Beacon Hill Update

Budget Moves to Senate; House to Act on Bill to Improve Student Achievement

May is always a busy month, but it is especially so this year as legislators work to complete the Massachusetts Budget for fiscal year 2015 and wrap up action on bills for the 2013-14 session before the summer recess and fall elections.    MBAE has been monitoring and weighing in on many issues this session, including the following:

An Act to Improve Student Achievement –  Certainly the most significant education reform legislation this session were the bills filed to extend the management flexibilities that have been so critical to turning around underperforming (Level 4) schools and to raise the charter school cap for specific categories of schools in the lowest performing districts.   Now consolidated after action by the Ways & Means Committee as H4091, Speaker Robert DeLeo has indicated he intends to bring it to the House floor for a vote on Wednesday, May 21st.

Meanwhile, the $144 million mid-year spending bill on its way to the Governor’s desk includes $27.6 million to fully fund the 6-year re-eimbursement to districts for students they lose to charter schools.  This was enacted as part of the 2010 Achievement Gap Act, which would be extended and updated by the current H3984 bill.  This action addresses the financial impact on district schools, which has been cited by some as a reason for resisting or opposing action.

MBAE supports a YES vote on H4091 but has expressed our opinion that the bill does not go far enough andtestified last year that charter schools in the lowest 10% of districts should not count against the statewide cap and that all Level 3 schools should be given the management flexibility to improve their schools that has proven to be such an important element of school improvement.  

FY15 Massachusetts Budget – MBAE recognizes there are many worthy programs addressed in the Senate budget amendments – including funds for Early College High Schools and Gateway Cities Career Academies –  but is focusing specifically on the following amendments regarding K-12 education:

Connecting Activities  EDU518 – This program is critical to integrating college and career readiness within the school experience in Massachusetts, and has a record of performance that makes it a priority investment.  There is universal agreement that work-based learning experience is not only essential for developing the applied skills required in a globally competitive workforce, but also to raise student achievement by helping students understand the relevance of their studies to the “real world”.  The House raised the budget amount from $1 million to $2.5 million but this is still only half of the FY2001(!) funding level.

We urge the Senate to approve this amendment made by thirteen senators to  restore Connecting Activities  funding to $5 million.

Foundation Budget Review EDU560 – Twenty-one senators have sponsored this amendment, which is necessary to fulfill the Commonwealth’s obligation for periodic reviews as stipulated in the Education Reform Act of 1993.  It would go further to examine the effectiveness of educational programs and services to ensure value for the public’s investment. Under this proposal, the Commission would review relevant reports and data only, and would not undertake an independent cost study.

MBAE supports this amendment to undertake this over-due review, which does not require an appropriation.

Anti-PARCC Amendments – In addition, we strongly urge Senators tooppose  amendments which would undermine the Commonwealth’s successful efforts over the past four years to implement English and math educational standards aligned with the requirements of higher education and the workplace.  These amendments would also delay the transition to assessments aligned to these standards and designed to provide valuable tools to teachers and honest information to parents and students.  Several are based on erroneous assumptions and are clearly not in the best interests of our students or our education system.

MBAE therefore encourages the Senate to oppose:

EDU462 – Cost Benefit Analysis for PARCC – The House wisely rejected all but the amendment requiring a cost analysis, which we agree the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education needs to perform and understand DESE has every intention of doing it.   Current estimates show that the cost of PARCC will be less than MCAS and provide features that make the new assessments a better value.

EDU 463 – Independent Common Core Curriculum Review – This retrospective review will be costly and reveal no new information.  MBAE commissioned such a review which is available for anyone to use and found that the Common Core State Standards were consistent with the revised standards Massachusetts had developed and would have implemented.  In some respects, the Common Core was stronger, and once incorporated in to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks provide standards that teachers on a recent poll indicate will help their students achieve and prepare for postsecondary success.

EDU 465 – Pause PARCC –  Ironically, this would require more study while stopping the field testing that will provide the evidence whether PARCC is the right assessment for Massachusetts.

EDU 494 – Repeal PARCC – The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, not the Legislature, has the authority to approve assessment systems, and won’t make a decision about replacing MCAS until fall of 2015, so this amendment would “repeal” PARCC by prohibiting expenditures for it.

MBAE urges the Senate to reject these amendments.

Finally, there are is an amendment among those relating to higher education that MBAE considers extremely important:

EDU 500 – Performance Incentive Fund – This would appropriate $7.5 million for a competitive grant process to meet the goals of the Vision Project.  Over the past two years, it has supported campus efforts to analyze data on student success in order to close achievement gaps in college completion.   Investing in competitive grants that emphasize the need to demonstrat impact through measurable results is an approach that MBAE believes more publicly funded education initiatives should be adopting.

We urge members of the business community to contact their Senators and ask them to support MBAE’s position on these important education related budget amendments so that all students can receive a high quality public education that will prepare them for success in college, career, and citizenship.