Local educators want the state to up its ante
Published on December 16th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Now that the MCAS results are in, local educators have added ammunition to their claims that towns like Stoneham have been on the short end of the stick in terms of Education Reform.
Since the inception of the Education Reform Act five years ago, the state legislature has upped the ante in hopes of raising the educational bar and raising local school systems to the nation's elite. In order to do so, legislators felt that a majority of funding should go toward urban areas where education has taken a steady nosedive as enrollment continues to increase. This, political leaders have said, would equalize education in the state while raising the level of education for all students in Massachusetts.
With the results of the 1998 Massachusetts Comprehensive Statewide Assessment System scores now available for review, however, School Committee Chairman Steven Gucciardi went on the offensive at last Thursday night's School Committee meeting, stating that the funding formula needs a drastic overhaul when it comes up for review in 1999.
"It is imperative that this community is treated fairly in this new formula," Gucciardi stated. "It ought to be looked at in a different light. There comes a time when Stoneham as a community needs to be treated fairly from a taxpayer's perspective.
"They've (cities) been getting the money all along and still haven't fixed the problem."
Gucciardi referred to statistic included in the December 10 edition of the Boston Globe in which Lynn, Chelsea, Springfield, Boston, Lawrence and Holyoke ranked 203 to 208 respectively out of the 208 towns and cities which took the MCAS test. These scores, the chairman said, are proof positive that towns like Stoneham (which placed 47 in the same ranking) are being shortchanged while urban areas are reaping the benefits monetarily, but are still lacking educationally.
State Senator Richard Tisei, reached this week by the Independent, agreed with this notion.
"I think that the formula definitely has to be changed," he said. "Over the last five or six years, the infusion of money was made to bring all school districts up to the same level. Early money has been targeted to bring urban areas up to a competitive level. I think that has been accomplished," he stated.
Tisei said that he believed several factors have hindered urban areas in terms of education. Among these are lack of professional development and a large number of SPED (special education) and non-English speaking students.
"We have to provide adequate resources," he said. "I think what this test has shown us, though, is that money alone isn't what's needed to improve education in these areas."
Stoneham Superintendent of Schools Joseph Connelly disagreed somewhat with Gucciardi and Tisei, saying that the recent MCAS results likely do not reflect the impact that the substantial funding infusion has had on urban school departments.
"I think it's too early to draw any conclusions. It would be premature and unfair on my part to draw any conclusions on other school districts in the state. I can only speak to Stoneham," he said.
While Connelly did not recommend reducing funding to urban areas, he did agree that Stoneham needs more aid from the state in order to meet the MCAS standards which were passed down by Massachusetts educators.
"There's no question that the rate of state reimbursement does not benefit the Town of Stoneham. The level of reimbursement in state dollars is about 12 percent of our budget," he stated. "That certainly puts a tremendous burden on the local tax dollar.
"My criticism isn't so much with Ed Reform as it is with the level of funding that towns like Stoneham receive."
Tisei said he would continue to push for reform in Ed Reform funding to better benefit towns like Stoneham, Reading and Melrose which have been forced to rely heavily upon their towns' tax levies to pay for education costs which are rising substantially, in part, due to state mandates on special education and the MCAS.
Tisei did lend his support to the new state testing mechanism, however, saying that the long-term effects should be well worth the effort put forth by school systems and their students.
"I think the tests are going to make school systems more accountable for the types of education that the kids are receiving," he said.
"We have a lot of work to do. This is going to be a long process."
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