Tom Birmingham

Tom Birmingham is former president of the Massachusetts State Senate and a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Education at the Pioneer Institute. He was co-author of the landmark Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, which led to historic gains in Bay State student achievement.

After enactment of the 1993 education reform law, Massachusetts SAT scores rose for 13 consecutive years. By 2005, the commonwealth became the first state whose students posted the top scores in the nation at every grade level and each subject tested on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.” The commonwealth’s students also proved themselves to be internationally competitive in 2007 math and science testing, tying for best in the world in eighth-grade science.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that between 1993 and 2002 no figure in Massachusetts did more than Tom Birmingham to craft law and hold firm to 1993’s ‘grand bargain’ of state funding increases coupled with high academic standards, MCAS testing, charter schools, and accountability for all,” says Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute.

Before Birmingham entered politics he spent 12 years as a union-side labor lawyer. Throughout his career he has had close and deep relationships with teachers unions and organized labor.

Mr. Birmingham graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and is a Rhodes Scholar.

Articles by this Author

It’s Time to Strengthen—Not Reduce!—History in Our Classrooms, Fall 2017 | Vol. 62, No. 5

In order to have a well-informed citizenry, it's critical to focus on history and civics education in our schools.

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