Governor Patrick’s Proposal to Create Education Secretary Moves Forward
Boston – The House of Representatives today passed legislation to reorganize the Commonwealth’s education system, from pre-K through Higher Education. The bill, which would create a cabinet-level secretary of education, was filed by Governor Patrick on January 10 to coordinate seamlessly each sector of education in the state.
“The House passed Governor Patrick’s proposal to better target our education goals throughout the Commonwealth. Our existing education organization will be bolstered by a new cabinet secretary of education and our children will be well served with an education advocate at the highest level of state government,” said Representative Barbara L’Italien (D-Andover).
“The House overwhelmingly voted today to approve of the Governor’s proposal to reorganize the state education system. I believe streamlining our education governance under a new Secretary will be a step toward a more cohesive and comprehensive organization,” said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-Boston).
“I am pleased the House has supported our proposal to improve the Commonwealth’s education governance structure,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “This is an important step forward in our commitment to offering a world-class education to every child in Massachusetts.”
“Having a Secretary of Education will provide the necessary alignment of the three education silos that our system has lacked while maintaining the independence of the various Boards. I am so pleased that the coordination supplied by this new Secretariat will enhance the Commonwealth’s mission of ensuring a high-quality ‘Cradle-to-Career’ education,” said Representative Patricia Haddad, Co-Chair, Joint Committee on Education.
The bill would create an Executive Office of Education to be headed by the Secretary of Education. The Executive Office will oversee the departments of:
• Early Education and Care (existing)
• Elementary and Secondary Education (formerly called the Department of Education)
• Higher Education (currently the Board of Higher Education)
The Secretary of Education will be granted authority over:
• The boards’ final approval of each of the three commissioners
• Approval over mission statements and 5-year master plans, at the departmental level and, within higher education, at the institutional level.
• A voting seat on the UMass board, as well as three education boards
• Approval of budget and capital outlay requests at the departmental and institutional levels.
The legislation will maintain, expand and restructure existing education boards. Each of the boards will expand by two members and the secretary will also serve as a voting member of those boards. The terms of members on the Elementary and Secondary board will be staggered to ensure that a fixed number of appointments come up each year. Peer commissioners from each board will be removed. All existing powers of the boards will remain as they are.
Additionally, the legislation would grant the Governor authority to appoint the chair of the UMass board of trustees.
The Governor’s proposal now moves to the Senate for its consideration.
