Legislature Should Act to Avoid Ballot Fight

It is good news that Stand for Children and the Massachusetts Teachers Association have come up with a legislative proposal that both organizations can support to address the issues raised in Stand’s Great Teachers Great Schools ballot initiative.

MBAE joined with Associated Industries of Massachusetts and our other partners in the business community in calling for this approach which has gained editorial support as well.  We worked to move this process along by proposing revisions to the current law that would substantially achieve the business community’s objectives on this subject while providing a legislative alternative to deciding the issue at the ballot.

We’re glad that the MTA and Stand adopted the same approach in their new bill although the changes they propose don’t go as far as we would have liked.  Nonetheless, this is a step forward in what has been, and will continue to be, an evolving process to overhaul an entrenched system of managing human resources that every stakeholder agrees is dysfunctional.  In our view, the involvement and ultimate buy-in of teachers increases any new system’s chances for success.  Given the vociferous opposition of the MTA to Stand’s ballot question, the fact that union leaders and members could support a compromise is a positive development indicative of a welcome commitment to creative solutions.

MBAE will continue to advocate on behalf of employers for what we believe is essential for an effective system of educator evaluation forMassachusetts:

•  Student learning and achievement must be the predominant factors in educator evaluation;
• An effective evaluation system that recognizes and promotes excellence must be used consistently by all districts statewide; and
• Comprehensive evaluations of an educator’s effectiveness must be linked to personnel decisions such as tenure, assignment and placement, career ladder opportunities and licensing.

Ample and growing evidence validates the singular impact of teacher effectiveness in closing achievement gaps and makes increasing the number of highly effective teachers in our classrooms a more urgent need than ever.  In order to ensure that every student is taught by a highly effective teacher, we must accurately evaluate educators and use that information to make sound personnel decisions that are fair to educators and in the best interests of students.

Our belief is that legislative action is the appropriate way to achieve the changes we need in the educator workforce and the gains we desire in student achievement.  We urge the General Court to start by amending the current statute to make it possible for the ballot question to be withdrawn, thereby avoiding a costly and divisive campaign and moving us a bit closer to the shared objectives of all parties – a high quality education for every child.