Education & Legislative Luncheon – Doug Howgate, Mass Taxpayers Foundation; New Heights Charter School

Please join us for a special Education & Legislative Luncheon Wednesday, April 24th from 11:45am – 1:30pm, at Thorny Lea Golf Club, 159 Torrey Street in Brockton. Our guest speaker is Doug Howgate, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF). This event is sponsored by New Heights Charter School Brockton and will feature an interview segment with Executive Director, Omari Walker.

Omari Walker has served as Executive Director, Associate Principal, and Principal of alternative education programs and schools since 1999. He was hired by Framingham High School during the spring of 1998 as an English Teacher. The following year, he co-founded the Resiliency for Life program where he served as its Executive Director for seven years. Over that period, the Resiliency for Life program graduated more than 150 students, and every senior in the program was accepted into a four-year college from 2004-2006. In 2007, Walker accepted an Associate Principal’s position in Fall River, MA. He was charged with creating alternative education pathways for a district that ranked amongst the lowest in the state for graduation rates (55%). In 2009, Walker completed the National Institute for School Leadership program and also took on a leadership role in the city’s Multiple Education Pathway Blueprint Initiative. In three years, Walker was able to create lasting partnerships within the community which helped him launch a series of educational programs. These educational pathways led to a 200% reduction in the city’s dropout rate and saw over 350 alternative education students graduate with a high school diploma from 2007-2012.

In 2010 while still a principal at Resiliency Prep School, Walker co-founded the Resiliency Foundation whose mission is to shift the responsibility for the education of youth from schools to the community as a whole. Since its inception, the Resiliency Foundation has helped districts throughout the New England Region develop and improve programming for thousands of underserved youth. In 2012, Walker shifted his focus from intervention to prevention after coming to the realization that a high school diploma still left many of his brightest students incapable of competing for quality employment in the workforce. With the help of two other founders, Walker co-created an Early College School model that aims to not only prepare students for college but also allows for them to earn an Associate’s Degree while still in high school.

In March of 2016, Walker and his team received a Charter from the state to launch the first Early College School in the history of Massachusetts. The school currently serves 735 students, where every high school student is enrolled in college classes from their freshman year on. In their first graduating class of 2021, New Heights became the first school in the history of Massachusetts to have the majority of its seniors graduate with an Associates Degree (46 out of 89). Part of Walker’s success is his own history with trouble before a high school teacher helped to him to get on track. He brings a unique combination of experience, enthusiasm and commitment to everyone he serves. Walker has a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s degree in Education from Boston College. He is the proud father of six children and has been married to his high school sweetheart since 1994. Visit newheightscharterschool.com to learn more.

Doug Howgate is President at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Doug began as President in January of 2023, after two years as the Foundation’s Executive Vice President. This is Doug’s second stint at MTF, having served as Research Director between 2015 and 2018.

Prior to his time at the Foundation, Doug has held a number of prominent policy positions in Massachusetts. He served as Senior Policy Advisor to Senate President Karen Spilka between 2018 and 2020, and Budget Director at the Senate Committee on Ways and Means between 2010 and 2014. He has also served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Massachusetts Port Authority and as a Senior Researcher at the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center.

Doug has a B.A. in Political Science from Holy Cross and holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

About Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation: Founded in 1932, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF) is widely recognized as the state’s premier public policy organization dealing with state and local fiscal, tax and economic policies. MTF’s record of high quality research and non-partisan analysis has earned the organization broad credibility on Beacon Hill and across the Commonwealth. Our mission is to provide accurate, unbiased research with balanced, thoughtful recommendations that strengthen the state’s finances and economy in order to foster the long-term well being of the Commonwealth. Over the course of eight decades, MTF has played an instrumental role in achieving major reforms and promoting sound public policy in state government. In the past ten years, MTF has won sixteen prestigious national awards from the Governmental Research Association for our work on a wide array of topics. Our unique credibility has allowed us to have a significant impact on a wide range of issues – from health care, business costs and transportation funding to tax competitiveness, capital investments and state and local finances. Visit www.masstaxpayers.org to learn more.

Questions? Contact Cathryn Schofield or Hannah McGuire or call (508) 586-0500 x 231 for assistance.