In November 2009, the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education released a bill designed to implement Governor Patrick’s vision for education reform in Massachusetts. It introduced new powers of superintendents to restructure “underperforming (level 4)” and “chronically underperforming (level 5)” school, including by such measures as firing all the administrators, teachers, and staff at such schools, and requiring them to re-apply for their jobs. The designation of level 4 and 5 schools is based upon MCAS scores; at least two Somerville school would appear currently to be eligible for level 4 designation.
The bill also had provisions allowing for additional financial assistance to be given to level 4 and 5 schools, and for putting “Chronically Underperforming Districts” into receivership.
The bill removed the cap on the statewide population that can be enrolled in charter schools and lifted the spending cap on charter schools for the lowest-performing 10% of schools. It introduced new requirements for charter school accountability. It also had new provisions for charter school funding and facilities.
The bill lifted the cap on the number of Horace Mann Charter Schools that may be established, and eliminated the requirement that teachers’ unions approve such schools. It also created a new category of school called an “innovation school,” a district school with “increased autonomy and flexibility in all aspects of their operation.”
I succeeded in amending this bill, by requiring the Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE) to file in advance with the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education its proposed regulations for identifying “underperforming” schools and districts.
Overall, the conference committee bill showed only the most minor improvement over the bill that initially came out of the Education Committee. It left uncorrected not only the fundamental unfairness of the bill, but its ambiguities, unclarities, and silences on important details as to how the new law will operate. I’ve already stated in the press, in collaboration with colleagues in our legislative delegation (“Education Reform Should Help, Not Punish,” Somerville Journal, February 4, 2010) how the reductionist BESE assessments fail to evaluate the Somerville schools.
Letter to Conference Committee January 12, 2010
Letter to Speaker DeLeo December 14, 2009
An Act to Fulfill the Promise of Education Reform: Adequate Funding for Student Success (H. 291)