Mass. school superintendents seek regulatory relief
Massachusetts school superintendents are seeking relief from regulations and mandates, saying they are overwhelmed by the cost of state and federal rules and their impact on school district budgets.
Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said Wednesday his members are interested in an overall review of the fiscal impact, redundancy and possible streamlining of regulations.
In testimony submitted to the Joint Education Committee, Scott said Taunton Public Schools estimated state and federal rules and would require $6.7 million in expenses over the next few years. The school district's budget is about $78 million.
"Educators fill their day completing checklists, filing paperwork, recording reams of data, and complying with numerous regulations that have minimal benefit and are not improving schools or the student learning experience," Daniel Gutekanst, Needham Public Schools superintendent, wrote in his own testimony.
Maynard superintendent Robert Gerardi said he has been a superintendent for nine years, and in the last three years, mandates have "exponentially" increased.
"Multiple legislative demands" for data reporting have led to his district hiring a data entry specialist with a $45,000-a-year salary, he said.
"This salary is equivalent to one less teacher that I could have used during the last two school years to reduce class size," he added.
Gerardi pointed to a 2010 anti-bullying law and said the district hired consultants to offer "social skill coaching" for parents, students and teachers so they can properly identify bullying. "This is a cottage industry that cost my district an additional $10,000 this year and will now be a reoccurring cost due to the continued confusion and litigation around bullying," he wrote.
Scott, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents executive director, testified in support of legislation that would set up an 11-member task force to review education-related mandates.
The bill was filed by Rep. Alice Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat and co-chair of the Joint Education Committee.
"I note that we do provide billions of dollars in local aid to school districts, so it's not as though there's no state funding," she said. "But I think there may very well be, and I'm hopeful that this commission will answer the question, of whether we have some overlapping reporting requirements, primarily reporting requirements that we might be able to modify so that it would reduce the administrative burden on the schools."
Peisch said many mandates that draw complaints are federal ones.
"I'm hopeful that we'll identify some opportunities for streamlining. Maybe for example, a report the feds require, we determine is sufficient for our purposes instead of some duplications, that kind of thing," she added.
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