Ashland Democrat Karen Spilka is expected to become the President of the Massachusetts State Senate on Thursday.

Growing up and life before the State House

“I think it’s important for people to know that I started out as a social worker. I grew up in a somewhat typical American family. My father was a veteran, had unmet mental health needs later on in life that I believe stemmed a lot from his World War II experiences of stepping on a mine that exploded, being part of the Army division that freed up one of the concentration camps, and other things that are unfortunately typical for so many of our veterans.

“My mom was a social worker, quit her job to raise the four kids in the family: my two sisters and brother. One of my sisters had Down’s Syndrome, and subsequently had Alzheimer’s and passed away this year.

“So all of these things have helped shape me. We all went to public schools. Three of us went to college. I ended up graduating from the Cornell School of Human Ecology, which is a public state-supported school in New York. So I understand and know the power of public higher ed and the doors that it can open up.

“So all of these help me prioritize. They ground me, and they inspire me in a lot of ways — particularly my sister who passed away — and help motivate me to help improve the quality of life for the residents of the Commonwealth.”

How she found her way to elected office

“I came to Massachusetts and waitressed until I found a job counseling kids and families at a small day school in the City of Boston, on Harrison Ave at the time. And I worked there with the kids and the families for a couple of years, and decided that I wanted to go into juvenile justice.

“Applied to law schools, got into Northeastern, and the co-op program was very appealing to me because I felt it would give me some great experience. I didn’t go straight from college to law school; I worked for a few years, and really felt that that was very beneficial in so many ways. So I applied to Northeastern, and when I got in I immediately accepted.

“I started wanted to go into juvenile justice, came out as a labor and employment attorney. I felt like that utilized a lot of my social work skills, a lot of my background, and I was very passionate about labor and employment.

“I worked in that field for several years, many years actually, and became an arbitrator-mediator in the 90s. And so I had my own private practice self-employed, working out of my house, which was great. My kids were young at the time, I could write a lot at night on the weekends, and it was great flexibility, and so I really was lucky with that.

“I ran for several positions in different boards and organizations in my hometown: Ashland. When we moved there, we didn’t know a single person. So I joined the Personnel Board, having a background in labor and employment. My husband joined the Conservation Commission, and he – Joel Loitherstein – worked in environmental engineering, so it was a good fit for him.

“And that’s how we started to get to know people in Ashland, and then branching off into Metrowest. And then once we had kids, of course we got to know a lot more people, and we really felt an investment in the town.

How the fight for school funding started her elected career

“In the late 1990's, I ran for school committee and won, and then discovered how the state was funding education under the Chapter 70 education funding formula.

“"[I] felt that my hometown and Framingham – Ashland, Framingham and some of the other Metrowest towns – were not getting their fair share, and then discovered that there were pockets all across the state that were feeling the same way.

“So, using my background in conflict resolution, I organized a group – all those folks and organizations that had proposals before the legislature – I pulled them into Ashland. Eventually I called them the Chapter 70 Roundtable, and we met once a month. This was 1998, 99. I was on the School Committee, became chair of the School Committee.

“We would meet with legislators, and we started out saying that education funding needed to be more adequate, equitable, predictable, and simpler – which are, to this day, still the important guiding principles of change for Chapter 70. And we did end up making some suggestions under each one of those major headlines.

“So in 2001, my state rep resigned in the middle of his term. And I immediately thought ‘Wow. I can make better change... from within than from without’. You know, this is my social worker grassroots organizing background. So I actually declared that very day that I was a candidate for state rep.

“I had never thought about doing it before. It was something that just seemed like the right thing to do. So I ran for state rep and won, and started working on Chapter 70. You know, clearly that was important as a state rep, and then continued into the Senate and realized how important it was for everybody to learn about the funding formula and the changes, and the education process among my colleagues, because every community was impacted differently. It’s such a complex formula.

“It wasn’t until 2006, 07 that we finally made some changes to the funding formula for the latter three principles: equity, predictability, and we did make it simpler although it’s still really complex. And most recently, with the Foundation Budget Review Commission, we’ve been tackling adequacy, which has been very exciting for me because it’s been an almost-20-year journey to get to this point.

“So that is a very important issue for me, and for not only communities but for the kids. You know, there still are big achievement gaps that we need to tackle and get rid of. Not even decrease, get rid of.”

How she's used her background to be an effective leader

"As I started out by saying, my background is social work. Although I am a lawyer, I have a very strong background in conflict resolution. To me, those go hand in hand as well.

“I feel that that has helped me become Senate President and helped me be a better legislator throughout the years. And I want to continue having that as a focus as Senate President. I want to empower my colleagues in the Senate, I want to have more collaboration, I want to help them more – I’m thinking of starting a mentoring program for new senators. I don’t think that has ever happened before.

“When I was in the House, and the House Chair of the Women’s Caucus, I started a mentoring program for new woman legislators because I realized when I came in in a special election, I didn’t know what I was doing. And so I thought it might be helpful.

“But I think for all senators, it’s such a unique work environment that no other job fully prepares you for this, and everybody is really helpful. Everybody — the house members, the senate staff, court officers — I mean, every single person here is incredibly helpful. But I think we can do more to help our colleagues.”

How will the House and Senate get along?

“Well, the dynamics are always fluid, and I think it depends upon the issues. I will be the Senate President of the Senate body, which has a total of 40 members, and I will advocate for the Senate’s positions and issues, certainly. But I also believe it’s important to work well with the Speaker and the House members.

“We all have the same goals. You know, the administration as well. We all want to improve the quality of life for the residents of Massachusetts. We all want our economy to be successful, and not just for a few but for every resident in Massachusetts – in every corner, every zip code. Because once people are more self-sufficient, whether they be disabled, whether they be veterans or seniors or low-income, it not only benefits them but it also benefits the rest of the state. They have less probability of needing benefits, of having mental illness or using opioids or having addiction. They lead more productive lives.

“We all have the same goals here. Sometimes it’s just a little different to get there. But that’s always the case in every single situation. So the path to the end product will take time, whatever that end product is. But I think by talking, and communicating and listening, that’s what will make a difference, and finally end up with the product that we can all be proud of.”

How is the Senate different from the House?

"I think that we do at times tend to be more progressive. We are a smaller body – we only have 40 members. That is a very different dynamic from 160 members in the House. So there are different dynamics in passing bills in each chamber – that’s the first part. And then together, in trying to work out the compromise, we end up with a bill where both sides compromise, and neither side gets exactly what they want.

“But again, we end up with a strong bill usually, and there’s always another day. The one thing I’ve learned early on in my career in the State House: that you don’t get everything you want, but there’s always another day to advocate and fight to get the other piece that maybe you didn’t get. Maybe you can fight the next year or the next session or sometimes even the next bill, if it comes up and you can try to put it in. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don’t, so you just figure out a way: Do I need to meet with more people and educate other colleagues or other people? How do I let them know how important this is?”

Her relationship with DeLeo and Baker

“I think it’s great. I’ve known the Speaker since I was in the House. He’s done a terrific job. I feel very comfortable, and I’m actually looking forward to working with Bob on this level, and I think it will be an exciting time for the legislature.”

“I get along well with the Governor as well. Just like anyone else we don’t always agree, but I think that the Administration is overall working as well to improve the quality of lives of the residents of the Commonwealth. And I’m looking forward to continue working with him through the session.”

On empowering Senate members and the changes Rosenberg made to the body

“I think that President Rosenberg did a very good job of changing the dynamics in the Senate. Senators have been more empowered, and I certainly will continue that. I think that each Senator, each legislator brings a full body of background, personal experience, expertise in a lot of areas, knowledge, sometimes professional background. As a Senate President, I would be crazy to not tap into that, to let them develop their policies, their bills and to take off on it.

“I am a firm believer: the more diverse input you get, the better the final product is. And the more input people have, usually whatever that final product is, if it’s a bill or something else, it has a better chance of being implemented and implemented well because more people had input, there’s more buy-in, and it’s usually a more powerful, productive bill or final product because of that as well. So I’m a firm believer in that.”

Spilka's legislative agenda

“I do want to say, first of all: I want to hear from my colleagues as to what areas they want to focus on. But from my background, we focus so much on opioid and addiction; I think we need to focus a little bit more on mental health in the state.

“There’s so much substance abuse, and the opioid crisis I believe stems for many people from undiagnosed mental illness. And I believe that we need to make sure that we get rid of the stigma. That would be something phenomenal that, if Massachusetts could work and get rid of the stigma and be a leader for our country and a model, that would be a tremendous thing for me and I think for the residents.

“I also want to work towards full engagement in the economy. We realize that sometimes opportunity isn’t enough for people to be fully engaged in our dynamic economy. We also need to give residents the tools that they need and can use to overcome trauma and to help create jobs where people of all physical abilities and mental abilities can thrive. Ensure that the working women and mothers of our state, we see equal pay for equal work. We passed that law – I think that’s great, and we’ll be a national model for that as well.

“Most people are not looking for a handout. I believe that most people are looking for help. And sometimes that help may be more long-term, and oftentimes it’s short-term to get those skills, that training, and the opportunities to help climb the economic ladder. And this is, I believe, where government can step in to provide those tools for people to be more self-sufficient and productive. Once we provide that, I believe we all benefit as a Commonwealth.

“So those are some areas. The other things that I do want to focus on are regional equity and empowerment. We have different regions of the state. Of course there’s lots of overlap in common issues and problems and strengths, but there are a lot of differences as well, and I would like to help my colleagues from all areas of the state focus on their region and how they can help continue to grow and thrive their region.

"Transportation is an issue that every single corner of the Commonwealth feels that they have been left out of. You travel around the Commonwealth and that is one of the big issues.

“That’s one of the reasons why I was a little disappointed that the millionaires’ tax was thrown off the ballot. I understand the reasoning, but we need to focus on transportation. It’s a quality-of-life issue for residents, again, in all areas of the state. It’s also an employment issue. I hear it in my district: people can’t get out to Metrowest. We have the newest RTA in the state – it’s about ten years old so it still is in its infancy into its toddlership, so to speak. But it doesn’t have much weekend or night service, and people need that. People work late.

“And we need to improve our public transportation. We need to fix our roads and bridges. We need to get people out of their cars and off of the major highways. I was a little late this morning because taking the Turnpike in; it used to take me maybe an hour during rush hour. I have to allow an hour and a half to two hours every morning. And I often stay late so I can leave and not hit that much traffic, but it’s unpredictable. I hear this from everybody: we have a lot of congestion.

“And then we need to help get people off to improve our environment. So it’s all intertwined with the environment, with job creation and where companies go as well. So these are areas for us to look at, as well as the environment and climate change. Hopefully we will pass a good bill this session, but that’s something that I believe we’ll need to look at every single session.”

The Senate's role overseeing government

"I think each situation is taken on a case-by-case basis. With the Mount Ida issue that you raised, a lot of senators – in fact, practically all of them – were upset by that whole situation. And it made sense for Senator O’Connor Ives to hold a Post Audit and Oversight hearing on that.

“On other issues, whether it be the T or the State Police – we made some changes and reforms in the budget for the State Police, with an independent internal Inspector General audit team will be placed in the State Police, they will have to get a formal accreditation that will look at their staffing and their functions and several other changes. So I think it’s on a case-by-case basis. Certainly, when it’s important for us to look at these issues and when it’s appropriate, we certainly will continue to.”

This transcription of WGBH News' interview with Senate President Karen Spilka has been edited for brevity and clarity.