Mass. Lawmakers Consider Measures For Low-Performing Schools

A boisterous crowd is expected Thursday on Beacon Hill for a public hearing on two major education bills.

One bill would give the state Board of Education the power to intervene in under-performing school districts. In some cases that would mean giving the education commissioner the authority to suspend collective bargaining contract agreements.

Massachusetts Teachers Association President Anne Wass will ask lawmakers to negotiate proposed contract changes. If a potential solution involves a collective bargaining issue, she said, it should be bargained.

“Teachers know best what works. We’re the ones in the building, and we know what the problems are, and we need to be very much a part of the solution,” Wass said.

The second bill would dramatically increase the number of charter school openings in the lowest performing school districts.