The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed an education reform bill Thursday night that would invest a new $1.5 billion in the state's public K-12 education system over the next seven years with a focus on providing resources that will help low-income students.
Senators gave themselves a round of applause after the bill (S 2350) was approved at about 8:15 p.m. and while it's only one step in an uncertain process senators referred to Thursday as a historic day for their chamber and the state. The bill aims to funnel additional money into the state's public education system in a way that would boost every district. The legislation does not call for new or increased taxes to pay for the investment.
"Every community, every school district, would be getting more Chapter 70 aid under this bill, the Student Opportunity Act, than they would get if this bill does not get passed into law," Sen. Jason Lewis, chairman of the Education Committee, said. "And furthermore ... we believe that there will be only a few dozen communities that would be in a situation where, in the future, their local contribution that they may have to make to their foundation budget might be greater than what they would be otherwise spending."
Almost four years ago, a state commission reported that the current starting point in the school funding formula, known as the foundation budget, underestimates the cost of education by an annual $1 billion by inadequately accounting for expenses associated with low-income students, English learners, special education and employee health benefits.
Since that report's release, lawmakers have made several attempts to overhaul the funding formula. In each of the last two legislative sessions, House and Senate Democrats have been unable to agree on an approach to school finance reform. Last year, the House and Senate each passed education financing bills, but negotiators could not reconcile them before the final minutes of formal sessions ticked away.
"This has been a long time coming, as we all know. This is really a historic day in this chamber and that is not an overstatement by any means," Sen. Sal DiDomenico said. "We have been talking about making our kids a priority for many, many years ... today, we are there."
During eight hours of debate Thursday, the Senate adopted a series of amendments to the bill, which was unveiled last month by Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Robert DeLeo as long-awaited consensus school finance reform legislation. Spilka said she thinks the Senate improved, not imperiled, the legislation.
"It was a terrific bill that came out of a committee but, as we've said before, you think you have a great bill and it can't be made better, but any bill can be made better and flush out some things that might make it a little bit clearer or more transparent, more expressive," she told reporters Thursday night. "So I think that what was adopted made the bill even stronger."
Spilka said Lewis and Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues reviewed amendments with senators before the debate.
"I think it's entirely consistent with the framework that we had worked on with our House colleagues," Lewis said after the Senate passed its version of the bill. "I think we now need to support our House colleagues to hopefully take up this bill in the very near future and work to get it on the governor's desk and hopefully signed into law."
Lewis said plans to talk Rep. Alice Peisch, the House chair of the Education Committee, through the Senate's adopted amendments to explain how they strengthen the bill.
"I'm confident we will get to a final bill that we will all be very happy with," he said.
Beth Kontos, president of American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, applauded one amendment that she said would "clarify that local plans to address educational disparities should be developed with local input from students, parents, and educators, and cannot be used to withhold funds from struggling districts whose students need the most help."
Thursday's debate in the Senate was preceded by handwringing over the Baker administration's release of its own town-by-town analysis of the bill's impacts on school funding. Senate leaders argued that the administration's numbers did not tell the whole story and needed to be put in the proper context.
Minority Leader Bruce Tarr pressed Lewis and others Thursday to give senators a different, more reliable, set of numbers explaining how the bill would impact each senators' district, but none was forthcoming. After the Senate voted unanimously in support of the bill, Tarr said members did not have all the information they wanted before voting.
"I think some of these votes were actually taken on faith. I think we should have had all of the numbers and I think the public should have had all of the numbers as well," Tarr said. "When there is information that is available, it clearly existed, and we didn't have it, that to me is problematic. But we did have some information and we got some more during the debate -- I think that was important -- and it got us to a point where we could vote for the bill. But I don't think it's the optimal way to deal with matters like this."
The House has not specified a date to take up the bill but it is expected to surface before mid-November, when the House and Senate are scheduled to embark on another break that runs into early January.
Without new revenue sources, the commitments under the bill, or other state programs that may lose funds to the education initiative, could be threatened by an economic slowdown or a recession. But for now, supporters of the bill are pressing for its near-term passage, and hoping the state will then deliver on its promises.
"We urge the House to pass the bill with the same speed so that after years of advocacy by our members and communities we can all reap the fruit of a more just funding system," Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy said in a statement after the vote. "All communities will gain from this bill, but the biggest winners are low-income students in our Gateway Cities — many of whom are students of color — and students in our high-poverty rural districts."
This report was originally published by State House News Service.
