Gov. Patrick unveils plan to revamp public education

Glen Johnson

Gov. Deval Patrick has unveiled an eight-year plan to overhaul public education in Massachusetts, covering everything from preschool to college.

In the most ambitious plan since education reforms enacted in 1993, the Democratic governor will seek to lengthen the school day by at least two hours, create a universal pre-kindergarten program, strengthen curriculum requirements in math and English and launch new teacher training programs.

He said he also wants the state to offer high school graduates free tuition to the state’s two-year community colleges by the year 2015.

But the top Republican in the state’s House of Representatives said last Friday that Gov. Deval Patrick’s dramatic education overhaul, which includes a free community college education for all high school graduates, “fails to make the grade” because it does not include a way to pay for it.

“State government too often overpromises and underdelivers,” said Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading. “Unfortunately, the governor’s education proposal appears to fit right in with that record.”

Jones added: “Without a funding mechanism or even an estimated price tag for implementation, the governor’s proposal fails to make the grade.”

The state’s 15 community colleges are among the costliest in the nation, but are considered critical to the economy because at least 20,000 unfilled jobs in the state require a two-year degree, according to the plan.

“It is clear that Gov. Patrick gets it,” said John J. Sbrega, president of Bristol Community College in Fall River. “From the very start, he has recognized the role of public education, and particularly the community colleges, in making our economic engine powerful. Guaranteeing access to local students will make the difference for Southeastern Massachusetts. I look forward to working with the governor and the board to make it happen.”

While acknowledging there are many questions to be answered, in the face of tight budgets, “Gov. Patrick has signaled clearly that he views investment in higher education as something that will return the investment by the commonwealth,” Sbrega said. “For some time it has been clear that a high school diploma is not enough. In an age when most new jobs will require post-secondary education, this is a proposal that is bold and visionary.”

Despite his detailed vision, Patrick did not explain how he would pay for the proposals, estimated in some quarters to cost $1 billion annually by their completion. Instead, the governor pledged to convene a “readiness project” to recommend improvements to the state’s existing education system and ways to pay for his proposed changes.

“Right here, right now, I commit my administration for the next 10 years to a statewide and sustained effort to change fundamentally the way we think about and deliver public education, to get ready for our future,” Patrick said in commencement remarks to 1,800 undergraduate and 860 graduate students at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Girding for a fight, the governor also blasted away at anticipated opponents of the proposal. He compared them to doubters who questioned whether the colonies could break free of Britain, the United States could prevail in World War II or the country could safely send a man to the moon and back.

“Those voices have always represented a resistance to human progress,” Patrick said. “Masquerading as pragmatists, they lull us into believing that problems we made are beyond our capacity to care about and to solve. But I remind you that the American experience and the American character have, at critical moments in our history, been bigger than that, and they must be again.”

One critic said it was Patrick who was masquerading.

“He just keeps saying things he apparently doesn’t mean. He throws out his ideas with no way of paying for them,” said Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “He just has these wacky ideas. He’s doing his dreamer thing, his ‘Together We Can.’ No, we can’t.”

Patrick also has proposed a $1.4 billion commuter rail connection between Boston and Fall River and New Bedford, hoping costs would be offset by new economic development along the route. And he wants to spend $1 billion over 10 years to promote stem-cell research and other life sciences work in the state, with funding from bonding and the state’s general fund.

“The state has transportation needs before we start giving away higher education,” said David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute, a conservative economic think tank. “In his heart of hearts, he thinks he can always get a tax increase to pay for his spending plans, but I think he’s wrong about that.”

Patrick’s education proposal also aims to expand upon the state’s existing education reform law by placing even greater emphasis on science and mathematics, and by looking for other yardsticks to measure the success of students besides the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests.

The plan also calls for pumping money into a new set of regional teacher development centers bringing together colleges and local school districts to focus on teacher training, teacher recruiting and teacher development.

The goal is to increase the level of training for new and veteran teachers, especially in math and sciences.

“It’s a fairly comprehensive agenda,” said William Guenther, president of consulting firm Mass Insight Corp., who was briefed on the plan.

Patrick’s proposal to lengthen the school days reflects Massachusetts’ shift over time from a more agricultural state to one based on an information- and technology-driven economy.

Patrick in recent weeks has offered hints of his plans. On May 1, he said the way Massachusetts pays for public education, through a heavy reliance on local property tax, is “not working.”

The governor has said he’s considering creating an education secretary to carry out his proposed reforms.

Currently, education leadership is split among three agencies, each with its own board of directors: the Department of Early Education and Care, which handles children prior to kindergarten; the Department of Education, which handles students through grade 12; and the Board of Higher Education, which oversees the 29 college campuses.

(Associated Press)