School reform panel loses funding at key time
The Boston Globe
Michele Kurtz
September 2, 2002
The commission created to find out how well the Bay State's controversial school reform movement is working has lost its state funding just as Massachusetts enters a crucial period of preparing to deny diplomas to students who fail the MCAS.
"We have eliminated any kind of conscious reflection on our $10 billion reform," said Paul Reville, chairman of the Massachusetts Education Reform Review Commission, which saw its $300,000 budget eliminated. "It's a mistake. It's not thoughtful. It's not responsible in terms of the future investment of public dollars for education reform." The cut in funding means a dramatic reduction, if not the elimination, of research by the group at a time when many education leaders say independent reviews of Massachusetts' efforts to radically improve schools are sorely lacking.
"It was invaluable to me as a legislator," said Representative Peter Larkin, co-chairman of the Legislature's education committee. "There's still a lot of work ahead of us. We're making progress, but we've got a lot of things to put in place to make reform work."
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Established in 1993, the commission was designed as an independent watchdog that would evaluate the progress of the state's reform plan, which included setting high standards and testing students and giving schools extra money to boost instruction. Although some universities and private groups conduct some research on education reform, the commission is the only state-sanctioned entity established strictly to study the effort and report to the Legislature.
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"It's not a commentary on the work or on the usefulness of the commission," said Swift spokesman James Borghesani. "It's the reality of a budget that's extremely short on dollars and the reality of making wise decisions with those dollars."
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Education policy makers have long said they need research on several issues, including how well millions of dollars given to schools to boost MCAS scores has been spent.
State Board of Education chairman James A. Peyser said it is important to keep pushing for additional studies on the state's efforts to raise standards and suggested that perhaps universities and other groups will do more.
Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll, who has asked department employees to consider early retirements to offset a budget cut to his office, said he likes the commission's role but doesn't think he can help.
"I don't have any money," he said.
