State House News Service 

Boston, January 26, 1999--Spending increases proposed by Gov. Paul Cellucci today would bring all schools up to the minimum funding levels set forth in the 1993 Education Reform Act.  In addition, Cellucci said the budget he will propose tomorrow will request about $110 million in new spending to expand a variety of existing education programs. 

In proposing the new spending, Cellucci said the Legislature and the executive branch are making good on their 1993 promise to double spending on K-12 public education. That is noteworthy, he said, because Beacon Hill politicians have so often broken their promises. 

The Cellucci education plan also shows his priorities differ from another top state leader. 

Cellucci has recently said he could not support House Speaker Thomas Finneran's call for a major $100 million expansion in early childhood education because it is important for the state to live up to its education funding promise first.  But in proposing expansion of education programs, in addition to fully funding education reform, Cellucci is showing he prefers to sprinkle new funds throughout the system rather than investing in one area. 

In his new plan, Cellucci asks for $20 million to expand early childhood education.  That money will be included in the budget he will unveil tomorrow, which will also call for an unlimited number of charter schools. The other programs he wants to expand include: 

* School building projects.  A $41 million spending item would advance 58 
school building projects in fiscal 2000, which begins July 1. 

* Early childhood education.  In proposing $24 million to bolster pre-kindergarten learning, Cellucci points out that early childhood education programs have received $95 million in new dollars since 1995. His fiscal 2000 proposal is much more modest than plans recently announced by Finneran. 

* Tutoring.  To help students improve their standardized test scores, a $20 
million item is proposed for tutoring. 

* After-school programs.  A $12 million appropriation would expand after-school programs with the goal of reducing student drop-out rates and 
preventing a surge in juvenile crime that is feared with the upcoming surge 
in the teen population. 

* Teachers.  A $20 million matching grant program to help with teacher 
hiring efforts. 

* Modest spending increases are proposed for teacher and principal 
mentoring ($6 million), leadership academies for teacher training and 
professional development ($4 million), development of on-line classrooms 
and technology curriculum ($2 million), regional school transportation ($6 
million), expanded school nutrition programs ($5 million), and charter 
school reimbursements ($10 million). 

If his new spending plans are approved during the upcoming five-month 
budget cycle, Cellucci said the state will have helped to fund the hirings 
of 15,000 local teachers since 1993.  He said new education spending has 
paid for many teacher salary hikes, adding that he believes Massachusetts 
teachers are paid "pretty well" compared to other states. 

Cellucci said the measure of school accountability will be Massachusetts 
Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test results. Cellucci recently 
described the first round of test results as unacceptable and today suggested state education officials will take over school districts that are deemed to be underperforming based on future test results. 

"The ultimate measure here is how students are performing," Cellucci said. 

Administration officials could not provide an estimate of how much new 
non-education local aid cities and towns will receive under the budget to be filed tomorrow. 
 

RETURN TO FRONT PAGE