Reaching out
Cellucci says teacher development, recruiting top agenda
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff, 11/06/98
Governor Paul Cellucci, lamenting his ''bad rap'' as a teacher-basher during the campaign, extended an olive branch to those who make their living in the classroom yesterday.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Globe in his corner office, Cellucci said one of the first things he will do as governor will be to inspire bright young people to become teachers, and help those who have already chosen that career to continue learning.
''One thing that I want to put a little focus on is professional development for teachers. I've got some recommendations coming up there,'' said Cellucci, who did not elaborate. ''I think I got a bad rap as a teacher-basher. I never bashed a teacher. I think teaching is the most important job in our society.''
Cellucci said that although the state will fund the last step of the more than $1 billion education-reform program this year, he may push beyond that benchmark to increase spending on such things as a scholarship program encouraging top students to become teachers.
''I want to work on recruiting more people into the profession,'' Cellucci said. ''We've put this scholarship program in place that we'd like to expand to offer the top-performing high school kids scholarships at a state university or one of the state colleges if they agree to receive a teaching degree and teach in Massachusetts for four years.''
Last summer, Cellucci took a drubbing from teachers when he won tougher teacher testing standards after 59 percent of prospective teachers could not pass a basic skills portion of the state's first such exam.
In response to the poor test scores, Cellucci and legislative leaders announced a broad-ranging plan to restore prestige to teaching, offering such things as $20,000 signing bonuses for new hires. The plan will cost between $5 million and $10 million.
Cellucci is also seeking to test current teachers, something that has drawn the ire of teacher unions and helped earn him his teacher-basher moniker.
It is unclear how much expanding scholarship programs and teacher development will cost.
But the price could be estimated in more than dollars because it will be weighed against Cellucci's other major initiative for the coming legislative session: a $1 billion tax cut that would result from reducing the earned-income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent this year.
And once again, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran warned yesterday that he would look critically on allowing such a massive tax reduction, especially if funding for education is increased. But the chances of both proposals happening in a year when the economy is uncertain are slim, Finneran said.
''On a $20 billion budget, he is talking about ripping out 10 percent of the revenues,'' Finneran said. ''To pull 10 percent out of the revenue side of our balance sheet might inhibit our ability to do what you have promised to do in the area of education.''
Cellucci, however, insists the state can survive just fine with less revenue and more spent on education and he is going to push for both.
''It's the right thing for our families,'' Cellucci said. ''It's the right thing for the competitive position of our economy.''
The governor also stressed the need to expand subsidized health care to more families, adding that he expects to sign up another 100,000 recipients this year.
Also yesterday, Cellucci announced the establishment of a transition team, led by lieutenant governor-elect Jane Swift, to bring new energy and ideas to the administration.
That team will be composed of four groups overseeing education, family and health care, the economy and fiscal policy, and quality of life issues including public safety and the environment. The administration has not made any appointments to those posts, but some will be recruited from the private sector, he said.
Swift, who had a baby girl two weeks before the election, will bring a new perspective to the administration, Cellucci added.
''I think when we're talking about child care and issues that are important to working mothers it will be very helpful to have someone who is living that experience,'' Cellucci said. ''I think it's a very good thing.''
Feeling empowered by his margin of victory, Cellucci said he believes he has a ''mandate'' to implement the death penalty, lower taxes, and improve education.
This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 11/06/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
