MASC Day on the Hill

Sorry about the lack of posting yesterday; I spent much of the day at the State House. Yesterday was the Mass Association of School Committees Day on the Hill. Over the course of the morning, we heard from the chairs of both Ways and Means Committees, both Education Committees (that'd be House and Senate), and both the Secretary and Commissioner of Education. A productive morning.
We heard, of course, how bad the budget situation is from Ways and Means. Note also, that no one is expecting that it will be better next year. There was some pushback from regional systems on busing--recall that the state funds that, except when they cut it, as the Governor tried to last year--and some talk of trying to regionalize more of the state. Also, there was some talk on special education tuition, which continues to go up.
The talk continues to be of a 4% cut in local aid, except where such a cut would bring a school system below the foundation budget.
On the education side, much talk of last fall's ed bill (mixed feelings on the part of school committee members, I'd say) and an upcoming special ed bill (anyone know anything about that?).
From the Commissioner and the Secretary: much talk about Race to the Top, of course. They will not (I asked) be going for further legislation before re-applying. There simply isn't enough time.
There's a funny sort of thing going on with Massachusetts' application which came out in the words of both the Commissioner and the Secretary. Many of the places where Massachusetts lost points--not jumping on the Common Core before it's written, using student test scores as a set amount of teacher assessment, lifting the charter cap entirely--are places where, it seems, our state ed leaders don't wish, and know that there isn't the political will, to go. The Secretary's exact words were "We may have to hunker down" on some of these issues. My suggestion (and yes, I said this)? We should put our foot down, rather than hunker down.