Longer school day, science exam urged

Governor Mitt Romney unveiled last night his plan for an Education Reform Act of 2005 that would require underperforming districts to lengthen the school day "well into the afternoon," improve college-level teacher training, and make science a graduation requirement "as soon as possible."

While those ideas were new, much of the agenda Romney outlined in his annual address to the Legislature mirrored proposals introduced last year as his Legacy of Learning initiative, including a call to lift the cap on new charter schools, a plan for mandatory parent preparation courses, a proposal to give principals power to remove bad teachers, and another to offer incentives for recruiting math and science teachers.

While the Legislature did implement some of Romney's plan, many of the ideas the Republican governor revisited last night were roundly rejected last year by the House and Senate, which are dominated by Democrats.

This year Romney framed his agenda in the terminology of a moral mandate, saying that he and the Legislature have an obligation to work in a bipartisan way to improve student performance in underperforming districts.

"Kids in our urban schools, most of them minorities, are not succeeding at anywhere near the rate of their counterparts in the suburbs," Romney said in his annual State of the State address. "And let me be clear: The failure of our urban schools to prepare our children today for the challenges of tomorrow is the civil rights issue of our generation."

Teachers union leaders, who generally support Democratic candidates, said last night that lofty verbiage could not conceal what they called a lack of substance in Romney's blueprint for education reform.

"Unfortunately, the governor's proposals fall short," said Catherine A. Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. "They are recycled ideas that have not gone anyplace and are presented once again under the guise of major education reform."

Education spending is likely to dominate discourse on Beacon Hill this year because the Supreme Judicial Court is expected to rule shortly on a case challenging the state's school funding formula as unconstitutional. The Hancock v. Commissioner of Education case, filed by several poorer districts, has hung over the State House like a sword of Damocles: If the SJC overturns the funding formula, it could force the state to spend millions more dollars for education.

But Romney made it clear he does not want the SJC determining how the state allocates its education dollars. "Education reform is the job of the Legislature and the executive," Romney said. "We are ready to do that job."

Still, Romney offered few specifics for his Education Reform Act, calling instead for a bipartisan effort to "give all our kids the opportunity to reach their dreams for tomorrow." If passed, Romney's bill would be the first comprehensive school overhaul law since 1993, when lawmakers established the MCAS test as a graduation requirement.

Currently, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests just English and Math. Eric Ferhnstrom, Romney's communications director, said the governor will appear before the state Board of Education on Jan. 25 to urge it to add a science section to the MCAS test and thus establish science as a graduation requirement. The board was already working to require both science and social studies for a diploma, but Romney said yesterday that should be done "as soon as possible."

With regard to lengthening school days at underperforming schools, Romney said only that he wants "a longer school day, with provision for special help, study hall, and sports.

"Learning should last well into the afternoon, not end at 2 o'clock," he said.

Kathleen Kelley, president of the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, said her union is not opposed to such a plan, as long as it does not become an unfunded mandate that burdens teachers.

"We've always been willing to look at a longer day, because it makes some sense," Kelley said. "But unfortunately, we can't even pay for what we're doing now within the confines of the current school day. A longer day costs more money, and you have to pay people to be there."

Kelley said the governor would better serve underperforming schools by addressing the rapid turnover among the state's newest teachers, who she said lack the support necessary to foster longevity among classroom educators.

State Senator Robert A. Antonioni, Democrat of Leominster and cochairman of the Legislature's Joint Education Committee, said he liked much of what he heard in Romney's address, but expressed surprise that Romney laid out no specific plan to address inequities in school funding.

"I think Hancock is very much an issue, and we ignore it at our peril," Antononi said, referring to the funding lawsuit. "But Hancock is not just about new money, it's about additional accountability and the way we direct funding, particularly in our underperforming schools."

Antonioni and Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty, Democrat of Chelsea, have filed a bill that would allow school districts that rank lowest in MCAS scores to spend more on charter schools: 20 percent of their budgets, up from the current cap of 9 percent.

Raphael Lewis can be reached at rlewis@globe.com.