Category: Priyanka Dayal
States and Congress Discuss What’s Ahead for No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
NCLB
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
April 26, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 26 – As the landmark federal law overseeing the country’s education system comes up for reauthorization this year, the debate on accountability and the federal government’s role in local schools is resurfacing.
President Bush first talked about a No Child Left Behind law when he was running for the presidency in 2000, and a year later Congress passed it with backing from both sides of the aisle.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who disagrees with Mr. Bush on many other issues, sponsored the original bill in 2001 and is working to reauthorize it now.
As chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Mr. Kennedy has held several hearings and roundtable discussions on No Child Left Behind this year, and he will continue to hold meetings for the rest of the spring, said spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner.
Mr. Kennedy has called No Child Left Behind “a national commitment, inspired by our fundamental values and aspirations,” but he said it will not be successful without a boost in funding. Democrats led by Mr. Kennedy say Republicans have hurt schools by underfunding No Child Left Behind, but they have not signaled how much they want to increase spending.
Some Democrats say the law’s testing requirements are too constraining. And some Republicans say education policy should be left to the states. House and Senate Republicans have filed legislation that would limit the federal government’s role by letting states opt out of testing requirements but still receive federal money.
The earliest a bill might come to the floor for full debate is in the summer, Ms. Wagoner said, but it is too soon to predict what form the bill will take.
The Senate and the House must agree on the terms of reauthorization before sending a bill to President Bush for approval. The current law expires at the end of this fiscal year, on Sept. 30.
The long-term goal of No Child Left Behind is to make every child proficient in math and English language arts by 2014. But the definition of proficiency varies greatly from state to state, raising questions about the validity of state aptitude tests.
Although education standards in Massachusetts are among the highest in the country, many of the state’s schools have been identified under benchmarks set by No Child Left Behind as needing improvement.
To make sure schools are working toward the 2014 goal, they must achieve “adequate yearly progress,” which is defined at the state level. In 2006, the federal government tagged public schools in Worcester as needing improvement in English and needing corrective action in math, because many students did not meet “adequate yearly progress” goals.
Massachusetts defines proficiency by its flagship Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which is among the most rigorous state education tests in the country. Many other states, such as Mississippi, set their standards much lower, so that on paper their students appear to be performing better. But education experts say the way No Child Left Behind ranks schools does not represent student progress accurately.
No Child Left Behind divides the student population into various subgroups based on factors such as race, skill level and income level. If a vast majority of students perform proficiently, but even one subgroup does not, a school does not meet its “adequate yearly progress” target.
The law does not distinguish between schools where only one subgroup is not performing proficiently and schools where most subgroups are not performing proficiently, which some educators think is unfair.
“Nobody can really argue with the goal that we want all children to be proficient,” said Paul Toner, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “That broad goal is something all of us can embrace.”
The Education Commission of the States, a nonpartisan policy group, projects that Massachusetts is on track to achieve 100 percent proficiency by 2014.
Like most major reforms, No Child Left Behind could not have passed in Congress without bipartisan support and compromise.
But compromise brings problems, too. No Child Left Behind attempts to give states autonomy by letting them design their own methods of assessment. At the same time, it authorizes the federal government to oversee states more broadly than ever before. It also lets the federal government penalize schools that don’t perform up to standards.
“The only thing that’s federal in this is 100 percent proficiency by 2014. The federal government gave a nod to state supremacy,” said Amy Wilkins, vice president for government affairs and communications for the Education Trust, an advocacy group.
The differences in how states define their learning standards and how they design their tests can be confusing, according to Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, an education group that promotes high academic standards in states.
“We don’t know what proficiency means from state to state,” he said. “Massachusetts has rigorous but appropriate standards. It is probably among the states that is providing a more accurate and honest picture of what’s happening. In other states, students are being misled into thinking they’re doing better than they really are.”
Achieve calls the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test one of the best in the country because it measures a broad range of standards in challenging ways.
The only accurate way to compare student performance across states is through the National Assessment of Education Progress, a nationwide test administered by the U.S. Department of Education and often called the nation’s report card. In many states, students who perform well on state exams scrape by with much lower scores on the national test.
But data from the department’s National Center for Education Statistics show that average math scores in Massachusetts on the national test are consistently higher than the national averages for fourth- and eighth-graders.
No Child Left Behind rates school performance over time, but it does not track same-student performance over time. For instance, it compares how fourth graders perform in 2005 with how fourth graders perform in 2006. But it does not compare how fourth graders perform in 2005 with how they perform as fifth graders in 2006.
“We all realistically know that every child is not going to be proficient in 2014 – or any year – but if we look at the growth that we’re having and comparing them to themselves, that’s certainly a better way to see if we’re closing the achievement gap,” said Cheryl A. DelSignore, president of the Educational Association of Worcester, the local teachers’ union.
There also is some friction between state-based education initiatives and No Child Left Behind mandates, according to John F. “Jack” Jennings, president of the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, an advocacy group.
“Massachusetts law is more geared to getting students to pass a state test to graduate from high school, whereas with the federal test, there’s annual accountability,” he said.
Whether or not they support the No Child Left Behind law, educators seem to agree that the goals are unattainable without a hike in funding.
About 50 percent of the money for No Child Left Behind comes from the state and about 40 percent comes from school districts, according to Mr. Jennings. Less than 10 percent comes from the federal government.
James A. Caradonio, superintendent of Worcester public schools, said the federal government and the state are “giving us less money to [achieve] higher standards with more kids.”
State education dollars have been dwindling in Massachusetts. Mr. Caradonio said the district’s budget has been cut six years in a row, while the costs of running the school system have skyrocketed.
He said he supports No Child Left Behind because without such a goal, “we would never change.” But he also called the law “a hodgepodge of ideas thrown together because of compromise” rather than research.
In addition to increasing accountability for student performance, the law is designed to close the achievement gap between privileged and underprivileged students, improve teacher quality, increase parental choice and reduce bureaucracy in the education system.
“The law is extremely ambitious,” Mr. Jennings said. “Yet the resources are less today than they were 10 years ago, and most districts in the country are getting the same or less money than they got last year.”
Even though the law stresses the importance of educating children with disabilities or other challenges, educators in Worcester say those students are getting left behind.
Schools strapped for cash have had to increase class size, so students with disabilities or limited English skills are not getting the attention they need, said Ms. DelSignore, who represents Worcester teachers.
Mr. Toner, who also represents teachers, agreed that the federal law is “too constraining.”
“More and more teachers report that all they’re doing is testing,” he said.
Schools are forced to put their resources into teaching math and English education, which are monitored by No Child Left Behind, while art, science and physical education programs have suffered, he added.
But Ms. Wilkins, of the Education Trust, said if educators are struggling to have all students reach proficiency, it’s because they are “conditioned to expect failure” from students with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The goals are “absolutely realistic,” she said, but “some principals and teachers are making bad decisions about how to get kids there.”
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Rep. McGovern: A Different Approach in the Rules Committee
RULES
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
March 30, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 30 – Every time he takes his seat in the cramped Rules Committee room on Capitol Hill, Worcester Democrat James P. McGovern is fulfilling his mentor’s dying wish.
His mentor was the late J. Joseph Moakley, a widely admired congressman from Boston and former chairman of the committee. Through every discussion, debate and dispute, Mr. Moakley’s portrait stares down at Mr. McGovern.
In 2001, Mr. McGovern recalled, when Mr. Moakley learned he was dying of leukemia, he had one request: he wanted Mr. McGovern, a former aide, to have his spot on the committee. His wish was granted, keeping a Massachusetts voice on one of the most important committees in Congress, which clears all legislation for debate on the House floor.
When Mr. Moakley gave his Rules seat to Mr. McGovern, he propelled the Worcester congressman to a critical role in the machinery of the Democratic Party on Capitol Hill. The Rules Committee, often called the “traffic cop” of the House, is a tool the House Speaker and party leaders use to assert majority rule and block initiatives from the minority.
While it is largely mysterious to people outside the Capitol, in power and influence, it is one of the most important panels in Congress: In the highly-structured House, it is the Rules Committee that sets the terms for debating legislation on the floor – deciding, for example, how long debate will last and whether amendments will be allowed.
And while Mr. McGovern is the second-ranking Democrat on the panel, he does not always hew the party line expected of its members. Mr. McGovern and other Democrats say that when Republicans ran the House, they violated traditional standards of openness and fairness.
Democrats, he said, are fairer than were Republicans, but “we’re not as open as I’d like.”
The Democrats, who gained control of the committee when the majority switched in the 2006 election, sometimes may disagree on how to structure or amend a bill. But Rules Democrats never act independently. If there is discord within the party, they don’t let the public see it. They are agents of the Speaker, party loyalists, who speak with one voice.
Unlike some Democrats, who prefer to set rules that guarantee a party victory, Mr. McGovern said his party members should be open to hearing Republican ideas.
“We need to be more accommodating to different points of view – even if that means we lose a few votes,” he said. “I think that would help greatly in increasing civility in the House.”
But Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise M. Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said she will be aggressive in pushing through the Democratic agenda.
“I don’t want to lose any votes,” she said. “I’m pretty much a stickler on that.”
Rules Committee meetings are often characterized by sharp interchanges where members of both parties accuse each other of ignoring the opposition or using underhanded tactics. Some members like to talk more than others. Mr. McGovern tends to listen more than he talks.
During a day of back-to-back meetings and debate sessions, Mr. McGovern stopped by his office, a spacious room with a narrow window view of the Capitol dome. Magic Marker drawings from his children deck the walls, hanging next to framed photographs of congressmen and presidents.
Mr. McGovern is exhausted from attending a four-hour Rules Committee meeting the night before, which ended at 1 a.m. “There’s never a downtime,” he said.
“I’m on my ninth cup of coffee,” he said, cracking a tired grin. “I spend more time in that little committee room…”
“…than in your own bed,” chimed Michael D. Mershon, his press secretary. Mr. McGovern nodded in agreement.
Tired, Mr. McGovern was clearly excited by his newfound ability to influence every important piece of legislation in the House.
John Samples, director of the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, said that while he does not doubt Mr. McGovern’s sincerity regarding being fair and open to Republicans, he questioned the extent to which McGovern can make it happen. This kind of approach would be in direct conflict with the Democrats’ efforts to push through their agenda, he noted.
“I don’t think it would take many losses to change his opinion,” Mr. Samples said, “and if he tried to act on it, [House Speaker Nancy P. Pelosi] would try to change his mind very quickly.”
“I would not expect for any length of time that there would be any effort to allow minority party participation,” he added. “The leader and the new majority wish to be successful, and to be successful, they have to control the agenda.”
Mr. McGovern said he likes serving on Rules because it gives him the power to fight for the issues he cares about. But this can be challenging. The Rules Committee meets more often than any other House committee, and members must be able grasp bills spanning issues from foreign affairs to energy to education. On all these bills, the members communicate constantly with the speaker.
“It’s highly extraordinary that [Mr. McGovern] got a seat on the Rules Committee as early as he did in his career,” said Marc C. Miller, an associate professor of government at Clark University who studies Congress and is on sabbatical in Washington, D.C., this year. “It’s absolutely incredible that he would get that as such a junior member.”
Massachusetts has a long history with the Rules Committee. Four decades ago, the late Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, a Democratic congressman from Boston, was chairman of the committee, a position he used to vault himself into party leadership, eventually becoming Speaker of the House. Mr. Moakley chaired the committee in the 1990s. Mr. McGovern, now serving his sixth term in Congress, is the vice chairman.
Mr. McGovern said he tries to emulate his mentor and close friend, Mr. Moakley, by building personal relationships with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, and by not taking himself too seriously. He worked for Mr. Moakley as a senior aide for 14 years, spending several of those years in the Rules Committee.
When Mr. Moakley chaired the committee, relationships between the two parties were more cordial than they are today, according to Mr. Samples. But that’s because Democrats were so comfortable with their majority that they didn’t feel the need to be as combative as they are today.
“It was easier to be nice when the other guy didn’t have a chance of winning,” he said.
Mrs. Slaughter called Mr. McGovern “an extraordinary member” who has had “the best training in the world” working with Mr. Moakley. “Jim is so capable and so bright… everything that a committee like Rules needs,” she said.
Unlike other congressional committees, where the percentage of Democrats and Republicans reflects the ratio in the House, the Rules Committee always has nine members in the majority and four in the minority. The system is designed to give the majority iron control of House proceedings.
Close observers of Congress say it’s too early to tell if the new Rules Committee is running things differently from the committee led by Republicans, who were in the majority for the last 12 years.
“The Democrats are enjoying the honeymoon period,” said Sherwood L. Boehlert, a centrist former Republican congressman from Utica, N.Y., who did not run for re-election in 2006 after serving 24 years in the House.
When Republicans held the House, the leadership was often hammered for holding late-night and early-morning meetings in efforts to keep Democrats out of the decision-making process. When Democrats returned to the majority this year, they vowed to keep the rules process more open and limit meetings to the “light of day.”
“The Democrats are doing things about the way they said they would do, and how people think they should be done,” Mr. Boehlert said. “They haven’t had any 3 a.m. meetings, but they haven’t faced any significant controversies yet” either.
Still, most substantial conversations among committee members happen behind closed doors. “Nobody in the Rules Committee is going to open everything up entirely, because that isn’t how Congress works,” said Karin Walser, who served as press secretary to Mr. Moakley until his death in 2001.
Ms. Walser said polarization of the parties is preventing the kind of personal relationships that used to exist among congressmen when Mr. Moakley chaired the committee.
“Joe Moakley came from a world in which members of Congress would disagree during the day, then go out for dinner together or play golf. It was not the partisan world that it is now,” she said.
“Worcester is incredibly lucky to have a representative on the Rules Committee,” she said.
Jessica Arriens contributed to this report.
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Worcester Police Benefit From Military Surplus
MILITARY
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
3/13/2007
WASHINGTON, March 13 – The Worcester Police Department has received weapons, vehicles and office furniture through a little-known U.S. Department of Defense program that helps local police units cut costs.
The ongoing program, run by the Defense Logistics Agency, distributes excess equipment to
more than 16,000 participating state and municipal police departments,
including dozens in Massachusetts.
Pickup trucks, cruisers and 70 automatic rifles are among the most
valuable items Worcester has received from the Defense Department. It
also has received dozens of other items, including helmets, body armor,
parachutes, a digital camera and a sleeper sofa.
Joseph E. Kelly, state coordinator for the program,
said the volume of requests varies drastically based on many factors,
including the weather and departmental needs. Since 9/11, requests for
anti-terrorism gear has shot up, Mr. Kelly said.
Although even the highest-ranking police fficers are unfamiliar with the
program, it has the potential to save local police thousands of
dollars, Mr. Kelly said.
Vehicles, including cargo trucks and cruisers, and weapons are always
in high demand, but they also are the hardest requests to fill. More
often, departments receive less expensive equipment, such as protective
.clothing and training tools.
The program is something like a “craigslist” for police departments.
Police officials can browse available equipment on an Internet database, fill in
a request and hope their request is answered before another
department’s.
“You can pretty much name the equipment, and people have received it,”
Mr. Kelly said. “You have people online everyday looking, and when it
becomes available, they grab it.”
Mr. Kelly, who oversees the program for every police department in the
state, said he receives anywhere from 20 to 50 requests each day.
Requests can be for single items, such as one pickup truck, or hundreds
of items, such as boots for an entire police unit.
“It’s a first-come, first-serve basis,” Mr. Kelly said. “There’s no
pecking order. It’s an open bid, as long as you’re willing to do the
leg work.”
The most requested items go to departments that show the greatest need,
he added.
“It really depends on the amount of time you put in,” Mr. Kelly said.
Dartmouth Police, for instance, have saved “a ton of money” because
they actively seek, and often receive, used equipment.
The program, which is free except for shipping costs, is designed to
help local police units cut costs by using pre-owned equipment instead
of spending thousands of tax dollars on new equipment. But Lt. Larry A.
Sullivan said the Worcester Police Department does not track the savings.
For Worcester Police, the program may be a largely untapped resource.
That’s because officers are too busy with their everyday duties to
spend time searching for available equipment, according to Lt. Sullivan.
“There are savings, but you’ve got to be in the right place at the
right time,” he said. “We take advantage of it when we can. A lot of it
is basically sporadic. A lot of times, what you need is not what you’re
going to get.”
Lt. Sullivan said Worcester has not received anything from the Defense
Department so far this year. In 2006, the department received several
items, including a few vehicles.
Worcester Police have not received any high-end weapons since receiving
30 M14 rifles and 40 M16 rifles seven years ago. Those guns are still
used by SWAT units and during tactical training, even though they are
outdated, Lt. Sullivan said. He said he did not know how much the
rifles are worth, but Mr. Kelly estimated their worth at more than
$1,000 each.
Established in 1995, the 1033 Program, named for a section of the
National Defense Authorization Act, is open to federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies, but gives preference to counter-drug and
counter-terrorism activities.
Dozens of police departments in Massachusetts have received free
equipment, including the State Police.
Sgt. Robert M. Bousquet Jr., a State Police spokesman, said State
Police have received several vehicles from the Defense Department,
mostly pickup trucks.
“The vehicles have been in a variety of states of repair,” Sgt.
Bousquet said. “It’s kind of like recycling. It no longer suits the
mission of the federal government, so they try to provide an additional
use for the equipment.”
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Romney Seeks to Dispel Doubts of Conservatives
ROMNEY
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
March 2, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 2 – Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney Friday sought to dispel the doubts of conservative voters who are casting him as a flip-flopper, branding himself as a Ronald Reagan Republican who would shrink government and preserve traditional family values.
In a stump speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Mr. Romney touted his record of cutting taxes and balancing the budget as governor. Calling Massachusetts the “San Francisco of the east,” he said he fought state lawmakers to keep marriage between a man and a woman, drawing an ovation from the crowd. The room was packed with hundreds of conservatives, many of whom waited several hours to hear his half-hour speech.
Mr. Romney said he would follow President Reagan’s credos as an economic conservative, social conservative and national security conservative. Although the mainstream media cast conservatism as a dying philosophy, Mr. Romney said, “conservatism is alive and well.
“Coming from Massachusetts, I saw first-hand the liberal future, and it doesn’t work,” Mr. Romney said. “It’s time to take government apart and put it back together... simpler smarter and smaller.”
Mr. Romney’s speech came on the heels of speeches earlier in the day by presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado also spoke.
Many political conservatives have been disenchanted with Mr. Romney’s mixed record. He successfully ran for governor in 2001 as a moderate Republican but has been criticized for shifting to the right to appeal to a wider conservative base since leaving the corner office in Massachusetts.
“I think he’s personally fighting an uphill battle,” said Ben L. Giovine, a writer and researcher for Citizens Against Government Waste, who watched the speech on a TV screen in a neighboring room. “There was already talk of him being a flip-flopper. I haven’t heard anything positive about him.”
Mr. Giovine said it’s still early to be thinking about the 2008 presidential election because “the more time these guys have to run, the more time they have to screw up,” he said.
But Wetzel L. Drake, a third-year law student at the University of Baltimore who waited six hours to hear Mr. Romney’s 3 p.m. speech, said he left a strong impression despite the negative buzz.
“He erased a lot of doubt that some people had about him,” Mr. Drake said. “A lot of people think that he’s a liberal in sheep’s clothing, but I think he sold the room…. I think he’s going to get past this label of being a flip-flopper and someone who changes with the wind.”
Conservatives at the conference said Mr. Romney’s supporters had a much greater presence than the other presidential candidates did.
“This place was ridiculous with Romney people,” Mr. Drake said. “I hope it was a grass-roots movement.”
There’s a lot of animosity between Mr. Romney and Mr. Brownback right now, Mr. Drake added. “They’re trying to get that conservative label, because whoever gets that is going to be the conservative nominee.”
Although Mr. Romney said the Bush administration was unprepared for the rising violence in Iraq that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, he said he supports President Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, which is already underway. “An unquestionably strong military is the best ally for peace in the world,” he said.
To fight Islamic terrorists in the long term, Mr. Romney said he favors “a second kind of Marshall Plan” for moderate Muslim governments. “In the end it’s the Muslim people themselves who will have to eliminate radical jihad,” he said.
“America must remain the world’s military superpower,” he added. “To remain a military superpower, we must also remain an economic superpower.”
Mr. Romney also said he would oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, fight to repeal the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law and enforce English education.
On working with lawmakers, Mr. Romney said: “I like vetoes. I’ve vetoed hundreds of provisions as governor,” adding that he favors a line-item veto at the national level like the one he used in Massachusetts.
Throngs of students attended the three-day conference, waiting in lines to see their favorite politicos, spanning from sitting congressmen to author Ann Coulter. The conference will end with a speech by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on Saturday.
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Massachusetts Outscores Other States on Education Effectiveness
CHAMBER
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 – Massachusetts scored the highest in a state-by-state report on educational effectiveness released Wednesday, earning A’s in seven of nine grading categories.
The report, produced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in association with a pair of Washington think tanks, showed a grimmer national picture, with inconsistencies across states in how effectively they spend their education dollars, how honestly they report the results of their students and how prepared high school graduates are for college and the workforce. Dozens of states scored C’s and D’s on categories like rigor of academic standards and quality of data about student performance.
“This is a matter of critical, national urgency,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “What’s at stake is the continued vitality of the American dream for every one of our children.”
The report said Massachusetts ranks 15 percent higher than the national average in the percentage of eighth graders at or above proficient reading and math levels. It commended the state for spending education dollars effectively and for setting rigorous curriculum standards for English, math and science.
It cited the Bay State as a leader in ensuring that students pass Advanced Placement exams and go on to enroll in college. The report also praised the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which students must pass to graduate high school.
“There’s a long way to go even if you’re at the head of the class,” Mr. Donohue said. “This is a long-term, uphill struggle.”
The Center for American Progress, a progressive think-tank that is often at odds with the business community, partnered with the chamber on the education report, as did the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
John D. Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff to President Clinton, said in states like Massachusetts governors have played a key role in raising standards of education. He said he hopes high scores will put pressure on governors to maintain these high standards.
“Our school year is organized for the late 19th century economy, not the 21st,” Mr. Podesta said, explaining that schools should consider instituting longer school days and after-school programs.
The report did not call for national standards, but did pressure states to overhaul their education systems and encouraged the business community to participate.
Despite its overall high score, Massachusetts received a C grade for not giving schools and principals enough freedom and flexibility to hire teachers, design new schools and use technology to improve performance.
Chamber of Commerce leaders said many states have a long way to go improve data so parents can see how their children are performing and why they are performing that way.
They also said teachers who are ineffective or impede the progress of students in any way should find new work.
At a Feb. 15 conference of the National Governors Association in Washington, Stafford N. Peat, administrator for secondary and school support at the Massachusetts Department of Education, told the Telegram & Gazette that Massachusetts is working to improve and expand data that will “draw the links between how students’ high school education shapes their performance in college.”
The Chamber of Commerce’s report is based on data from the National Assessment of Education Progress, a test administered to fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide.
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Meehan to Spend Recess in War Zone
MEEHAN
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 16, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16—When Congress goes on recess next week, most representatives will be in their home districts catching up with their families and their constituents. But U.S. Rep. Martin T. Meehan, the Democrat from Lowell, has different plans. He’s going to Iraq.
As chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Mr. Meehan is leading the seven-day trip to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to evaluate the training of Iraqi forces, judge the influence of sectarian violence on American efforts and assess reconstruction projects. He is traveling with other members of the subcommittee, which includes Democrats and Republicans.
Mr. Meehan visited Iraq in 2003 and again a year ago. But this trip, which comes at the cusp of a lengthy House debate on the Iraq war, is his first as a chairman.
“I expect to see a country that each time I visit is more violent,” Mr. Meehan said in a telephone interview. “I expect to see a country that’s in the middle of a civil war.”
The quality of life for Iraqis has declined over the past three years, he said, and he expects that trend to continue.
Mr. Meehan said he plans to hold meetings with military and civilian leaders on the ground in Iraq, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, the newly appointed commander of American forces in Iraq. He also will meet with Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
After visiting Iraq in January 2005, Mr. Meehan wrote a white paper about his trip that included an exit strategy to end the war. Mr. Meehan said James Baker and Lee Hamilton echoed several of his recommendations in their report on Iraq, which was released last December.
As the leading member of Congress charged with monitoring efficiency and ethics in the armed services, Mr. Meehan said he plans to study how much of the $25 billion in U.S. aid has been bungled in fruitless reconstruction projects.
“Twenty-five billion dollars has been spent on reconstruction, and there is very little to show for it. I intend to look at those sites in terms of how to prevent this waste of taxpayer money,” he said, adding that Congress has the responsibility to keep war and reconstruction spending in check.
U.S. House members this week were allowed at least five minutes each to speak on a nonbinding resolution endorsed by the Democratic House leadership that opposes President Bush’s proposal to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Baghdad. Most Democrats are backing the measure, which would not cut funding for troops currently in the region.
Some Democrats say the symbolic nature of the bill is too meek; instead, they want to end the war completely by removing funding.
Republicans are split, some siding with the majority and others siding with the president, who said he thinks the debate in Congress is sending mixed signals overseas and weakening morale among troops.
Mr. Meehan said he is “opposing the surge in troops” by supporting the nonbinding resolution, but he also would be in favor of redeploying current troops from Iraq in no less than six months if such a measure were to reach a vote on the floor.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, has proposed such a bill, which proposes a redeployment of troops within six months and a cut in war funding. The bill is not likely to see debate any time soon.
“It would take six months to safely redeploy troops in Iraq,” Mr. Meehan said. “I certainly wouldn’t be for cutting money to do that.”
He added: “I think the insurgency is being fueled by our occupation. This cannot be won militarily. It has to be won politically by the Iraqi government.”
Mr. Meehan and his colleagues will stay overnight in Baghdad and tour other parts of the country next week. They also will attend meetings in Kuwait, Jordan and Belgium.
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Mass. Using Grant Money to Motivate School Boards, Students
HIGH SCHOOL
Priyanka Dayal
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 15, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 – The National Governors Association Thursday recognized Massachusetts for using a $2 million grant to raise high school graduation standards and to track how public high school graduates perform in college.
Massachusetts’s Department of Education applied for the grant in 2005 and implemented the new standards after winning the money in 2006. Nine other states also received grant money, which totaled about $20 million, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Although all the states participating in the Redesigning High Schools program are working toward the same basic goals of improving student performance, raising the graduation rate and establishing an information database, Massachusetts is the only state setting incentives rather than requirements.
Stafford N. Peat, administrator for secondary and school support at the state Department of Education, said Massachusetts is trying to use data to hold schools accountable. One of the measures will be raising the bar for performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, a high school graduation requirement.
Mr. Peat joined education leaders from other states at a two-day conference to assess the progress of the two-year program that began last year. The meeting was hosted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
High schools in urban areas – in Massachusetts and other states – tend to have lower graduation rates than schools in suburban areas, but compared to other urban areas, Worcester schools are ahead, Mr. Peat said.
“Worcester does better than other urban school districts. The graduation rate is higher,” he said.
He called Worcester “a bastion of innovation” that has increased the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses, strengthened its math and science programs and prepares graduates for careers. “They just need more money,” he said.
“We couldn’t tell how the students were doing,” Mr. Peat said, so improving state bookkeeping will help draw the links between how students’ high school education shapes their performance in college. Increasing data will help school boards improve alignment between high school and college curricula, Mr. Peat said.
A major portion of the grant money will go to a statewide awareness campaign called “Think Again,” including the Web site ReadySetGotoCollege.com, which is targeted at high school students in urban areas, Mr. Peat said.
The department is investing in this communications plan because setting standards in public education is largely a local rather than a state issue in Massachusetts. The only way to improve standards through this grant-sponsored program is to entice schools to raise the bar and encourage students to set higher personal goals.
Although the $2 million grant is only a small fraction of the state’s education budget, “this is driving what we’re doing at the department,” Mr. Peat said.
“These grants were meant to be catalytic,” said Sandra Licon of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We realize that our grants and philanthropic grants in general are only a drop in the bucket when you think about all the money that is spent on education,” Ms. Licon said, but she said she hoped the states would continue their programs after the grant money expired.
In high school graduation rate, the United States ranks 16th, behind countries like Denmark, Norway and Germany, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data from 2004.
“We’re competing globally,” Mr. Peat said. “There’s a sense of urgency. The former governor had that sense of urgency. Gov. [Deval L.] Patrick has that sense of urgency as well.”
Massachusetts has an 80 percent graduation rate, compared to a national rate of 71 percent, according to data provided by the National Governors Association.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Mr. Peat said. “We have a long way to go.”
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Static Massachusetts Delegation Helped Swing Democratic Victory in Congress
Massachusetts
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal and Danny Lauridsen
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 –Massachusetts congressmen used their excess green to add a little more blue on the map during the last election.
The 10 U.S. House members from Massachusetts, all Democrats, had their seats functionally secured well before last November’s election. But they played a pivotal role in the Democrats’ sweep of Congress last fall by raising funds for and contributing heavily to the campaigns of candidates around the country.
No matter how large their victories and how high their popularity, public officials need to raise funds to ward off possible challengers and prove themselves as party loyalists. But especially in 2006, the Massachusetts delegation reached into their pockets to help give the House majority to the Democrats.
“They have been great team players in helping the Democrats win the majority in November,” said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “And given their leadership roles in Congress, we hope they will continue to do so. They have been an important part of the team.”
In a Congress whose partisanship seems to grow stronger each year, the Democratic campaign committee, which relies on well-funded and safe Democratic incumbents to garner support for candidates in tight races across the country, views Massachusetts as a major asset to the party.
Five of the 10 representatives from the Bay State ran unopposed, and the other five out-raised their opponents by more than $500,000, each winning with at least 65 percent of the vote.
Each member raised at least $650,000 for the 2006 election, and four of them raised more than $1 million. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Newton, topped his colleagues with more than $1.8 million, according to end-of-the-year reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Of the 435 members in the House of Representatives, members from Massachusetts have among the largest sums of money in the bank. Only eight House members have more than $2 million, and three of them are from Massachusetts, including Martin T. Meehan of Lowell, whose $5.1 million is by far the biggest war chest of any U.S. congressman, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan watchdog group that tracks money in politics.
Edward J. Markey of Medford has the second highest amount, with $2.4 million, and William D. Delahunt of Quincy ranks seventh in the nation with about $2 million.
David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund, an advocacy group that favors limiting the influence of special interest money in American politics, said the stakes were high for both Democrats and Republicans in 2006.
“There was a lot of pressure on [Democratic] candidates who did not have competitive races – like the ones in Massachusetts – to raise money and give it to” the Democratic campaign committee, Mr. Donnelly said.
The committee charges dues from all the Democrats in the House, but the fees vary depending on committee assignments and seniority. Members of the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees, for example, pay more than members of other, low-profile committees. Committee chairmen also pay more than those without gavels.
In addition to dues, Massachusetts congressmen contributed more than $2 million to the Democratic campaign committee, which filters the money to congressional campaigns around the country. Each delegate contributed $100,000 or more.
The pressure to raise funds for Democratic candidates nationwide also came from liberal blogs. Mydd.com, for instance, ran an online “use it or lose it” campaign, asking incumbent Democrats to use their funds for the good of the party, Mr. Donnelly said.
Michael Mershon, spokesman for U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern of Worcester, said because Mr. McGovern ran unopposed last fall, he sought to raise money for other candidates rather than promoting himself.
“Not having an opponent for Jim’s congressional race certainly freed up his time and energy,” Mr. Mershon said. “He was more able to help other candidates out.”
Mr. Meehan, who gave more than $109,000 to the Democratic campaign committee last year, in addition to more than $15,000 in dues, said through a spokesman that he is already “working to keep the momentum moving toward the 2008 congressional and presidential elections.”
He added: “I look forward to doing my part in those key races to keep the congressional majority and return a Democrat to the White House.”
Mr. Meehan’s hefty bank account has fueled speculation that he plans to run for Senate if veterans Edward M. Kennedy or John F. Kerry were to retire. Mr. Kerry, who ran for president in 2004, announced last month that he would not seek the presidency in 2008 but would instead stand for re-election to the Senate. Mr. Kennedy won an easy re-election to his seat last fall.
“For a while, many members of the House were raising money to stockpile it for a future run in the Senate,” Mr. Donnelly said. “The speculation has generally surfaced around Marty Meehan and Barney Frank.”
But after Mr. Kerry announced he would stay in the Senate, Mr. Frank said he decided he would not run for Senate in 2008. Instead, he has donated $250,000 from his campaign war chest to the Democratic campaign committee.
Mr. Meehan, in a statement released by his office, said: “I plan to run for re-election in 2008. I will use the funds available to me in my campaign account for that election and any future races.”
Mr. Meehan is rumored to be eyeing a position as chancellor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, a move that also would shake things up in an otherwise static delegation.
But Mr. Meehan’s spokesman, Bryan DeAngelis, said, “Right now he has not been offered the job. They asked to sit down and interview him, but he has not applied for the job. He plans on seeking re-election.”
Mr. Meehan, who does not accept donations from political action committees, also has been at the forefront of efforts to overhaul campaign finance laws. He introduced legislation last month that would increase the amount of public funds available to presidential candidates to encourage them not to run privately-funded campaigns.
Another possible shake-up in the Bay State is the redistricting after the 2010 Census, in which Massachusetts could lose a House seat. And western Massachusetts, with its dwindling population, could be the most affected. A switch to nine House seats would pit two incumbents against each other, giving the candidate with the larger war chest a distinct advantage.
Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said it is important for candidates to plan for future races even when they are running unopposed.
“You don’t want to look weak or out of touch because that might prompt someone else to come challenge you next time,” he said. “Even the most secure politicians always have some fear that they’re going to be challenged by a well-financed opponent sometime down the road, and to prepare they have to amass this war chest.”
Ritsch pointed out that it took about $1 million to win a House race in 2006, meaning that with the money Mr. Meehan has in the bank right now, he could win five.
Josef Blumenfeld, a global public relations and branding consultant in Natick, Mass. who has worked in politics, said that in a state as politically predictable as Massachusetts, candidates who have had a high profile in past election cycles would have a big advantage in the wake of any kind of political upheaval.
“These are products,” he said. “They’re brands. There’s a fundraising advantage in being the incumbent from purely a self-preservation perspective.”
Blumenfeld compared campaign fundraising in seemingly locked-up races to large corporations that advertise to consumers who are already likely to buy their products.
One thing candidates must figure out while campaigning in non-races is where to place the fine line between looking out for the party and looking out for the future. Blumenfeld said organizations like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or the DCCC, often argue that candidates in locked-up races are not giving enough to the party as a whole.
“There were murmurings from the DCCC that Democrats up here should open up their war chest a little more, but I think they came through in the end,” he said.
In the case of the Massachusetts delegation, being a team player last year extended not only to other nationwide elections, but also to the race for governor. Mr. Meehan contributed $125,000 to help carry Democratic Gov. Deval L. Patrick to victory last November.
In every move they make, though, candidates are considering which alliances will benefit them the most in their ambitions for a higher office, experts said.
“Raising money and contributing it to the party has also become one barometer used by members of both parties to assess if someone is serious enough to be a committee chair,” Mr. Donnelly said.
As Ritsch pointed out, “The campaign really never stops.”
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McGovern’s Iraq Pullout Bill Not Likely to Surface in House Debate
MCGOVERN
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 – With the Democrats now in control of Congress, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, is hoping for a more “open and honest” discussion about the war in Iraq, and he wants his new proposal to cut funding for the war to be part of the discussion. But the U.S. House leadership has decided to limit debate on the Iraq war next week to a non-binding resolution that they say will express support for the troops while rejecting President Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
Public frustration with the war in Iraq helped propel Democrats to a majority in the House last November, and while they are critical of President Bush’s strategy in Iraq, they can’t seem to agree on how critical they should be.
“People have all kinds of plans,” Mr. McGovern said in a telephone interview. “Mine is the toughest that says the war has to come to an end now.”
Several other bills reprimanding the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq and calling for a redeployment of troops are floating around the House and Senate, as Democrats now in control in Congress mull how to challenge the president’s approach. But the House Democratic leadership, headed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has been reluctant to pursue any bills that would call for a dramatic halt to the president’s war strategy by cutting funding.
The House is scheduled to debate the issue for three days next week, beginning Tuesday.
In a statement released by his office Friday, Mr. Hoyer said, “I respect Congressman McGovern’s ideas on Iraq and expect that he will be a critical part of the debate on establishing a new direction for our efforts there.”
Michael Mershon, Mr. McGovern’s spokesman, said Mr. McGovern’s resolution could surface as an amendment.
Mr. McGovern has introduced what he calls the most extreme measure on the table. His bill requires the president to withdraw all U.S. forces within six months and would cut congressional funding for the war after withdrawal is complete. It would transfer authority of U.S. bases to Iraqis, but it would not affect economic or social reconstruction projects, Mr. McGovern said. He introduced the bill in a five-minute speech on the House floor on Jan. 31.
The 10-year House member has long been one of the war’s most vociferous opponents. Now he is trying to collect support for his bill. Twenty-one other congressmen had signed onto the bill as co-sponsors as of Friday evening. They include four Massachusetts Democrats: Barney Frank of Newton, William D. Delahunt of Quincy, John W. Olver of Amherst and Michael E. Capuano of Somerville.
Ronal C. Madnick, an anti-war activist who is executive director of Worcester’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a member of Worcester Peace Works, said he thinks Mr. McGovern is “absolutely right on this issue.”
“We’re being dragged deeper and deeper into this thing,” Mr. Madnick said. “We’re sending more and more troops, and it was only a matter of time before they started shooting down our planes and helicopters.”
Mr. McGovern said he is not sure how much support he will be able to garner for his bill, which, if it reaches debate on the floor, will be pitted against less extreme measures sponsored by other House Democrats. But at the very least, he is hoping to send a message that Congress will no longer tolerate the president’s “moral blunder” in Iraq.
“There are a lot of bills,” Mr. McGovern said. “My expectation is in the next few months, either as amendments or moving through on their own, there’ll be some attempts to get votes on the House floor.”
Separately, U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle attempted last week to draw up a non-binding resolution to voice their disapproval to Mr. Bush. But debate stalled when Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to find a compromise.
If the House votes on a non-binding resolution, Mr. McGovern said he would vote in favor of it, because it would convey a powerful message. But he said it isn’t enough.
“It would be the first time that any branch of Congress has ever gone on record as being critical of this war,” he said. “Up to this time, Congress has been silent, Congress has been acquiescent.
“I object to the escalation, but I also object to the whole war,” he added.
If and when Mr. McGovern’s proposal comes to the House floor for debate, it may be offered as an amendment to a larger defense or appropriations bill rather than an independent bill.
Mr. McGovern was undeterred by the White House’s statement that congressional resolutions challenging the president’s management of the war send mixed signals overseas.
“I’m more concerned about the men and women over there than about the fact of if I’m on George Bush’s Christmas card list,” he said.
Mr. Madnick said if the House passes a non-binding resolution expressing disapproval over the president’s plan to deploy more troops to Iraq, it would be a “small step” in the right direction.
“I think we should be proud that we have somebody here in central Massachusetts that has the courage to stand up when it’s unpopular and say what he believes,” he added.
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Senate Passes Compromise Minimum Wage Bill
WAGE
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Priyanka Dayal
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 1, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1-- The Senate Thursday ended nine days of debate and approved a bill that would raise the national minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour over the next two years.
The bill, which passed 94-3, includes tax benefits for small-business owners who hire minimum-wage workers. The legislation marked a compromise, as Senate Republicans had thwarted Democrats’ efforts to pass a bill that would raise the minimum wage without including such tax provisions.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who has long been a leader on the issue, hailed the vote as a victory for American workers but said it could take another few weeks before the measure passes the House.
The House on Jan. 10 passed a bill that raised minimum wage without including any tax benefits to small business owners. Now members from both houses will have to negotiate a compromise bill which must pass each chamber before going to President Bush’s desk.
Mr. Kennedy has long called for a minimum wage bill that does not include any other provisions. Since last week he has been making appearances with advocacy groups who favor hiking the minimum wage. He has lambasted Republicans on the Senate floor for proposing dozens of amendments to the bill, a tactic he said delayed the vote. Republicans, meanwhile, refused to budge until the bill offered tax breaks in addition to a wage raise.
The bill, which passed the Senate around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, gained bipartisan support after Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) offered several tax provisions for small-business owners.
“The tax provisions are directly related to employment,” Mr. Kennedy said at a press conference following the vote. “Of all the amendments, these are the least offensive.”
He added: “The minimum wage is going to go up. The only question is, is it going to take a week or two and a half weeks?”
In a press release, he said, “after 10 years of stalling and nine days of debate, the time has finally come to vote on an increase in the minimum wage. We will finally have the opportunity to take one step closer to the kind of country we want to be – where no one who works for a living has live in poverty.”
The bill would raise minimum wage to $5.85 an hour 60 days after enactment, $6.55 one year later and $7.25 the year after that. The measure would not affect workers in Massachusetts, where the minimum wage is $7.50 an hour and will increase another 50 cents at the beginning of 2008.
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