Charlie Baker took office as Massachusetts’ 72nd governor on Thursday afternoon.
Standing at the front of the House chamber, beneath murals of Gov. Winthrop, John Hancock and Sam Adams, Baker placed his left hand on a family Bible, and recited the oath of office.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown looked on from the audience as Baker described the budget deficit he’s inheriting.
“We have to recognize that this is a spending problem and dealing with it now makes balancing next year’s budget that much easier,” Baker said, ignoring a heckle of “Blame it on the former governor!” from the crowd.
Also in his speech, Baker called for fast action on charter schools.
The new governor says traditional public schools will always be the backbone of the education system.
“[But] we need more high performing public charter schools, especially in under-performing school districts,” he said.
Baker’s predecessor, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, had been cool to charter schools. last year, the Massachusetts House passed a bill lifting a cap on the number of charters, but the Senate let the proposal die.
Baker has appointed a charter school advocate as the state’s new education secretary.
Baker also praised the turnaround of the Lawrence school system, which is in state receivership. And he said closing the achievement gap between students of different racial and economic backgrounds is one of his top priorities.
Baker ended with a call for bipartisanship, saying to the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature that only by working together can they make Massachusetts great.