(From the Boston Globe, Jan. 21, 2008.)
By JOE WILLIAMS
THE COMMONWEALTH'S education reform effort was founded on a trade-off: enhanced accountability and expanded parental choice in return for new state funding. Student assessment testing was established, along with new curriculum standards. Charter public schools were created to expand parental choice and introduce competition.
Since then, Bay State schools have risen to become some of the best in the country. In 2005, Massachusetts became the first state to place first in all four categories on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card. Last year, the Commonwealth did it again.
One of the keys to this success has been the state's charter school program. Charter public schools in Massachusetts have transformed urban education, not only giving poor and forgotten children a chance at a quality education and a bright future, but also prompting reforms in district schools, such as the creation of pilot schools in Boston. Many urban charters – with predominantly minority and poor students – are outscoring wealthy suburban school districts on statewide assessment tests.
These accomplishments have led many states and cities to emulate the Commonwealth's formula of accountability and choice.
In New York, Governor Eliot Spitzer increased the statewide charter school cap from 100 to 200. Mayor Cory Booker of Newark has proposed more charter schools, as well as vouchers. Private donors in Chicago put up $4.2 million to launch a math and science charter school with Mayor Richard Daley's support. Last spring, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit announced he would seek up to 25 new charter schools. After Hurricane Katrina, schools that have been rebuilt in New Orleans are opening as charters.
In Washington, D.C. – with the full support of the mayor – enrollment in charter schools has jumped 13 percent annually since 2001. If the trend continues, charters will educate more students than the city's traditional schools by 2014.
So you have to wonder why Massachusetts seems intent on retreating from its own nationally recognized success. The backward slide is already evident.
During his campaign, Governor Deval Patrick courted and received strong support from teachers' unions, which have vigorously opposed reforms and are especially hostile to charters. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who also enjoys strong union support, is not a forceful advocate for more charter schools to open in his city. The Legislature is heavily influenced by the teachers' unions and contains only a handful of vocal charter supporters.
Massachusetts has a de facto moratorium on the growth of charter public schools in urban districts where parents desperately need and desire more choice. Legislation to raise caps on charters is stalled in the Legislature, and the governor echoes the position of teachers' unions and superintendents, saying he will support lifting the cap only after a new funding formula – potentially disastrous for charter schools – is in place.
Last year, the governor and the Legislature phased out the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, which conducted unvarnished performance audits of school districts.
Patrick created an education task force to craft his blueprint for education policy, but the "vision statement" that is guiding this task force barely mentions charters and leaves the door open to watering down MCAS.
The governor has wavered in his support for MCAS graduation requirement, and seems open to awarding "alternative diplomas" to students who fail – essentially letting children graduate without the skills they'll need in college or the workforce.
Patrick has also filed a plan to revamp the current Board of Education to give himself several new appointments and near-total control over education policy. The current board has supported reform efforts charter schools. Education reform advocates worry that Patrick's future appointments will be more aligned with the status quo.
We've reached a critical juncture in the education reform process. Will state political leaders summon the courage to continue down the successful path being followed by so many others? Or will they take an ill-advised U-turn and retreat from their own success? The actions of the governor and the Legislature over the next several months will give us the answer.
Joe Williams is author of "Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education" and executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.