Sympathy from Paul Reville

In a recent post, I discussed the anti-charter-school behavior of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.  Although charter school results in the state have been strong, Patrick has allowed a binding charter cap to prevent further growth.  Patrick even had the nerve or incompetence to confuse the state cap (which still has room) with local district-based caps in cities like Boston: "As recently as this month... Patrick called the issue of raising the cap 'a total red herring' because 'we are not at the cap.'"  (When is this guy up for re-election?)

The good news is that Patrick's latest budget proposes raising the local cap from 9% of budgets to 12% for the 50 lowest performing districts.

Education Secretary Paul Reville noted the difficult decisions in weighing the financial needs of the education establishment versus the goal of effectively educating children:

"There are mixed feelings... There is a lot of sympathy on Beacon Hill for local communities having state aid cut, but there is also sympathy for students experiencing deep achievement gaps."