Author: By Beth Daley, Jordana Hart and Kate Zernike, Globe Staff

Date: TUESDAY, January 5, 1999

Page: B2

Section: Metro

[A PUBLISHED CORRECTION HAS BEEN ADDED TO THIS COLUMN.]

Have an education issue you want aired, or thoughts on the state of education today? Write to Lesson Plan, City Room, The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378, or send e-mail to educate(at sign)globe.com.

Last week, we offered grades for some of the more notable education events of the past year. This week, in the spirit of the New Year, Lesson Plan offers six resolutions for education initiatives we would like to see addressed this year. A selective list, of course, and readers are welcome to send in their ideas for other goals. Because the nice (or nasty, depending on your point of view) thing about school is, the New Year starts again in September. And that will offer the chance for more resolutions.

1. Make schools safer

The stabbing of a student at South Boston High School right before Christmas highlighted the dramatic need for an increase in school police in Boston. Last year there were 61 false fire alarms, 45 cases of arson, and seven bomb threats in Boston public schools, according to a source. Adding to a culture of fear in many of Boston's high schools are teachers' complaints of unruly and disruptive students. In 1985, there were 105 school police officers; now there are 67. It's time for Superintendent Thomas Payzant to make students and teachers feel safer.

2. End empty buses

At the start and end of every school day in Boston you see yellow school buses on almost every main street. But the buses rarely are full. In fact, by some accounts, some buses transport only a handful of students to and from school each day. Part of the problem is the student assignment system in Boston, where students are bused from all parts of the city. The result is much of the more than $40 million spent each year on busing is misspent. There has to be a better way.

3. A seven-year plan

The financial provisions of the seven-year Education Reform Act of 1993 come up for reconsideration next year, which means it's time to figure out how to make sure the state's schools -- rich and poor -- continue to get fair financing. First, the state needs to figure out how to phase out what was supposed to be "emergency" aid to poorer communities with low property tax bases. The money was never phased out, which means many cities are still contributing relatively little local money to their schools. Lawrence, for example, was contributing nothing to its schools, with the state picking up the entire tab, even as the state auditor found the city had mismanaged $9 million in education overhaul money.

The funding equation was supposed to be more like 50 percent from the state. There is grumbling from the wealthier suburbs, led by the League of Women Voters, who complain that these communities didn't get enough state money from the overhaul act. It's hard for Wellesley and Concord to cry poor to the Legislature. On the other hand, these towns are struggling with rising enrollment and spiraling special education costs. They have gotten some emergency relief, but the state should figure out how to address their concerns long term, rather than on a year-to-year basis, as it has done since 1993.

Which brings us to:

4. Special-ed overhaul

This is the third rail of state politics. But even special ed advocates admit that the state needs to overhaul a system with the highest percentage of special education students in the nation. The Legislature last year came as close as it has come to overhauling the nearly 30-year-old system. But efforts stalled because parent advocates persuaded lawmakers the state had not adequately researched the consequences of adopting the federal standard, which requires schools to provide a "free and appropriate public education," as opposed to the current Massachusetts requirement for providing the "maximum possible benefit." The advocates suggested, and got, a year's study of that issue. A year is up. [CORRECTION - DATE: Friday, January 15, 1999: CORRECTION: The Lesson Plan column that ran Jan. 5 stated that advocates had asked for, and received, a study on whether to move the state's special education law closer to the federal standard. Although the Legislature approved a bill to fund a study, none was conducted because Governor Paul Cellucci vetoed money to pay for it, saying what was needed was reform.]

5. Pact for colleges

The state college teachers' union has been without a contract for several months. State Board of Higher Education chairman Jim Carlin has suggested what could be a landmark contract, offering professors three- or five-year renewable contracts without tenure. It is a proposal the professors are loath to consider, perhaps understandably. But the reality is that colleges across the country are overhauling tenure, so change is inevitable -- indeed, the UMass professors' union last summer agreed to post-tenure review. But rather than accept tenure overhaul and negotiate some change that might be acceptable to them, the state college professors' union has simply walked away from the table and refused to come back. They should return to the table, and stop bad-mouthing Carlin.

In a particularly low moment last year, the union sent out e-mail suggesting a boycott of Carlin's son's Route 9 supermarket. When the chairman protested, the union backed down, and suggested that every professor head down to the store to pick up a few sun-dried tomatoes.

6. Better price campaign

Colleges and universities need to do a better job explaining a question most parents still can't figure out: Why are they so expensive, and why is higher education the only sector of the economy where prices are rising at twice the inflation rate?

Some Ivy League schools earned praise last year for offering more financial aid (by dipping into their endowments). But many schools joined an American Council on Education campaign to persuade the public that they aren't so expensive. Some financial aid organizations refused to join the campaign, saying schools have done nothing to keep prices down -- like commit to a lower rate of increase, or more aid. Many academics who study school finance say there is no factor to account for the increase.

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