balanced by the growth in the workforce.”

Since then, many of the bill’s provisions have been incorporated into the state budget. 

Gordon also filed a bill that in 2019 became the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave law (PFML), which gives parents the option to take 12 weeks off to care for newly born or adopted babies. This provides crucial protection for parents who could not afford to take unpaid parental leaves.

But for Gordon, no one bill or law stands alone. They are all connected by values.

“We live in a state that values the opportunity for families to be together at times of great joy when a baby is born. We value a person’s ability to visit a family member at the hospital without having to think, I can’t afford to be here because I have to pay the rent.”

“We’re the state that offers the greatest opportunity for public education for our residents, and our businesses know that, so they come to Massachusetts to access our educated workforce. And we’re responsible in this committee, and in the Legislature overall, to make sure that the state is in a strong competitive position.”

To this end, Gordon and his legislative colleagues are building—law by law—a pathway for people’s success. PFML gives parents time to bond with their babies. Then the budget’s Common Start provisions can help these same families access child care so they can go to work. And children benefit from the head start that preschool gives them. In a few years, once these preschool-aged children are old enough for grade school, they will benefit from the Legislature’s work on K-12 education. 

What’s next? 

Gordon says the Legislature has to look at third grade reading scores, which have been slipping. And now that voters have removed the MCAS as an assessment tool, a legislative commission is looking at new ways to understand how much students are learning. 

In early education, affordability is still an issue. 

“We need a system that makes financial sense for people. Early education and child care are still expensive for low-wage, middle class, and financially comfortable families. The cost is like college tuition, so parents are asking themselves if they should stay home instead of going to work, because all the money they’re earning goes to pay for child care.”

As Massachusetts moves forward, Gordon says, it has allies in other like-minded states both in New England and around the country, and this state-level brain-storming and collaboration on a range of issues has enabled states to share ideas and tailor them to meet local needs. Gordon is looking forward to continuing this approach on education.

Success isn’t guaranteed, but serious and thoughtful effort is.

“This is Massachusetts. We’re willing to experiment. We’re willing to learn from our mistakes. If we don’t do that then our actions are wasted.”