Race to the Top (or not) in Massachusetts
It’s rare that the editorial pages of the Boston Herald and Boston Globe agree – but they do on the MA House’s gutlessness on school reform. Another state that needs to get shut out in the first round of RTT unless it changes… Here’s the Herald:
In failing to adopt meaningful education reforms by the end of formal sessions this week the Legislature has placed the commonwealth at risk of forfeiting some $250 million available under a new White House education initiative.
If that happens, the blame can be sprinkled on every corner of Beacon Hill.
And here’s the Globe:
To its credit, the Senate passed the education bill, which would raise a cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts and give superintendents more power to reorganize failing schools. But DeLeo rebuffed calls to push the measure through the House. The loss of momentum is discouraging. Opponents - specifically unions representing teachers and other public employees - have launched an all-out assault, complete with blatantly misleading ads stating that the reform bill will create larger class sizes. DeLeo and his leadership team should be steeling members for a tough vote on an important piece of legislation, not giving opponents more than a month to scare legislators into voting against it.
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Race for last place
By Boston Herald Editorial Staff | Friday, November 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Editorials
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorials/view.bg?articleid=1213263
In failing to adopt meaningful education reforms by the end of formal sessions this week the Legislature has placed the commonwealth at risk of forfeiting some $250 million available under a new White House education initiative.
If that happens, the blame can be sprinkled on every corner of Beacon Hill.
Let’s start in the Corner Office.
Yes, Gov. Deval Patrick made a big production on Wednesday of calling out the House, going to a charter school in East Boston to urge Speaker Robert DeLeo to bend legislative rules and finish work on a bill that would lift the charter school cap and give the state more authority to intervene in failing schools.
But it wasn’t as if Patrick’s own hair was on fire. Indeed, it wasn’t until after the president announced his “Race to the Top” incentive program last spring that he developed a more liberal view of charter schools. And his reform legislation was filed just four months ago.
And why did the governor - who has possession of one powerful bully pulpit - wait until the last day of formal sessions to bring public pressure on the Legislature to act?
The Joint Committee on Education, meanwhile, waited until the week before formal sessions ended to release its 66-page education reform bill, which closely mirrored the governor’s. But by the time it hit the Senate floor it had been rewritten. And when the bill passed the Senate on Tuesday evening, anyone interested in deciphering its contents needed a decoder ring.
Which brings us back to the House. In response to Patrick’s criticism, DeLeo fairly pointed out that he wasn’t handed the hot potato until the afternoon of the final session before a six-week recess, and passing it in a panic may have been ill-advised.
But citing the Legislature’s self-imposed rules as the obstacle to achievement is, frankly, kind of lame.
The powers-that-be say there is sufficient time after lawmakers reconvene in January to enact the bill and meet the Jan. 19 deadline for Race to the Top applications. Why do we think it will be midnight on Jan. 18 before we’ll know for sure?
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Fix schools and budget - Legislature’s recess can wait
November 20, 2009
WHEN THE state House of Representatives formally adjourned for the year Wednesday night, it left important public business in limbo. The chamber failed to pass a landmark education reform initiative - one that is vital to competing for $250 million in federal education money. And while the House took steps toward balancing the state budget among plunging revenue projections, the cuts weren’t aggressive enough to close an expected $600 million shortfall.
Against the needs of students, and of the state in a time of economic crisis, the Legislature’s desire to adjourn for a six-week vacation hardly seems pressing. Speaker Robert DeLeo should call his chamber back into formal session, and his Senate counterpart, President Therese Murray, should follow suit.
To its credit, the Senate passed the education bill, which would raise a cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts and give superintendents more power to reorganize failing schools. But DeLeo rebuffed calls to push the measure through the House. The loss of momentum is discouraging. Opponents - specifically unions representing teachers and other public employees - have launched an all-out assault, complete with blatantly misleading ads stating that the reform bill will create larger class sizes. DeLeo and his leadership team should be steeling members for a tough vote on an important piece of legislation, not giving opponents more than a month to scare legislators into voting against it.
Still more pressing is the need for further action on the state budget. The House rejected or hacked away at many of Governor Patrick’s proposed cuts, protected a legislative slush fund, and rejected the governor’s request for authority to make emergency cuts to agencies outside the executive branch. Yes, legislators are entitled to defend their own prerogatives against what they see as encroachment by the governor. But this fight has grim consequences. Granting Patrick’s request would allow him to spread cuts across a broad variety of agencies and across the seven months left in the fiscal year. Denying the request only concentrates the pain - especially for human services agencies.
In an interview, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Murphy said the governor’s estimate of the revenue shortfall is on the high end of a range of forecasts, and that lawmakers have time to revisit the issue in January. But no one is expecting dramatic improvement in the state’s finances. Indeed, Murphy predicted that fiscal 2011, which begins next summer, “is going to make this year look like a walk.’’ That’s all the more reason not to punt on tough decisions now.
Vacation can wait.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 10:27 AM
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