Notes from Mass Association of School Committee Day on the Hill

Notes from the Mass Association of School Committees Day on the Hill


Dorothy Presser: "you know about lobbying...you're lobbied all the time"
"we are constituents and we have good information to offer them"
"when we come to the State House, we have information to offer...how they can help our students and our communities"

26 vo-tech culinary programs feeding the State House lunch

Katie Robey: H1 is out; House budget out in April; Senate budget out in May
"public schools under attack...school committees in particular are vulnerable"
Grass-roots advocacy most effective when they can contact people at the local level (smaller districts=more contact, more local influence)
"role of elected, local citizens to oversee what's best for them"
"our work is not about what's best for adults...keeping in mind what's best for the students in each of our classrooms"

Penny Blackwell: "evil twins of...arrogance and ignorance"
"there is no greater tyranny than a poorly written law" Edmund Burke
"left with an adequate yearly progress system...no one in Congress defends it"
Massachusetts: highest performing schools but highest percentage of districts in sanctions under NCLB
"alleged advocacy groups" with big business funding
"...everyone is afraid they'll be called weak on high strategies"
"what expert decided you can turn a school around by firing the principal and half the teachers?"
"an appointed representative of the Executive branch the right to dissolve your school district" (Was on the table last year, but watch for it)
"the only thing that happens is they silence people at the local level" when they move the authority farther away from the community
"Do not let people use the fiscal crisis to pounce"
"worship immediate profits over better educated students"
"issues of poverty that hold our kids back...25% of kids that don't get to health centers...30% of kids that have undiagnosed sight and hearing issues"
"school committee members are the only elected officials who are required by law to be trained"
"Local oversight to promote student achievement"
public policy and advocacy

Steve Ultrino: Ch.70 is inadequate: "foundation budget about 20% understated...special education more adequately funded...money put where the kids are, not in Malden where the bureaucrats are"
circuit breaker on sped: an equal opportunity issue
high cost special education : "a special catagory, a high-risk account for which the state should take full responsibility"
transportation funding: regional transportation
freeze any new regs from DESE until "there is a complete assessment of the time and money required"
regs reviewed by Legislature
fully fund METCO
"fair financing and accountability for charter schools"
"the dirty little secret about last year's reform law" is that there are loopholes that allow charter schools not to take particular kids
open meeting law regarding electronic communication and school committees acting as their own initial screening committee

Mary Jo Rossetti: Perkins money advocated for in D.C.
"implications of educating a mobile student" before NSBA from MASC
not subject to Arne Duncan's personal ...
"stuck with the status quo if the law isn't reauthorized"
"hypotenuse to humiliation"...request to put AYP on hold before Sec'ty Duncan
"Lord knows it's this game of political chicken that got us in this pickle in the first place"
contact Congressional offices: hold on AYP until the law is rewritten



Senator Chang-Diaz, Senate chair on the Joint Committee on Education
former teacher in Boston and Lynn
"life inside the schools should be our first source of information when it comes to making decisions inside the schools"
"Athens of America"
"at the core of how we fulfill the most important promises we make"
"education is one of, if not the most, important charges we have"
"maintaining that sense of urgency on the goals we have already set"
fighting for those resources: Ch.70, circuit breaker, resisting the temptation of unfunded mandates on our local schools
"don't need to reinvent the wheel...we have a lot of those things (that work) to look at"
breadth and depth of what we have that we know works
achievement gap: since our highs are so high, our gap is that much larger
"watching closely the implementation of the Achievement Gap bill"
make sure that the successes "can in fact be replicated"
Level the playing field when we look at charter schools
"personal and district-based urgency"
dropout prevention and intervention bill proposed
educators and policy makers
"one size fits all solutions don't often work"
important that we not be paralyzed
Senate Bill 1416: raising taxes (with Rep. O'Day)...how much will go to education? (speaker praises her "intestinal fortitude" for proposing it)
raises taxes back up to 5.95%; would raise the standard deduction (so for middle and low income families would cancel out the increase)
Does not carve up the money; would generate $1.2 billion



Rep. Ron Mariano (who did double duty, serving on the Quincy school committee as well as in the House AT THE SAME TIME)
taught elementary school in Quincy
"went through two tough budget cycles on the front lines of education"
"our goal is to give you a number that at least matches the Governor's, or perhaps do a little bit better"
"we have heard your case, and I am entirely sympathetic"
"I'm going to be looking under every rock to find money for Chapter 70"
"an awful lot of non-monetary requests you can make of your reps today"
"you get the mandates, you get the directives, and no one ever tells you where to get the money"
"our primary objective is to you the money you need to run your system"
Make non-monetary requests of legislators



Katie Robey: "our most important constituents can't vote"



Rep. Alice Peisch, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Education
former member of the Wellesley School Committee
"one of the most difficult years from the budget process"
heard a lot about the challenges around out-of district placements
"working very hard to meet the Governor's numbers"
starting hearings on legislation the first week in May (regionalization and collaboration, 'though not the work of the commission that's been working since December)
implementation of the achievement gap legislation
strong interest in reducing the dropout rate
"always remain in close contact with your legislators"
whether the legislation is being implemented or is being considered
anticipate that we will be publishing our hearing schedule over the next few weeks (on the Legislative website)
"why we can't stop the non-funded mandates?" as a question..."let us breath a little bit"
Tantasqua overturn the Common Core standards
suggestion of common ground of out of district placements; funding of charter schools
virtual schools: management
state colleges and universities not recognizing science/engineering classes
unfunded mandates: buses: Rep. Peisch says went all the way to SJC; constitutional issue
achievement gap monitoring: holding hearings



Sen. Stephen Brewer, Senate Chair of Ways and Means
"very little pay and lots of aggrevation" (school committee)
"there are no chairs on the planet that are more uncomfortable" than the chairs at the front of the hearing room
tax revenues: "making a swish from the foul line of the other team's side" (getting the prognostication right in the spring)
"tracking at about $750 million above" the anticipated revenues
last two years have been bailed out by federal money
"we are in the basement of the State House, but what we don't have is a printing press in the basement of the State House"
Speaker says no increases, or creative gimmacry
went into the recession slower, and are recovering faster (than other states)
GIC: 2.4% increase this year
a $200 million transportation bond for FY12
Litany of cuts: clothing allowance for kids on welfare ($150 per year)
DofHealth: preventative cancer screenings GONE
"those who live in the shadows of health"
"So what are we going to do for you? Why did you come down here today?"
"if you play with the federal money you have to play with their rules"
"for the big programs you care about...full committee process..I ask for your patience, I ask for your understanding"
"knowledged based capital is our economic future"
Question: we need plan design...where is that in the Legislature right now?
3/4 of the state aid increased has gone into health insurance increases
"the era of the $10/20 copayment, the 90/10 splits, that era is over...to be fair to employees"
"some place that is reasonable in the very short future"