Ed Reform at Seventeen : Antonucci

Panelists are:
Robert Antonucci (former Commissioner)
Kevin O'Sullivan (former state rep)
Deputy Commissioner Baehr
Secretary Reville
Tom DelPrete, Prof of Ed @ Clark
Superintendent Boone

Antonucci: "it's great to talk about ed reform...one of the most exciting times in the state..false starts before 1993..five years prior to 1993, with pressure from business community and Paul Reville" working on ed reform
"that's really what drove Ed Reform when we worked on it in 1993"
(wow, that's revisionist...there was also the rather pressing matter of a lawsuit around inequality in ed funding)
"worked very hard to make it happen"
signed June 18, 1993 (just before the judge decided against them)
"up until that time there was no accountability system..."
"in fact, the morning of the day we signed Ed Reform, the courts decided that we were in violation of ed reform"
"that mediocrity was no longer acceptable"
"that student should have equal opportunity...because a student was born in a particular community, they could" learn
standards and assessments and fiscal restrains
"I was asked tonight to talk about the foundation budget...standard of adequacy...a minimal amount of money spent per pupil"
"first needed to address the basic standard of excellence and adequacy"
"for ten years it worked extremely well...for the first ten years it worked...in the eleventh year, the state was not able to fill their requirement" (there are school business managers and school committee members across the state that would disagree vigorously with that estimation)
"over the years..there have been adjustments in the formula"
"it wasn't that we weren't going to change it...this morning I was on a panel talking about a national core of standards..what we have to be careful about it how those two go together"
"the end of a difficult process of consensus building, and the beginning of a commitment to learning"
"we have good curriculum, good standards, good assessments"
"still have to work" on achievement gap, funding, charter schools
"if you don't feel that commitment and that enthusiasm, then you shouldn't be in the business we're in"
"we have to be sure that it continues a long way into the future"