Romney calls on task force for education reform
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Clive McFarlane
October 30, 2003
Full-day kindergarten classes for parents who take parental preparation courses, merit pay for teachers and greater authority for principals are among ideas Gov. Mitt Romney wants a newly created task force on education to consider.
Mr. Romney, who announced the creation of the task force yesterday, called it part of the next stage in the state's education reform effort.
He said the task force's mission is to devise intervention strategies to turn around the state's underperforming school districts.
The 15-member board is to be chaired by Paul Grogan, president of the Boston Foundation, and will include local representatives Donna Rodrigues, former principal of the University Park Campus School, and Robert V. Antonucci, president of Fitchburg State College and former state commissioner of education.
''We need to get underperforming school districts back on track,'' Mr. Romney said. ''It is time for the interest of the entrenched educational bureaucracy to take a back seat to the interest of our children and teachers.''
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The case, which claims the state has not met its constitutional obligation to provide adequate education to all children, is forcing the governor's hand, Ms. Shapiro said.
However, S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Center for Education Research and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, said the governor is responding to what has become a high priority for educators.
''Now that we are beginning to make determinations about the performances of school districts, it is time to think about what kind of interventions there should be,'' he said.
''Should there be state takeover of low performing districts? Should we pour in more resources? Do you pull back the resources? It is an area that has proven quite challenging nationally,'' Mr. Reville said.
