Mayor backs off on MCAS challenge

The mayor of New Bedford has backed away from his plan to give high school diplomas to students who flunked the MCAS, saying he would not sacrifice the $100 million in funding the governor threatened to withhold.

Governor Mitt Romney said last month he would punish the city by cutting state funding and rescinding administrators' certifications after the School Committee voted to give diplomas to students who failed the MCAS. Political support for the plan quickly eroded, and this week Mayor Scott W. Lang said he would hand out ``certificates of achievement" instead. The certificates look like diplomas, but omit the word ``diploma" as required by the state.

The Standard-Times revealed the turnaround yesterday, but Lang said he realized weeks ago that the city was in an impossible position. He gave out the first certificates, which the state allows, to 14 night-school students on Monday. Another 52 students, who also did not pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam, will receive certificates Thursday at New Bedford High School's graduation.

Lang vowed to continue challenging the system and criticized the state for using strong-arm tactics to dodge questions about the consequences of the MCAS graduation requirement.

``Instead of looking at the problem, the answer was a threat," said Lang. ``They weren't thinking in terms of the kids and moving the education system forward. They were thinking in terms of: `We don't want a debate on this issue.' "

Students who fail the 10th-grade English and math tests have not been allowed to receive diplomas since the test became a graduation requirement in 2003. More than 95 percent of the state's students have passed the test each year. About 10 percent of New Bedford's graduating seniors, 66 of roughly 660 students, have not passed the test this year.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , the Republican candidate for governor, said yesterday that the state was right to threaten the low-scoring school system with the loss of money.

``The state has to do what is necessary to maintain the high standards that have created the best public schools in the country here in Massachusetts," she said.

Romney declined to comment.

But Lang said cities and towns are left to contend with students who cannot pass the test. He said the 66 students who will earn a certificate will probably have trouble getting into college or finding a job. To aid them, the city will start a six-week test-prep class to prepare students to take the test again in July. The program will cost the city $40,000; Lang said the state slashed funding for such programs over the past five years. State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll, in a statement, acknowledged that such funding had dwindled, and said he has urged the Legislature to restore it.