Board Has New Plan to Fix State's Lackluster Schools; Private Takeovers Eyed
Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 21:00 CST
By KIMBERLY ATKINS
Frustrated by the slow improvement rate of "underperforming" schools, state Board of Education Chairman James Peyser today will unveil a new proposal for fixing the system, an action plan that could include handing failing schools to private companies for reform.
But some school officials say they need more resources and flexibility, not private sector takeovers.
"I think there is an assumption that putting a public school system in the hands of private enterprise groups is the answer," Springfield Superintendent Joseph Burke said yesterday. "I'm not sure privatization efforts have been remarkably successful. I think the jury's still out."
While declining to detail Peyser's plan yesterday, Department of Education spokeswoman Heidi Perlman said the board will discuss adopting more stringent rules to quicken the pace schools pull themselves out of underperforming status.
The current state school accountability rules, adopted by the board in 1999, give failing schools six months to devise a plan for improvement, and two years to make changes or face state intervention.
The discussion comes amid growing dissatisfaction among school and state officials with the current system. Gov. Mitt Romney filed a bill to cut the deadline for schools to pull out of underperforming status from six to three years. Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen) and Rep. Stephen LeDuc (D-Marlboro) filed turnaround legislation that would use longer school days, merit pay and greater autonomy for local school officials than the current rules.
But Fall River Superintendent Nicholas Fischer said school officials have the tools now to put failing schools back on track, but not the cash. "Superintendents say you are telling me to provide more services" in underperforming schools, he said. "But the number of dollars is not keeping pace."
Source: Boston Herald
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