House softens MCAS graduation rule

Says special-ed students need not pass for diplomas

By Rick Klein and Michele Kurtz, Globe Staff, 5/7/2003

The Massachusetts House voted last night to grant the first major exception to the MCAS graduation requirement, allowing special education students who have repeatedly failed the exam to collect diplomas this spring.

The amendment was approved over the opposition of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran by a vote of 117-37, and comes as the first sign of legislative sympathy for any group burdened by the exam. If it is adopted by the Senate and signed into law, the measure would allow school committees to award local diplomas to special education students who fulfill local graduation requirements, even if they have been unable to pass the MCAS.

The amendment's backers said the Legislature needs to resolve the issue of special education students who have been unable to pass the exam. This year's seniors are the first for whom passing the MCAS is a requirement for a diploma. Special education students make up 12 percent of all seniors, and as many as 2,000 special education students in the Class of 2003 could be affected by the amendment.

''How do we look them in the eye and tell them that all of their hard work has been for naught?'' said state Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat who sponsored the measure. ''To give local districts the ability to award [non-MCAS] diplomas this year is the only fair way.''

Shawn Feddeman, Governor Mitt Romney's press secretary, said the governor would thoroughly review the amendment before deciding whether he would sign it. But the governor does not support MCAS exemptions for special-needs or other groups of students, she said.

''Governor Romney will not retreat from high standards or accountability for our students,'' Feddeman said. ''He's a strong supporter for the MCAS and stands by it as a graduation requirement for all students.''

James A. Peyser, an education adviser to Romney and chairman of the state Board of Education, said he was surprised by the House vote. He said it would detract from the higher standards that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System was meant to bring to all students, including those with special needs.

He noted that a special education exemption would cover children with a broad range of learning disabilities and other special needs, and could put the requirement on a slippery slope, inviting an endless list of exemptions. About 69 percent of special education students have already passed MCAS, he said.

House Education Committee chairwoman Marie St. Fleur asked her colleagues to defeat the amendment, saying it would amount to ''abolishing the requirement'' for high school graduates to pass the MCAS. But in a rare rebuke to Finneran and his leadership team, House members voted overwhelmingly -- and with a veto-proof margin -- to carve out the exemption.

Heidi B. Perlman, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said state officials would be monitoring developments closely to determine how to proceed, with high school graduations just weeks away.

Next week, a federal judge will hear arguments from lawyers for a group of students who have failed MCAS and are seeking an injunction against the MCAS graduation requirement.

''Our position all along has been that we believe in the law as it's written, which means all students have to reach the same standards,'' Perlman said. ''We're definitely going to watch with interest what the Senate and the governor does.''

MCAS opponents were elated by the vote. ''It's great for those kids, and it's the first big crack in the MCAS facade,'' said Lisa Guisbond, statewide coordinator for MassCARE, a group that's opposed to the MCAS graduation requirement.

The House defeated on a voice vote a budget amendment that would have allowed school districts to award local diplomas to all students who fail MCAS but fulfill their schools' requirements.

Also last night, the House voted 93-60 to defeat an amendment that would have placed a three-year moratorium on the approval of new charter schools.

Opponents of charter schools asked their colleagues to prevent new schools from opening, in part to save money while the state copes with a fiscal crunch. But House leaders said the issue should be considered outside the budget this fall, as part of a wider-ranging debate about the future of charter schools in Massachusetts.

 

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 5/7/2003.