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Municipal Services Senate approves major education reform bill
In the waning days of formal sessions, the Senate has approved an education reform bill that would change the rules governing state and local authority to turn around underperforming schools and substantially expand the capacity of the state to approve new charter schools, mostly in struggling school districts.
Following a frequently intense debate on nearly 100 amendments, mainly dealing with collective bargaining and charter school issues, the Senate voted, 28-11, to send a bill to the House. The final Senate bill weakened many of the key provisions originally proposed by the Legislature’s Joint Education Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
With the Senate vote coming on the next-to-last day of formal legislative sessions, the House was not expected to take up the bill until formal sessions begin again in January.
In response to pressure from charter school lobbyists, the Senate bill largely jettisoned attempts to end the system of off-budget funding for charter schools, but it would bring some small measure of accountability in the state budget for how charters are funded.
Currently, almost $300 million in tuition is paid to charter schools without any specific appropriation in the state budget or in local budgets. Tuition is deducted from school aid amounts appropriated for municipal and regional school districts.
The final Senate bill would change the system somewhat; tuition for new students only would be paid directly by the state to the charter school from the Chapter 70 account and would be listed in Section 3 of the annual state budget act.
The Senate bill would also change the schedule for covering a portion of school aid amounts deducted to make payments to charter schools. Currently, the state covers 100 percent of new costs in the first year, followed by 60 percent and 40 percent over the next two years, respectively. The schedule in the Senate bill would cover 100 percent in the first year (through the direct state payment), but the reimbursement would be 25 percent in each of the next four years. Districts receiving reimbursements under the current schedule would be allowed to maintain those levels of funding until they expire.
The Senate rejected an MMA-sponsored amendment to restore the 100-60-40 schedule and to add two years at 25 percent.
The Senate plan would increase the cap on the amount of Chapter 70 school aid that could be deducted from low-performing school districts and paid to charter schools from 9 percent of school spending to 18 percent. Low-performing districts would be defined as those with a composite MCAS-based English language arts and mathematics score in the lowest 10 percent statewide.
The Senate bill includes some limited new powers for the state’s education commissioner and local school committees and superintendents to move quickly to improve underperforming schools. At the local level, school districts would be able to form new in-district Horace Mann charter schools without the threat of a teachers’ union veto. Conversion of an existing school into a Horace Mann school would require a majority vote of the school faculty.
Municipal Services Senate approves major education reform bill
Senate approves major education reform bill
In the waning days of formal sessions, the Senate has approved an education reform bill that would change the rules governing state and local authority to turn around underperforming schools and substantially expand the capacity of the state to approve new charter schools, mostly in struggling school districts.
Following a frequently intense debate on nearly 100 amendments, mainly dealing with collective bargaining and charter school issues, the Senate voted, 28-11, to send a bill to the House. The final Senate bill weakened many of the key provisions originally proposed by the Legislature’s Joint Education Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
With the Senate vote coming on the next-to-last day of formal legislative sessions, the House was not expected to take up the bill until formal sessions begin again in January.
In response to pressure from charter school lobbyists, the Senate bill largely jettisoned attempts to end the system of off-budget funding for charter schools, but it would bring some small measure of accountability in the state budget for how charters are funded.
Currently, almost $300 million in tuition is paid to charter schools without any specific appropriation in the state budget or in local budgets. Tuition is deducted from school aid amounts appropriated for municipal and regional school districts.
The final Senate bill would change the system somewhat; tuition for new students only would be paid directly by the state to the charter school from the Chapter 70 account and would be listed in Section 3 of the annual state budget act.
The Senate bill would also change the schedule for covering a portion of school aid amounts deducted to make payments to charter schools. Currently, the state covers 100 percent of new costs in the first year, followed by 60 percent and 40 percent over the next two years, respectively. The schedule in the Senate bill would cover 100 percent in the first year (through the direct state payment), but the reimbursement would be 25 percent in each of the next four years. Districts receiving reimbursements under the current schedule would be allowed to maintain those levels of funding until they expire.
The Senate rejected an MMA-sponsored amendment to restore the 100-60-40 schedule and to add two years at 25 percent.
The Senate plan would increase the cap on the amount of Chapter 70 school aid that could be deducted from low-performing school districts and paid to charter schools from 9 percent of school spending to 18 percent. Low-performing districts would be defined as those with a composite MCAS-based English language arts and mathematics score in the lowest 10 percent statewide.
The Senate bill includes some limited new powers for the state’s education commissioner and local school committees and superintendents to move quickly to improve underperforming schools. At the local level, school districts would be able to form new in-district Horace Mann charter schools without the threat of a teachers’ union veto. Conversion of an existing school into a Horace Mann school would require a majority vote of the school faculty.
Written by MMA Legislative Director John Robertson
