March, 2003, Boston Globe
Officials from the state's public colleges said that Romney understands very little about the way public colleges operate. At the center of the debate is Romney's plan to hike tuitions anywhere from 5 percent to 28 percent at the state colleges. Students (and their parents) no doubt see the tuition increases as a tax on those who can least afford it. Lt. Governor Healey publicly stated that, under the governor's education reorganization plan, UMass-Amherst would ultimately become a private institution. Hours later, Romney and his aides were busy denying that statement.

June, 2002
Then candidate Romney unveiled his education plan: "K though Job: Remediate, Renovate, Innovate" The program put special focus on schools underperforming on MCAS. He called for independent audits of those schools, expansion of full-day Kindergarten, remedial education for teachers and a Parental Readiness for Education Program that would improve parents' skills as their children advance in school.
Shortly after Romney was elected reality checked in; millions of dollars of imminent budget cuts in the '03 state budget -- a shortfall Democratic leaders warned about months earlier -- caused a shift in his priorities