Medford School Committee member Paul Ruseau seeking state rep. seat in the 34th Middlesex District

Paul Ruseau is incredibly busy these days. He’s secretary of the Medford School Committee, a member of the Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee, and is involved with various Medford organizations.

And, he’s also running for the open seat in the 34th Middlesex District.

Ruseau made the decision to run in February after Rep. Christine Barber announced she wouldn’t seek re-election. Barber is running for the 2nd Middlesex District seat being vacated by Sen. Pat Jehlen, who is retiring.

“I surveyed the other candidates and their issues,” Ruseau said of his decision. “I felt I had something to offer that the others didn’t.”

Somerville newcomer Chris Oates and Somerville City Councilor Will Mbah are also running for the seat.

In Medford, residents know Ruseau as a long-time member of the School Committee. He ran and won his first term in 2017.

“I ran because I felt like I had a lot of skills the School Committee needed,” Ruseau said of that first campaign. “There were no policies, no strong structure. I’m a policy geek.”

Plus schools have always held an important place in Ruseau’s life. As a kid growing up in Troy, N.H., Ruseau experienced homelessness and food insecurity.

“School was the safe place,” he said. “I didn’t like vacations or holidays because there was no food.”

Although he went on to Keene State College, Ruseau said, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with himself. He said he was a biology major until his senior year.

“That’s when I discovered computers,” he said. “I stayed an extra year and did the whole [computer science] program in two years.”

He’s now a software engineer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he works on products that support cancer research.

Ruseau lives in the Hillside area, where he bought a house with his husband, Bob, about 21 years ago. The couple has a son, Matthew, 19, and a daughter, Nev, 18.

Why is he running?

So why did Ruseau add more to his plate?

“It wasn’t that big of a decision,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we do at the schools that have to do with the state. I go to all of the school committee conferences and I meet people from all over the state. I’ve found that a lot of schools have issues that need to be solved at the State House.”

When asked for the top three issues facing the district, Ruseau laughed.

“Only three?” he asked, immediately counting off several.

Early childhood education, Ruseau said, is “very, very high” on his list. It’s an issue Medford has been dealing with for years.

“And it’s not just a Medford thing,” Ruseau said. “It’s not a local issue that can be solved easily.”

Ruseau said Medford is trying to expand early childhood programming by creating an early childhood center in the new Medford High School building.

But the work really needs to be done at the State House, Ruseau said, where legislators also need to look at the wages of employees who work in early childhood education.

“I want to see universal free early childhood education,” Ruseau said. “California did it, and it didn’t go well. But, California showed us that we can do better.”

Ruseau is also a big supporter of Medicare for all. He said universal healthcare is a big issue and that while there are many different drivers, lawmakers can and should do a better job for constituents.

“I don’t think healthcare should be for profit,” Ruseau said.

Ruseau said fixing the Chapter 70 formula to determine local aid to school systems is a big priority. He said Somerville and Medford receive about the same amount in aid year over year, the hold-harmless minimum increase, which is based on per pupil increases of $20-$100 per student, depending on the year.

He added this is less than inflation each year, effectively giving communities less year over year.

“It could be $20 per student one year or $100 per student in another year,” he said. “But there’s not much you can do.”

Ruseau said the formula cap on inflation is 4.5% in Chapter 70 “so even if we were not getting hold-harmless minimum increases, there is no hope of receiving enough to keep up with inflation until the formula is fixed.”

“One way to fix that is to get rid of the cap,” Ruseau said. “Another way is that before the 1993 [Education] Reform Act, communities had the power of taxation. We don’t have that power in Medford, but we should be looking at Proposition 2 ½ as all of our problem.”

Ruseau added that unlike cities and towns that have the option about whether or not they will fix roads, public schools don’t have the option of ignoring many of the mandates placed on them, mandates that are not funded by the state.

“Those mandates mean we need to think about how we fund our schools in a very different way,” he said. “It’s not fair to the kids and it’s not fair to the taxpayers. I hate this phrase, but we need to think outside the box.”

The campaign trail

Ruseau isn’t out knocking on doors yet. He said he’s setting up his campaign, getting his literature ready and hiring the team.

Ruseau added he plans to focus on Somerville because he’s not well known in that community.

But he’s ready to knock on doors and get out there.

“My daughter was joking that I was going to make her knock on doors with me,” he said. “But it’s all hands on deck!”

Ruseau added he was feeling pretty excited about the campaign, although he’d like the weather to be warmer so he can get out there to meet people without a scarf.

Otherwise, he’s ready.

“I’ve been looking at Somerville and Medford sides of the district,” he said. “The demographics are pretty different. But I’m excited to get out there and meet the people of Somerville. I really want to hear what people care about. I’m a pretty progressive politician so I have a good sense of the politics in the district. But I want to know what the issues are in the district that I’m not aware of.”

With the campaign underway, there’s only one thing Medford residents want to know: Is Ruseau giving up his seat on the School Committee?

“Legally, I don’t have to and I want to finish out the term,” he said. “The most important vote in the last 50 years is coming up next year, for the high school. I want to be on the committee for that vote.”

Ruseau said the School Committee typically meets on Mondays and the Legislature works Tuesday through Thursday so it works out.

Besides, Ruseau said, the Medford School Committee is in a good place, policy-wise.

“I feel pretty comfortable that if I don’t participate in an election next time because I win this seat, things are in a good place for any future School Committee member.”

For more information about Paul Ruseau, visit www.electpaul.org or email paul@electpaul.org.