Murray Regan is blunt. He says what he means and means what he says and he will be the first to tell you, “I am not a politician.”
“I don’t like the way we are going. We are going down the wrong road.”
Mr. Regan, who appraises and sells commercial real estate, is concerned about the way money is being spent. He mentions the increase in school staff making over $100,000 as an example. In 2003 3 people in the Milton school system made over $100,000. Now, he says, over 13 people make that amount. He believes there needs to be better parity between the public and private sectors.
So he enters the race for School Committee as an “unbiased individual for the town” and one who will “represent the parents, teachers, and taxpayers.”
Regan believes there needs to be a course correction. “I don’t like the way we are going. We are going down the wrong road.” In his opinion, there needs to be more fiscal responsibility.
“You don’t give up.”
Regan has two daughters in the Milton schools. One is at the high school, and the other attends the Glover Elementary School. They are “hard workers” who are getting “a decent education.”
It is not the quality of the education, it is the cost of the education that bothers Regan, and he argues that, as he said in the LWV debate, “You don’t have to be a baseball player to analyze the game.” In other words, you do not need to be an educator to assess good teaching. Regan is not an educator, but he says that is not what he brings to the committee table; Regan states that what he brings is business acumen.
In terms of student progress Regan notes, “That’s why we have MCAS – it all comes down to numbers.” The numbers he wants to focus on are budget numbers. The manner in which we are managing the budget is “unsustainable,” according to Regan. “These unfunded liabilities are going to bankrupt us,” he said. He advocates for taking a long view and establishing a capital reserve fund that will protect the investments to date made in the schools as well as the other municipal buildings.
But Rome cannot be changed in a day. Regan learned from his time on the Consolidated Facilities Committee that “you have to be patient and deal with personalities and circumstances beyond your control. You can’t move heaven and earth in a day.”
As difficult as it can be to navigate departments and personalities, Regan says, “You don’t give up.”
“I grew up in a Catholic Democratic family – then I woke up.”
Mr. Regan is not happy with the status quo. He doesn’t think it will work anymore. “I grew up in a Catholic Democratic family – then I woke up.” He wants change and believes that the change is not in skills but in a mindset.
When asked about what unique skills he would bring to the Committee he jokes in response, “How about common sense?” The schools belong to the town and the taxpayers according to Regan. And two changes he would like to see is moving pensions to 401Ks and getting the unions on the GIC (the GIC is a group insurance program that requires buy in from a majority of unions in town).
“I’m fallible. If something doesn’t go my way, I pick myself up and move on.”
For Regan, “words matter.” He takes issue with what he characterizes as an overdeveloped sense of political correctness in speech. As an example he talks about an incident in which a student was sent hoe for having a sharp object. “A sharp object? What’s that? A pencil? If it is a knife, call it a knife.”
But as critical as he may sound at times he also knows he is not perfect. He acknowledges, “I make mistakes. I’m fallible. If something doesn’t go my way, I pick myself up and move on.”
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