Baker discusses education financing reform

June 12, 2019 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Governor Charlie Baker spoke at the Basketball Hall of Fame on June 11.
Reminder Publishing photo by G. Michael Dobbs

SPRINGFIELD – Education financing reform is one of the issues the Legislature is addressing this session and Gov. Charlie Baker was in Springfield on June 11 to urge business leaders and elected officials to support the effort and to praise the city for its implementation of the Empowerment Zone.

The governor’s appearance was hosted by the Springfield Business Leaders for Education, an organization that supports “sustainable education reforms and a public education system accountable for its performance.”

Baker noted the first education financing reform came during the Weld Administration when the idea of a “foundation budget” as well as an assessment tool – The MCAS – was first introduced.

He noted that at the time “no other state was doing it.”

The results of the measures enacted during the Weld Administration yielded “extraordinary success,” but now it is time to review what the Commonwealth is doing with education financing and accountability, he added.

He called his bill “Education Reform 2.0.”

The Empowerment Zone is comprised of the city’s middle schools and one high school and the designation allows teachers and administrators to work together in determining conditions at each school, such as length of the schools day, professional development, after school programs and curriculum, among others issues.

Baker told the capacity crowd at the Basketball Hall of Fame he would like to see the Empowerment Zone concept brought to other communities.

The flexibility on how to use resources is “clearly a big win” for the schools in the Zone, he said.

Several versions of an education funding reform bill are in the Legislature, including one from Baker. He said, “There is no longer a debate about raising the funding – the question is how much and how fast.”

He added an issue he considers important: “What is the expectation for continued improvement in light of the increase [in funding]?”

He believes the chances of a bill passing this session of the Legislature is “quite good.”

The governor added, “At this point, I think it’s just a question of finding a way to get the ‘yes.’ I think it’s going to happen.”

Baker noted the importance of accountability. “I think it’s really important that existing accountability structures continue to be a big part as the process unfolds.”

Speaking about questioning the status quo, Baker said, “If you just keep doing what you have been doing it’s not going to get you there.” Several times Baker said that best practices used by other districts should be considered.

When asked about rural school districts in the Commonwealth, many of which have lost students in the aging of communities, Baker said there should be “the right sizing of their school districts and what their schools are going to look like.”

He continued, saying part of the funding problem faced by schools is that some view it as an “annual exercise.”

Baker said, “We and they need to start thinking about the right way to ensure some stability for them as we’re going forward and that’s not the way we thought about it historically.”  

“Let’s get this done and let’s get it done right,” Baker told the audience.

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