Schools beset by regulations

JIM STERGIOS of the Pioneer Institute and Allison Ledger Fraser of Mass Insight Education miss the point by suggesting that removing health insurance from negotiations will expedite teacher contracts and thereby free school districts to focus on teaching. One suspects there is more to their argument ("An avoidable teachers strike," Op-ed, June 26).

Cost sharing of health insurance, a most contentious item, is but part of the task. Taking it off the bargaining table camouflages the real health and educational problem. Containing health costs at the provider level and managing inappropriate use of healthcare resources are equally effective strategies for controlling insurance costs. Exploring short- and long-term disability coverage can also help manage sick leave costs.

Meanwhile, districts must balance the state's largest educational regulatory burden -- a 14-tiered system of accountability, assessments, and accreditations -- against severely restricted local budgets. These mandates represent a huge expense in human capital diverted from kids to paperwork, compliance, and bureaucracy. Overregulation, however, benefits Mass Insight, which has enjoyed considerable revenue from education reform.

Massachusetts' public schools have been among the nation's highest performers before education reform and now, but Mass Insight and Pioneer cheerlead for the bureaucracy that burdens the nation's most overregulated public schools.

GLENN KOOCHER
Executive director
Massachusetts Association of School Committees
Boston