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Patrick may hike school spending by $368m
The Boston Globe, January 15, 2008

Governor Deval Patrick plans to unveil a budget next week that would increase spending on education by $368 million, the largest targeted increase in the proposal, according to administration officials familiar with the budget.

Despite the $1.3 billion gap in a roughly $28 billion budget, Patrick is seeking to make education his administration's top priority by making several targeted investments. His plan, which makes education advocates giddy and budget observers question whether it can be done, would include an additional $223 million for local communities to use for education, a 6 percent increase over this year, as part of the overall increase.

His proposal will also call for:

Doubling for the second year in a row the amount spent on extended school day programs, to $26 million.

Spending $15 million more to fund an additional 892 prekindergarten classrooms and $8 million to help 440 of the state's half-day kindergarten classrooms expand to a full day.

Spending another $2 million on tutoring students with low MCAS test scores, $4.5 million on helping underperforming schools, and $1.5 million more for the Metco program.

"It's very encouraging," said Paul Reville, president of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, whom Patrick in August appointed chairman of the state Board of Education. "This is a budget we can work with in the education sector."

The bulk of the spending increases would go toward early education, and elementary, middle, and high schools. The budget for higher education will increase by $34 million, most of which would fund previously approved collective bargaining agreements.

The proposals will be included when the governor files his budget proposal on Jan. 23, kicking off a monthslong debate in the Legislature. The budget, for fiscal 2009, will take effect July 1.

"Under the very difficult circumstances, this represents a significant commitment on the state's part," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "But there's an important caveat here: How are they going to pay for it, given the state's fiscal realities? It's not clear to me how the state can make that investment without cuts in other programs."

The state is facing a $1.3 billion budget deficit, which will force Patrick to either make cuts in other areas or find new sources of revenue. He is weighing whether to include in his budget proposals the closing of so-called corporate tax loopholes, which could bring in up to $500 million, and up to $800 million in projected casino licensing revenues.

Both ideas are deeply unpopular among legislators.

The Globe reported Sunday that Patrick is also planning to propose increasing health insurance premiums for 58,000 state employees, which would save $51 million. He also wants to implement changes in Medicaid that would save the state $155 million.

In his budget proposal last year, Patrick included a $200 million boost in so-called Chapter 70 funds, which the state provides to local communities as one of their main sources for public education funding. The Legislature later increased that to $220 million, and the state gave out $3.7 billion statewide.

Patrick this year is proposing $223 million, a figure that could increase if the financial picture improves.

"On one hand, it's not nearly enough," said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, which plans to lobby the Legislature for more money. "But on the other hand, there is a limited amount of dollars and a reluctance to raise revenues. We have to take some gratitude that we're not taking a cut."

Patrick has increasingly highlighted education reform as a priority for his administration, boosting funding on things like early childhood education and expanding the school day.

"Unless the state catalyzes it, these are not things that are going ot happen on their own," said Chris Gabrieli, chairman of Massachusetts 2020, an educational nonprofit that worked with the state Department of Education on extended schoolday initiatives, which add time for things like music, exercise, and community service. "The governor is saying and the Legislature has been saying that there has to be some room in budgets for new things that make a difference. We can't say the status quo is sufficient."

Patrick also launched the Commonwealth Readiness Project, in which 200 business and community leaders are developing a 10-year strategy that is expected to be unveiled this spring.

He also filed legislation last week to establish an Executive Office of Education, which would include a Cabinet-level secretary to coordinate policies across early childhood education, elementary and secondary schools, and college.

That new structure will be included in his budget proposal, but administration officials declined to say how much the new bureaucracy would cost.

A forthcoming report from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a Boston think tank, estimates that implementing all of Patrick's long-term education proposals would require the state to annually invest between $969 million and $2.4 billion.

The report, which is the first formal cost projection of Patrick's long-term plans, calculated that providing universal early education and care would cost between $458 million and $693 million in additional state funding; free community college education would cost between $125 million and $543 million; universal full-day kindergarten would cost between $46 million and $130 million; and a longer school day would cost between $301 million and $616 million.

The report pointed out that estimates are imprecise because the administration has not released details of the plan. It also said Massachusetts spends proportionately less on education than most states.

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