GOV. MAURA HEALEY said Massachusetts voters have spoken on ballot questions doing away with the 10th-grade MCAS graduation test and auditing the Legislature, but she didn’t absolutely rule out signing into law legislation that would alter the new laws.
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio on election night called on Healey to veto any attempt by the Legislature to repeal or modify Question 1, which grants DiZoglio’s office the authority to audit the Legislature. DiZoglio indicated she was worried by comments made prior to the election by House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka that they might revisit any laws created by passage of the audit and MCAS questions, which they opposed.
“I’m calling on Gov. Healey to veto their attempt to overturn the will of the people,” she said.
At a press conference in her office on Wednesday, Healey, who opposed the MCAS question and was silent on the audit question, said twice that the voters have spoken on the MCAS issue. “The voters have spoken on this and I think what’s important now is that [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] move forward in getting the appropriate guidance out,” she said.
Asked if she would veto any attempt to tinker with the laws created by Question 2 and Question 1, Healey hedged.
“I’ll review anything that comes to my desk,” she said.
With most votes counted, the legislative audit question was approved by a margin of 71.5 percent to 28.5 percent. The MCAS question’s margin was 59-41.
Immediately after it became apparent that Question 1 was approved Tuesday night, Mariano and Spilka issued a vague joint statement. “We will consider next steps regarding how to best respect the Question 1 election results in a manner that aligns with the fundamental principles of the Massachusetts Constitution, including separation of powers,” they said.
Max Page, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which pushed Question 2, said “the governor is right. The voters have spoken.” Asked if he had any concern about Beacon Hill tinkering with the new law, he said: “I would hope they would honor the will of the voters.”
The guidance issued on Wednesday by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said the new, voter-approved law takes effect December 5 and still requires students to earn a “competency determination” in order to graduate. Instead of a competency determination based on MCAS scores, the competency determination will now be based on “satisfactorily completing coursework that has been certified by the student’s district,” the guidance says.
Leading opponents of Question 2 issued statements in the wake of its passage calling for moving in a different direction than the law allows.
“Those responsible for our state’s public education system need to have an honest conversation about whether moving forward with this proposal is the right decision for Massachusetts,” said John Schneider, the chair of the Vote No on 2 group. He noted Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Mariano, and Spilka all urged a no vote.
James Rooney, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said his organization’s next step will be to “begin discussions with stakeholders about new 21st century statewide graduation requirements that prioritize every child and their education in a meaningful way, regardless of which school district they attend.”
Ed Lambert, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, urged state leaders “to immediately begin the process of creating a new, strengthened, uniform high school graduation standard that preserves high expectations and educational equity.”
The Ed Trust in Massachusetts also issued a statement, saying: “Massachusetts is left without a statewide graduation standard, highlighting the urgent need for the state to enact meaningful policies that ensure equitable access to high-quality curricula across all districts. The state should also work to develop an alternative statewide graduation standard that adequately prepares all students in the Commonwealth for life beyond high school. Without such a standard, we risk creating a disjointed system in which there is no assurance that students across the state’s 306 school districts receive a comparable education.”
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