Thought of the Day - 01/06/2010

Massachusetts residents have always taken great pride in the quality of the public school education we offer to our sons and daughters. Our public schools are some of the best in the world, and they do a great job providing skills that our young people need to compete for jobs in the complex workforce of the future.

But there are always ways we can improve our education system, particularly in certain chronically-underperforming school districts.

Massachusetts took decisive action to reform its public schools with passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993, which changed the way we support public schools with state aid, opened the door for charter schools, and established the MCAS exam for accountability. Changes soon followed on the federal level with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act during the Bush administration.

Now, President Obama is proposing a new federal education reform package aimed at tracking student performance, establishing nationwide standards and recruiting teachers. Part of this “Race to the Top” initiative involves dedication of $4.3 billion of federal economic stimulus funds to state grants for innovative programs to improve schools.

Massachusetts could potentially tap into about $250 million in Race to the Top funds over the next four years. But in order to do so, we need to comply with certain federal mandates, including a requirement that we lift a cap on charter school spending that exists under current state law. And we need to act quickly, since the deadline to apply for Race to the Top funding is January 19.

A bill that would do just that is the first order of business for the House of Representatives today as we commence formal legislative sessions for 2010.

I support the bill’s swift passage. Race to the Top funding is too important for us to forfeit.

But there’s also more at stake with this legislation, and I think that certain adjustments could be made. In particular, we need to be sure that this next step in education reform continues to safeguard municipal finance systems that form the backbone of our public schools.

Under current law, per-pupil tuition payments for charter school students are deducted from local aid payments to the cities and towns where charter school students live. However, the state phases-in those deductions with three years of graduated reimbursements totaling 200 percent.

The pending legislation would increase the overall amount of reimbursement cities and towns would receive, but it would reduce the payments municipalities see each year, making them wait almost twice as long to recoup the same amount of money. This would have a serious impact on the ability of cities and towns to meet local school budgets, especially in these difficult fiscal times, and it would thereby defeat the purpose of charter schools as a way to improve the overall quality of public education by offering competitive alternatives that inspire public schools to do better.

I have filed an amendment that would change the funding mechanism for charter school reimbursement, and I hope my colleagues will consider including it as part of the final bill. Under my plan, total reimbursement would be increased to a total of 305 percent over six years. This would give cities and towns better reimbursement, while at the same time preserving attributes of the current funding formula meant to provide initial assistance to sending districts for their loss of Chapter 70 dollars to charter schools and their inability to immediately realize savings as a result of the loss of those students.

We need to level the playing field so we don’t pit charter schools against traditional public schools, and so that we don’t diminish the dollars necessary for students within the traditional public school system. I also want to make sure that suburban communities like those I represent are not adversely impacted by changes in the funding formula.

Our state has no more noble or important mission than to educate our young people. I hope the Education Reform Act pending before the legislation will help us meet our obligations more successfully and make our schools something that we can be even more proud of in future years.

What do you think? I’d love to know your thoughts. Please post a comment below.