The schools in Lawrence were so bad that the state took them over. But the candidates for mayor don’t seem inclined to change one key aspect of the school system’s previous management approach once control is returned to the city.
At a debate this week between four of the six candidates for mayor, all of them said they would support the return of an elected school committee after the state takeover ends. In Lawrence, the mayor is the chairman of the school committee. (Video of the debate is on the homepage of the Eagle-Tribune website and the segment on the school committee begins at 55:59.)
“An elected school board is one of the most honored traditions in America. We should continue doing it,” said City Councilor Dan Rivera. “Democracy is a beautiful thing…so elected,” added Juan Manny Gonzalez. Rep. Marcos Devers and James O’Donoghue also supported an elected school committee. The incumbent mayor, William Lantigua, skipped the debate.
By contrast, the candidates for mayor in Boston overwhelmingly favor a school committee appointed by the mayor. At candidate forums attended by 10 of the 12 candidates, eight said they favored an appointed school committee, one (City Councilor Charles Yancey) said he wanted an elected committee, and one (City Councilor Felix Arroyo) backed a hybrid model where four of the members would be elected and three appointed by the mayor.
Boston moved to an appointed school committee in the early 1990s. Mayoral candidate and Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said he would maintain the status quo. “If you want true education reform in this city, we need to have an appointed school committee and the mayor needs to be held accountable,” he said.
John Connolly said he favors an appointed school committee, but he’s torn. He said an elected school committee leads to politics that can take precedence over education, but he says the existing appointed committee in Boston has become little more than a “rubber stamp for the mayor.”
Yancey said the appointed school committee has done little to improve education in Boston and notes Boston is the only community in the state with an appointed school committee. “Are the people in Boston less able to discern what education leaders should be?” he asked.
–BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray say they will lead efforts to repeal the software design tax and use existing surplus funds to replace the $161 million the tax was expected to bring in, CommonWealth reports. WBUR’s report focuses on the campaign by tech companies to repeal the tax.
The Peabody City Council says don’t stop with the tech tax, urging the Legislature to also repeal the law requiring the gas tax to rise with inflation, the Salem News reports. Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker continues his upbeat tone, praising lawmakers for moving for repeal rather than using their flip-flop to make political hay. Meanwhile, The Berkshire Eagle asks the obvious: If lawmakers intend to revitalize the state transportation network, what source of revenue is going to replace the tech tax? The Herald takes its recently-awarded prize for “most patently disingenuous statement ever uttered by a politician” away from Sen. Karen Spilka, and hands it to Gov. Deval Patrick, for coming out against a tax he originally proposed.
The Senate passes a bill sharply raising the penalties for corporate manslaughter, the Associated Press reports (via WBUR).
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The Wareham Housing Authority comes under fire for sloppy internal controls, South Coast Today reports.
The mayor of Washington, DC, Vincent Gray, vetoes legislation that would have required big box retailers like Wal-Mart to pay a “living wage,” the Washington Post reports.
With the longtime chairman of the Boston Redevelopment Authority board heading toward the exits, the Herald raises the possibility of Mayor Tom Menino stacking the powerful development board against his successor.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The Dorchester Reporter’s Bill Forry checks in on construction progress with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, which is rising on Columbia Point and is on schedule to open next fall.
Joe Biden blamed opposition to the Violence Against Women Act on the “Neanderthal crowd” of Republicans in the House.
Congress’s approval rating has soared to a dismal 19 percent, but it may not stay there for long.
ELECTIONS
The Globe reports that Attorney General Martha Coakley is preparing to jump into next year’s race for governor, a move that some Democratic insiders view with trepidation in light of her famous flame-out three years ago against Scott Brown.
CommonWealth profiles Boston mayoral candidate John Connolly, who has made school reform his signature issue, as does today’s Globe.
CommonWealth looks at community health center founder and Boston mayoral candidate Bill Walczak, who brings a public health mindset to his strong anti-casino stand. WBUR interviews Walczak.
Scot Lehigh says mayoral hopeful Rob Consalvo is “all in” — when it comes to pandering shamelessly to the Boston Teachers Union. Consalvo does little to turn back such a notion when he separately tells a Globe reporter the teachers union is “dying” for a mayor like him.
Adam Reilly, Peter Kadzis, and David Bernstein, in WGBH’s weekly “Scrum” video chat, weigh in on the buzz around John Barros. Peter Gelzinis grabs a slice of pizza with Barros.
Jim O’Sullivan reports that the political wise guys aren’t feeling so wise when it comes to predicting the outcome of Boston’s 12-way mayoral preliminary.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump says cities and towns spent $7.2 million on the special US Senate election to replace John Kerry and the state should reimburse the communities, the Patriot Ledger reports.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Intel plans to close a Hudson plant and lay off 700; the company will still remain as the town’s largest employer, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
Twitter is going public, preparing to sell stock to the public.
EDUCATION
Somerville school officials are purging the results of recent teacher evaluations from personnel files after union complaints that administrators went overboard in giving “needs improvement” grades to teachers under a new evaluation system.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Scientists say acid rain is slowly changing East Coast rivers, turning them more alkaline, WBUR reports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Robi Blute, the ex-wife of former US representative Peter Blute, is led handcuffed into court in Worcester and charged with filing false tax returns, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
MEDIA
The Globe trims staff at its Your Town local sites.
The New York Times public editor explains how the Vladimir Putin op-ed ended up in the paper.
The pressure builds on for the Washington Redskins to change the name of the team.
