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Governor outlines his education goals

By Scott S. Greenberger
December 21, 2004

Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday he is skeptical that preschool programs such as Head Start have a lasting effect on students, even as the state prepares to launch a new early education agency this summer that is expected to spend $1 billion a year by 2010.

Outlining the options for the next stage of education overhaul in Massachusetts, Romney told a group of Globe editors and reporters that Massachusetts could get more for its money by lengthening the school day for older children, raising academic standards, and paying teachers based on performance, instead of seniority.

''I'm still looking at it, but the research I've seen so far says that programs like Head Start do a terrific job in giving kids a head start for their first kindergarten, one, two, three years, but if you look at graduation rates and the dropout rates of those individuals, it doesn't seem to be the key to getting kids the future they need," Romney said.

Together with healthcare, education is shaping up as one of the top priorities for the legislative session that begins in January. In 1993, Massachusetts set out to improve failing schools by pumping billions of dollars into education and creating the MCAS to measure academic performance. Now, Romney said, the stars are aligned for another push: In the next couple of months, the Supreme Judicial Court is expected to rule on a lawsuit filed by poorer districts seeking more money. With the next state election almost two years away, the governor said, politics will be less of a distraction.

''This is the year, in part thanks to the Supreme Court," Romney said. ''They are hanging over us like a gargoyle, 'Take action or else.' "

Romney also took aim at the pet project of a departed rival, former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran. In a speech in the House chamber last January, Finneran urged his colleagues to make academic preschool programs available to every child in the state by 2010, arguing that giving 3- to 5-year-olds an early grounding in math, reading, and science would reap far-reaching benefits.

The Legislature acted swiftly, creating the Department of Early Education and Care to take on functions currently performed by the Office of Child Care Services, the Department of Education, and the Department of Public Health. The new agency, which will begin operating on July 1, will oversee existing child care programs, produce a preschool curriculum, and beef up training for preschool instructors.

Romney spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman said the governor reluctantly signed the early education bill after trying unsuccessfully to scale back the powers of the new agency.

Amy Kershaw -- research and policy director for Strategies for Children, Inc., which played a leading role in the development of Finneran's proposal -- said Romney is misreading the research on early education. Kershaw acknowledged that some studies have shown that children get a short-lived academic boost from Head Start, but said that nearly all the research indicated that other advantages endure.
''Most of the behavioral differences are accentuated over time," Kershaw said. ''Researchers, parents, and teachers would all agree that the emotional and social preparation for school or the benefits of that can't be underestimated in terms of improving the public schools."

The broader education debate on Beacon Hill is shaping up as a battle between those who say that schools stuck at the bottom lack resources and those who argue for more flexibility for principals and more state oversight of failing schools. Last week a group of state lawmakers, backed by the politically powerful teachers' unions, filed legislation that would create a panel to calculate the cost of improving the worst schools in Massachusetts and report back in 2006. The seemingly innocuous proposal drew sharp fire from critics, who said it was merely a prelude to more spending.

Romney made it clear yesterday that he is not in favor of boosting education spending by a huge amount to help still-struggling schools. ''Classroom size doesn't seem to correlate to success," he said. ''How much money you spend in a district doesn't seem to correlate to success. What correlates to success is how qualified and capable is the teacher teaching the class. It all comes down to the teacher."

Calling for merit pay for exceptional teachers, the governor said, ''I think our best teachers are underpaid, and I think our worst teachers are overpaid."

Romney also questioned the effectiveness of reducing class sizes, saying that hiring more teachers benefits teachers' unions but may not help students. The governor, who has often clashed with public employees' unions during his two years in office, said the teachers' groups should not be part of the discussion of how education reform should move forward.

''Let's make sure the choices we make with the dollars we are going to spend actually will produce the results," he said. ''And please, in this analysis . . . let's take the people out who have a financial stake in the outcome. I want people who have a stake in our children, in the future of our state and country involved, but I don't want to have people who are trying to figure out how to help their membership or their particular group get more money."

Catherine A. Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said ''it is antithetical to the very idea of quality education" to set state education policy without the input of the associations that represent teachers.

''We wish the governor was looking for an open dialogue to figure out how best to help children," she said.

Senator Robert A. Antonioni, the Senate chairman of the Legislature's Education Committee, said that a burst of new spending is not the answer to the problems that continue to plague many Bay State schools. But the Worcester Democrat chided Romney for believing that he can proceed without the unions' involvement.

''He's right: They do have a financial stake in the outcome," Antonioni said ''But rather than alienate these groups, as he seems wont to do, let's get into a dialogue with these people and see if we can reach common ground."

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