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Day 4: Recreate a strong accountability system

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When you spend $9 billion a year on schools, accountability must go beyond student performance. We must also manage money without fraud or waste, maintain our buildings, and fully implement state policies. The Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA) was an independent district and school audit agency established by the Legislature in 2000 as part of the accountability system required by MERA. From 2002 to 2006, EQA evaluated more than 175 school districts, most of which were urban districts, which spent about half of total education dollars in the state. Opposition from teachers’ unions and urban superintendents led to EQA’s closure in spring 2008. A nascent accountability office designed to replace EQA delivered its first reports in 2009, and […]

On national standards, you get what you pay for

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This week, State House News broke a story on the “cozy relationship” between Health Care for All and the Patrick Administration. HCFA is an effective organization, but when an HCFA official writes to the state’s Insurance Commissioner: “If you expect to do anything ‘newsworthy’ [on insurance premium caps], can we be helpful with our blog or media at all?” well, then you have to take their positions with a brimming cup of salt. Surrogate relationships are very much a fact of life in a state where one party is dominant, like Massachusetts. Next up to bat in this age-old game, Education Commissioner Mitch Chester and Secretary Paul Reville. In anticipation of the important debate over whether to adopt weaker K-12 […]

Dubious Connection of the Day

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A search of the apartment belonging to the Russian spies turned up, among other things, a variety of pills and capsules. Their lawyer responded: “The pills and vitamins indicate to me that they were well integrated into the Cambridge social scene,” said Boston attorney Robert Sheketoff, who represented Foley, adding that the unidentified pills were probably vitamins and anti-oxidants. Not really sure where he’s headed with that one….

Plagarized Post: Scrap the Muni Relief Bill

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Sigh. This space takes enough potshots at the Globe, so they deserve credit when its due. Their editorial this AM pretty articulately states my reasons for opposing this bill. Its a cynical hodge-podge of small bore initiatives that ignores the big issue — health insurance for municipalities. In particular, one of the bill’s worst features is its extension of the pension funding schedule by 10 years: Most public-employee pension systems don’t have enough money stashed away for the benefits that they’ve promised, and under current law they have until 2030 to catch up. The municipal relief bill would extend the deadline for a full 10 years. There’s a superficial logic to this change; pension funds have suffered deep losses, and […]

Day 3: Modernize state agencies to encourage local school reform

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In a recent blog, I noted how bloated the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has gotten, even as the state cuts local aid to schools. The DESE has grown diffuse, has protected its personnel and added highly compensated deputy and associate commissioner positions, and shared in none of the cuts made to actual programs (METCO, Special Education funding, etc.) and schools. It’s important to send as much money of our education budget to schools (and frankly to get superintendents to do the same). It is just as critical to ensure that the state office is supportive of reform and not simply a compliance office. The current state of play is this: We’ve created a web of nominal education […]