State Representative Jeffrey N. Roy was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 10th Norfolk District in 2012 and represents the residents of Franklin and Medway. He was re-elected in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 and was appointed Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy in 2021. He previously served as Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education and as Acting Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Finance.
In Massachusetts, we have great institutions of higher education, research hospitals, and a long history of innovation. We have one of the world’s leading innovation economies, and throughout its history, the state has excelled. We have been pioneers in the mutual fund and microcomputer industries and pushed the frontiers of science and creating new domains of research and technology. As one report noted, the innovation that takes place here has fueled the rise of new industries such as digital technology, biotechnology and medical devices and transformed established industries with new processes, practices, and tools, like the machinery of mass production and the analytical instruments serving today’s research enterprises. In addition, Massachusetts is winning awards for our strong policies supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy.
In Franklin and Medway, we have great industries here that revolve around health care, biotechnology, national defense, recreation, information technology, and the auto industry. This is good news for the people of Massachusetts and the residents of the 10th Norfolk District. And it shows that the strategy of business and government working as partners has helped us improve our economic future.
We have a lot of work to do, but we are headed in the right direction. As a Franklin Town Councilor, I worked hard to promote economic development in our community, and as your State Representative, I will continue to promote policies that create jobs and boost economic development to keep Massachusetts on the right track. With your participation, I will work to change any negative stereotypes and perceptions about doing business in Massachusetts. We are becoming a better state to do business and we must continue our work to create jobs and improve our economy for the benefit of all of our residents.
Since 2009, the Massachusetts economy has been expanding and the jobless rate here has fallen from 8.7 percent in December 2009 to 6.3 percent last month. According to a 2011 report, Massachusetts has the highest per-capita venture capital, patents, and technology licensing of 10 leading high-tech states. Worker productivity in Massachusetts (GDP per employed person) is the third-highest in the world. And research and development spending as a share of GDP in Massachusetts is higher than any country anywhere. Massachusetts has a AA+ bond rating, with one agency reporting Massachusetts has a broad and diverse economy with the second highest personal income per capita in the nation.
This year the Massachusetts legislature passed a jobs bill that implements strategically-focused economic development policies to make Massachusetts even more competitive by improving the Commonwealth’s innovation economy. It promotes economic prosperity through infrastructure investments and streamlined permitting, facilitating the expansion of new and existing businesses, and training our workforce for the future. I will work hard to implement this legislation and build on its successes. Among some of the highlights of the legislation are:
In addition, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, working in collaboration with 34 members of the private and public sector created and are now implementing, “Choosing to Compete in the 21st Century”, the Economic Development Plan for the State. The plan identified 5 areas of focus and 55 action items to improve economic development and job creation in the state, and thus making Massachusetts more competitive.
And finally, I will work hard to continue building in the area of green jobs. Despite a tough economic environment across the globe, the Commonwealth’s clean energy industry is growing rapidly. According to a survey from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), there are now 71,523 employees working in clean energy throughout the Commonwealth, up 11.2% from 2011. This growth outpaced the overall economy by almost a factor of ten. Clean energy continues to maintain its place as one of our Commonwealth’s marquee industries with 1.7% of the total Massachusetts workforce. And MassCEC reports that the clean energy sector is emerging as a powerful economic industry in Massachusetts that will continue to generate thousands of jobs in the coming decades, and secure Massachusetts as a national and global leader in clean energy.
Education through lifelong learning is one of the essential functions of our government. There is an inscription on the exterior of the Boston Public Library which I view every day from my office window. It states simply and succinctly that “THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE AS THE SAFEGUARD OF ORDER AND LIBERTY”. And fifty seven years ago in Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court said:
Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.
That inscription and court case promote strong images and words. They are central to the notion of self-governance and are a significant piece of our generational responsibility to create educational, economic and social opportunities for young people. And that’s why I have and will continue to work to enhance the educational offerings to students of all ages in Franklin and Medway. From our early childhood development centers to our senior centers, and everything in between, we must promote education.
In America, education has historically been left in the hands of local communities. It’s part of the idea that the governance of education is best done at the local level, where the parents, teachers, administrators, and students are intimately more aware of the needs of their schools. Indeed since colonial times, Massachusetts required the towns to maintain a system of public schools. The statute of 1647 — which is the precursor to G. L. c. 71, Section 1 — required every town with fifty or more householders to appoint a schoolmaster in the town “to teach all such Children as shall resort to him to Write and Read,” and every town of one hundred or more householders or families to “set up a Grammar School, the Master thereof being able to Instruct Youth so far as they may be fitted for the University.”
In the 1830s and 1840s, a young man proposed a new system called common schools that would serve all boys and girls, and teach a common body of knowledge that would give each student an equal chance in life. He said:
It is a free school system, it knows no distinction of rich and poor…It throws open its doors and spreads the table of its bounty for all the children of the state….Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the equalizer of the conditions of men, the great balance wheel of the social machinery.
That man was Horace Mann. And was born here in the 10th Norfolk District in Franklin. In Massachusetts, the education of our youth continues to be our primary obligation. Our state rightfully has high expectations for performance in our schools. And along those ends, attracting and retaining the best and brightest teachers in our local public school systems has been one of the top priorities for me. As a State Representative, I will work to support those efforts.
Massachusetts has always been a community with high expectations for its schools – in academics, in athletics, in the arts and in community service. In my years with the School Committee, our focus on the classroom delivered a consistently high-performing school district. Students and parents here enjoy a high return with minimal investment. Our children face an increasingly competitive and demanding world. We must continue to invest in their future. We should do everything in its power to bolster that commitment and strengthen our education system. I will bring that commitment with me to Beacon Hill.
Like you, I am frustrated by the lack of civility in the political spectrum. We need leaders who will seek productive compromise rather than unavailing political points. We need leaders who build bridges, engage in reasonable debates, and work together for the common good and in the best interests of all. I will bring that leadership and those ideals with me to Beacon Hill.
This job is about being accessible and getting things done. With your support, I will bring experienced, bi-partisan leadership to the residents and businesses of this district — leadership that responds to your needs and gets results to help our communities through difficult times.
As your representative, my priorities will be your priorities — local aid, economic development, education and public safety. I will work hard to make progress on the quality of life issues that impact all of us. We have work to do and no one will work harder for you.
I have always worked hard at the grassroots level to understand issues and get results. I will put your needs first. My door will be open to every resident, business and local official.
With 14 years of local government experience, I know firsthand how state government can help – and hurt – our communities, our schools, our public safety and our small businesses. I will bring experience, creativity and a bi-partisan approach to work on your behalf every day.
Maintaining a first rate police force and fire department are essential elements to any public safety plan. Our crime rate and rate of fires are among the lowest in the state. If elected, I will work hard to maintain our commitment to public safety.
The roads, bridges, recreational spaces, and buildings in our community need and deserve our attention and investment. Indeed, they stand as the gateways to our community. They form the first impressions for visitors and lasting impressions for users. If elected, I will work hard to maintain our commitment to our infrastructure.
As part of our generational responsibility, we must maintain a commitment of service to those in the twilight of their lives. Franklin and Medway have first rate senior centers and programs which offer a robust and engaging environment for our older residents. If elected, I will honor that commitment, and continue to work with elder citizens.
Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. It is the formal consideration of an organization’s future course. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:
“What do we do?”
“For whom do we do it?”
“How do we excel?”
In order to determine where it is going, the organization needs to know exactly where it stands, then determine where it wants to go and how it will get there. The resulting document is called the “strategic plan.” In that process, the group should formulate a vision, mission and values.
The vision defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long term view, sometimes describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. The mission defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its Vision. It is sometimes used to set out a ‘picture’ of the organization in the future. A mission statement provides details of what is done and answers the question: “What do we do?” The values represent the beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive an organization’s culture and priorities and provide a framework in which decision are made.
There are many approaches to strategic planning but typically a three-step process may be used:
Situation – evaluate the current situation and how it came about.
Target – define goals and/or objectives (sometimes called ideal state).
Path – map a possible route to the goals/objectives.
If elected, I will urge the groups I work with to develop and implement a strategic plan for the future of this commonwealth.