BUSINESS GROUPS BACKING MCAS
Jumping into the legal fray over the controversial MCAS exam, Massachusetts business leaders yesterday urged a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming the test is discriminatory.
The coalition of business groups has filed "friend of court" briefs insisting that invalidating the MCAS graduation requirement is the wrong way to tackle disproportionately high failure rates among minority, disabled, and urban youth. In September, lawyers for eight students sued in US District Court in Springfield, alleging that the state lacks authority to enact a single test as a graduation prerequisite, and that students in some struggling districts haven't been taught the material on the MCAS. "The problem we have with this case is the remedy they seek. . . ." said Henry C. Dinger, a partner with the Boston law firm Goodwin Procter who filed the 17-page brief last week supporting the state's efforts to keep MCAS. "What the MCAS is allowing us to do is identify schools that are doing a good job and schools that are not doing a good job so we can do something about it."
The groups in the filing - the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, Mass Insight Education, and Associated Industries of Massachusetts - represent hundreds of businesses and have been among the staunchest backers of MCAS since it debuted in 1998. They asked US District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor to let them offer legal arguments on the state's motion to dismiss the suit - as well as on "other substantive issues that may come before the Court."
But Roger Rice, one of the students' lawyers, said the business groups seem to want to exceed routine friend of court briefs that simply support a side, and play a bigger role in the case. Rice said he will oppose the filing on those grounds.
"I see this as the state Board of Education trying to get multiple bites of the apple," said Rice, executive director of Somerville-based Multicultural Education Training & Advocacy. "This is a case with three parties - the kids, the state, and the local defendants. We will have a lawsuit without having big-brother allies to help us out."
The suit names state education officials and the city of Holyoke, where four of the eight plaintiffs live, as defendants. The other students live in Billerica, Brockton, Northampton, and Springfield.
Rice noted business groups such as Mass Insight Education have a financial incentive in the MCAS controversy because they have won state contracts to promote the test. Mass Insight Education President William Guenther said such a notion is "off the wall," adding that the plaintiffs' claims of discrimination might be moot if they pass the exam on retests before June.
Beginning with the class of 2003, students must pass the 10th-grade English and math portions of MCAS to graduate from high school. About 12,000 high school seniors, or 19 percent, have yet to pass, with two more chances before June.
Two weeks ago, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly asked Ponsor to dismiss the case against the state. A hearing is set for Dec. 2.
Yesterday, the coalition of business groups met in Boston and Springfield to brief corporate executives about their stance, comparing an abandonment of the MCAS requirement to "shooting the messenger."
Rather than gut the MCAS requirement, the business groups suggest other legal remedies if schools don't do their jobs - such as an order that districts pay for a year of community college for students who haven't passed MCAS, or transportation to get them to superior tutoring programs in neighboring school systems.
"If we need to push the state harder, it's our responsibility to do so," Guenther said.
The business leaders also repeated a common refrain: Eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement would devalue a diploma for students who cleared the test's hurdles. They again pointed out that jobs in an increasingly complex economy require the tougher skills that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam gauges.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said the state did not ask the business groups to intervene. The three groups behind the briefs were joined by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and Business for Better Schools.
All the business organizations have played prominent roles in efforts to overhaul Massachusetts schools. In fact, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education stood with student plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit that forced the state to overhaul the way it finances education. But this time, the alliance and other business associations sided with the state.
Author(s): Anand Vaishnav, Globe Staff Date: November 13, 2002 Page: B3 Section: Metro/Region
