EDUCATION REFORM ISSUES, and where a public official stands on them, have long defied easy categorization using the conventional yardstick of more liberal or more conservative positioning. 

That was on full display 30 years ago when a bipartisan coming together of Beacon Hill leaders ushered in passage of the landmark 1993 Education Reform Act. The law brought new standards and accountability measures to Massachusetts schools – along with billions of dollars in new state aid to districts, much of it directed through a highly progressive funding formula to the state’s poorest communities. The law also introduced charter schools to the state’s education mix.

The three principals who worked together to get to “yes” were the state’s notoriously tax-averse Republican governor, Bill Weld, and the liberal Democrats who co-chaired the Legislature’s education committee, Tom Birmingham in the Senate and Mark Roosevelt in the House. 

In more recent years, perhaps nothing illustrated better the ways education policy can make for strange bedfellows than Birmingham spending nearly a decade as a “distinguished senior fellow in education” at the Pioneer Institute. A Harvard-educated labor lawyer with a decidedly left-leaning outlook on issues of the day, Birmingham found a comfortable home at the free-market-oriented think tank when it came to education policy. 

“We’d laugh about it. We’d talk about it,” said Jim Stergios, the longtime executive director of Pioneer. “Tom and I would not agree about a budget, I’m sure. But there were lots of areas where we did agree.” Foremost, he said, was “social mobility and giving people an opportunity to rise.” 

Birmingham, who grew up in a triple-decker in working-class Chelsea and went on to become president of the state Senate before waging an unsuccessful run for governor in 2002, died last week at age 73. 

Birmingham’s backing of strong accountability measures and testing in public schools – and his strong support for charter schools – put him at odds with teachers unions and, increasingly, with a broader swath of the Democratic Party. But he never wavered from his belief in the full menu of reforms embedded in the 1993 education law. 

“He was an all-of-the-above guy on this,” Stergios said of Birmingham’s embrace of everything from charter schools to a robust set of vocational-technical high schools across the state. “Because he came from a place where there wasn’t so much opportunity, he saw what education could do for people’s lives.” 

That all-of-the-above belief was the underpinning of a 2016 op-ed Birmingham co-authored calling it hypocritical of a local NAACP official to chair the campaign opposing a ballot question to expand charter schools while strongly supporting the METCO program that buses Black students from Boston and Springfield to suburban districts. 

“Despite selection and funding processes that are demonstrably more democratic and more generous than METCO’s, charter schools are the subject of unrelenting hostility,” he wrote. “It’s hard to reconcile the positions of those who claim that charter schools ‘siphon’ money from school districts and ‘cream’ the best students, yet support METCO. The facts are clear: Both of these highly successful programs should be celebrated — and expanded.”

“He had a very large sense of the common good, and I think education was the expression of that,” said Jamie Gass, director of Pioneer’s Center for School Reform. 

Birmingham was in many ways an unlikely politician. “He was very idea driven. He wasn’t a backslapper,” said Stergios. 

Birmingham had a great sense of humor, “but wasn’t naturally suited to be a politician,” said Jack Corrigan, who served as a top aide to Gov. Michael Dukakis. “He was a little shy. He was perfectly fine going door to door and talking to anyone about issues. I never got the sense that he was comfortable selling himself as a person.”

“I think what motivated him was justice for the working class,” said Corrigan. “That, I think, was his driving principle, whether that was fighting for better wages and working conditions or a better education system for working class communities.”  

If that sometimes made for uncomfortable tension, with Birmingham’s labor allies and some liberals not happy with his stands on education policy, he was fine with that in a way that is increasingly uncommon, said Stergios. 

“People knew he was true to who he was,” he said. “And by bucking every once in a while your most loyal supporters, people respect that. I don’t see that too much anymore.” 

MICHAEL JONAS

 

NEW STORIES FROM COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE

Millionaire tax maneuverings: Key lawmakers and economists favor special treatment for revenue from the millionaire tax, saying a good chunk of the money should be set aside, much as capital gains surpluses are now.

– House and Senate budget chiefs say the money should go to “new initiatives” in education and transportation, but they haven’t decided the split or what would qualify as a new initiative.

– Economists say the state’s tax cap is unlikely to be triggered this fiscal year or next (nearly $3 billion was returned to taxpayers last year), but lawmakers are considering tweaking the law to distribute money more equitably and clean up what revenue would qualify for the tax cap calculations. Read more.

BMC chief to join Healey administration: Sources say Gov. Maura Healey has tapped Kate Walsh, the president and CEO of Boston Medical Center, to be secretary of health and human services. Read more.

Still undecided: Top budget officials from the Legislature and Healey administration are still undecided about whether the state can afford some version of a package of permanent tax cuts that died at the end of the last session. The indecision comes amid talk of a “slow-cession” and modest tax revenue gains. Read more.

OPINION

Taking a toll: Todd Gazda, executive director of the Collaborative for Education Services in Northampton, says staff shortages throughout the K-12 education system are taking a heavy toll on student programming and services. Read more.

 

STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB

 

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

The City of Boston paid out $39 million in legal settlements from 2020 to 2020, with $31 million of that related to cases involving the police department. (Boston Globe) 

St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish in Chelsea is selling its convent building to Chelsea House, which intends to open a halfway house for women with addiction problems. It will be Lynn’s fifth halfway house and local pols are not happy it’s next to an elementary school. (Daily Item)

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia says he intends to oust the chair of the Holyoke Historical Commission, Paolo Ferrario, who says she intends to fight her ouster. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

A coalition has filed legislation on Beacon Hill to combat racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the state. (Boston Globe) 

ELECTIONS

The struggling Massachusetts Republican Party has just $35,000 in net assets in its accounts, according to the party’s treasurer. (Boston Globe) 

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Lego is moving its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston in 2025. (Associated Press) The Herald’s Sean Cotter has a look at how the plan quickly came together. 

The Northshore Mall in Peabody continues its evolution, adding an LL Bean store. (Gloucester Times)

Yankee Candle closing its corporate office in Deerfield. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

EDUCATION

School superintendents back new student accountability rules that would give some school districts more time to rebound from COVID losses. (WBUR) As CommonWealth reported earlier this month, the rules had received some pushback at a previous meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

A study by researchers at MIT says busing is not leading to improved academic outcomes for students of color in the Boston Public Schools. (Boston Globe) 

A group of four Boston city councilors is continuing to push for returning police officers to Boston schools, now focusing their lobbying on Superintendent Mary Skipper. (Boston Herald) 

TRANSPORTATION

Lawmakers are renewing the call for full electrification of the MBTA commuter rail network. (Boston Herald)