Senate President Karen Spilka has opted for new Senate leadership on the Legislature’s joint Education Committee — and with a new Senate chair comes an opportunity for a more pragmatic approach on the complicated educational task ahead for policymakers this year.
State Senator Jason Lewis, the new Senate chairman, has a reputation as a thoughtful lawmaker willing to roll up his sleeves and delve deep into the details in search of well-tailored policy solutions. Such an approach should be helpful as the Legislature tries again to rework the formula by which the state distributes education dollars to cities and towns.
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The previous Senate chair, Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, herself a former public school teacher, worked passionately to elevate the issue of more equitable funding and has been a champion for urban kids. But she was more ardent advocate than pragmatic dealmaker. Last year’s effort broke down in acrimony at the 11th hour. This year’s effort has started unevenly. Everyone agrees that more money is needed, especially for poor urban communities. But that’s about where the agreement stops.
Well before the Senate’s new chairmen and chairwomen were announced, Chang-Diaz had tried to set the tone for the debate with legislation that proposed a large increase in funding, but nothing new by way of tools to catalyze change in underperforming schools.
Governor Charlie Baker has also proposed a substantial funding increase, but wants the state to have more tools to leverage change. Baker also favors school empowerment zones, an arrangement where a local and state board would closely oversee improvement efforts in struggling schools, an idea the House is also receptive to. But with the teachers unions and some other stakeholders rallying behind Chang-Diaz’s money-only approach, there was some risk that this year’s effort would result in another end-of-session train wreck.
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With Lewis’s ascension to chairman, there’s an opportunity to recalibrate toward compromise. Lewis notes that he has a good relationship with state Representative Alice Peisch, the House Education chair, from his days serving in the House, and strikes a conciliatory tone toward Baker and Education Commissioner Jeff Riley, saying that the two are “very important stakeholders” in this conversation — and that he is pleased Baker has put forward a proposal of his own.
The new chairman feels strongly that the state’s timeworn funding formula no longer provides the resources necessary for some schools and students. That means the bargain struck by the state’s 1993 education reform law — the state will provide the funding necessary for a good education, and then hold the cities and towns responsible for delivering one — has broken down.
“We have steadily lost ground,” Lewis says. “We are not providing the resources.” Still, he adds that “if there are changes we need to make to our accountability system, I am open to looking at that.”
This could also be an opportunity for the Massachusetts Teachers Association to re-engage in a serious way. Once an influential player on Beacon Hill, the MTA has seen its inside-the-building clout diminish as it has elected leaders who too often frame state issues in a us-versus-enemies-of-public-education way. The union’s loss of pragmatic perspective is aptly illustrated by one recent incident: When Baker came out with his education proposal, the MTA charged that it “gives the state new weapons with which to force districts to implement changes against the wishes of the community.”
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Lewis has good relations with the union. His ascension to the Senate’s Education Chairman is an opportunity for the MTA to reconsider its posture. If not, perhaps a group of teachers who don’t share MTA’s combative mentality could contribute some constructive ideas.
Fixing the state’s education funding formula is important. This is the year to get it done.