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EDUCATION ADVOCATES APPLAUD FINNERAN

February 11, 2004

House Speaker Thomas Finneran received a standing ovation Wednesday from hundreds of early education advocates who celebrated his support for universal preschool for every three- to five-year-old in Massachusetts. Finneran was forced to brush past reporters covering the gay marriage debate on his way to the early education forum.

"It takes a lot of courage for him to leave his office and come down here," Karen Frederick, president of the Massachusetts Association of Day Care Centers, told the advocates.

Finneran told of his pride in seeing his own children, now 24 and 26, grow and learn and told the advocates that there is no more rewarding work than educating children. Restating his support for universal early childhood education, he said, "We are going to make this happen. This is the time. This is the place." He also made reference to the gay marriage tumult - and his preference to talk about education as a less controversial topic. "I have no objection to making this a daylong event," Finneran told the advocates. "You really know how to draw a crowd."

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