3 Democrats, independent take message to teachers' union

HYANNIS -- The Democratic candidates for governor added new elements to their educational platforms as they auditioned yesterday for support of a core party constituency -- leaders of a statewide teachers' union.

Appearing before the annual convention of the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, all three Democrats, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, Deval L. Patrick, and Chris Gabrieli, and independent Christy Mihos, blamed current and past Republican administrations for the state's declining population and job losses. The Democrats also said public education in Massachusetts has lost ground during the Republicans' 16-year hold on the corner office.

About 250 delegates were on hand at yesterday's convention at the Cape Codder Resort. Not joining the group was Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who yesterday accepted her party's the nomination for governor at the GOP convention in Lowell.

Patrick, a former assistant US attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration, yesterday continued to modify what he acknowledges is an evolving position of support for merit pay for teachers. He also qualified his endorsement of charter schools -- like merit pay, an issue that the teachers' unions sharply oppose.

On merit pay, Patrick shifted from his support for rewards for individual teachers to saying he favors a system that would encourage collaboration within schools or teams of teachers by awarding bonuses more broadly based on a school's overall improvement. The evaluation would not be based on MCAS test results, he said.

On quasi-public charter schools, Patrick said school districts must begin to incorporate those innovations that are proven to work into traditional public schools. He also said he favors a cap on the number of public schools until new funding formulas for charter schools are devised ''that don't drain" district school funding.

Reilly, who, as the only Democrat favoring the immediate rollback of the state income tax to 5 percent has been admonished by the teachers' unions, pledged to establish a seat designated for a teacher on the State Board of Education.

''You will be at the table when policy is made," he said to applause.

Reilly, whose wife, Ruth, retired after 35 years of teaching in public schools, said he would also increase funding for the state's public higher education system.

''There has never been a governor in my lifetime who made public higher education a priority," Reilly said.

In an interview later, Reilly, a supporter of more charter schools, reiterated his support for individual teacher merit pay but said standardized test scores would be one of the criteria used to measure improved student performance.

Investor-activist Gabrieli for the first time vowed a drastic overhaul in the formula that determines the so-called foundation budget, created by the Education Reform Act of 1993, that is supposed to ensure sufficient spending to provide an adequate education to every public school pupil.

''The evidence is in; it isn't high enough," he said, acknowledging that would mean significant spending increases on public education, particularly for special needs instruction. He said the existing formula underfunds special needs instruction significantly.

Gabrieli, who opposes a cap on charter schools and supported merit pay when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1998, said he does not support it as a matter of broad policy now, though he would not prohibit individual districts using it as a tool of innovation.

He also touted the $25 million public-private partnership he initiated to fund after-school learning programs, which were approved for eight school districts.

Mihos, who left the Republican Party to run as an independent, received his biggest applause from the teachers when he pledged that ''no public school child will be charged for busing or for extracurricular activities." He also said he supports the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation proposal to set state aid to communities, now less than 30 percent, at 40 percent of state spending.

He also invited the teachers to visit his Christy's convenience store in Hyannis, where he said he personally would be pumping gas at the deeply discounted price of $1.97 per gallon.

All of the candidates hold at least some positions that are opposed by the 22,000-member federation and the larger statewide union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, but Patrick was the most warmly received yesterday. More than a third of the delegates gave him the day's only standing ovation after his remarks, which extolled teachers whose influence propelled him from his humble upbringing on the South Side of Chicago to a life he said he could never have imagined as a child.

Several union officials said privately they doubt any of the Democrats currently has enough support for an endorsement before the September primary, though they expect some locals, many of them in urban areas, to make their own endorsements.

During yesterday's proceedings, the union leaders officially changed its name to AFT-Massachusetts, incorporating the initials of its national union, the American Federation of Teachers, into the name of the statewide federation. They also elected Thomas Gosnell a veteran of the Boston Teachers Union as the new president, succeeding Kathleen Kelley, who is retiring after 13 years in the position.