Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray came to the district to film a cooking show with me, visit a local business, and meet with veterans at Framingham State University.

First we cooked a porketta at my home in Ashland and spoke about some of the new developments for both Ashland and Framingham. For example, the administration has been a supportive partner for increases in education funding, and we have seen a 197 percent increase in education funding for Ashland and Framingham since 2005, whereas the statewide increase has only been 31 percent. This is because of work myself and members of the MetroWest delegation did to help change the school funding formula so that it more adequately represented the needs of Ashland and Framingham.

In addition, the administration just announced funding for Downtown Framingham to help mitigate traffic in at the rail crossing, and a $22 million grant from the state to allow MassBay to build a campus in Downtown Framingham, which will allow the school to expand, bring more customers to Downtown businesses, and allow the school to align its curriculum with the STEM, life sciences, biotech, and medical device industries of the MetroWest.

Afterward, we visited a local business benefitting from our STEM investments called Biosurfaces. The company is in medical device manufacturing, and is currently working on a project to create stitches that can be implanted in the body without being rejected. The company also gives internships to local high school and college students interested in pursuing STEM degrees.

Finally, we visited Framingham State University and met with veterans who have returned from service and are reacclimating to civilian life. These individuals shared some of their concerns with both Lt. Gov. Murray, myself, and Sen. Karen Spilka, including problems they've had transferring their service experience into correlating credits at colleges. Earlier this year as Chair of the Higher Education Committee, I worked with Republicans to help pass the VALOR Act, which takes effect in March of 2013 and will require colleges to award relevant college credit for a veteran's prior service.