The Politics of Hope, Take One

...After the state Labor Relations Commission acted against the Boston Teachers Union for threatening an illegal strike, Patrick simply eliminated the commission from his fi rst state budget...

...The school would have served two demonstrably failing school districts, one of which is on the verge of state receivership...

...Even the Boston Globe, which enthusiastically endorsed Patrick, is losing patience...

...But the teachers’ unions maintain a deep antipathy to the reforms and to anything that encourages charter schools—charter school teachers are not automatically unionized...

...Massachusetts charter schools outperform their district counterparts and are wildly popular—25,000 students attend the 61 schools and another 19,000 are on waiting lists...

...In February, it published an editorial calling on the administration to support charter schools and to reject the “pre-1993 state of fl at expectations, phony promotions, and torpid teaching...

...The board developed a statewide exam that students must pass to earn a high school diploma, a curriculum framework that enforces standards, and a system for teacher testing...

...Then he eliminated the board’s independence by pushing through legislation that shortens the terms of reform-minded members and increases the board’s size—allowing him to pack it with his own appointees...

...And on February 5, Massachusetts Democrats fi led their interim report on the politics of hope, rejecting the governor’s handpicked candidate and giving Hillary Clinton a double-digit win in the Massachusetts presidential primary...

...Even if you chalk that up to just how scarce Republicans are in Massachusetts (12 percent of the electorate), it’s hard to explain away the fact that Patrick, shortly after being sworn in, set up a 16-member team to cleanse the executive branch of GOP holdovers...

...ees to unionize without a secret ballot election...

...The unions pumped $3 million into Patrick’s campaign, and the governor called education his “singular pursuit...

...Fifteen of the 20 most generous PACs in Massachusetts are labor organizations, and they contributed heavily to Patrick’s campaign...

...His January budget plan uses nearly $500 million from the commonwealth’s rainy day fund and includes a $1.3 billion structural defi cit—after a year of record tax receipts...

...But it is with education that the governor’s special interest agenda is most transparent...

...This achievement is thanks to the landmark 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act...

...At the unveiling of his reorganization plan, the usually affable Patrick suggested that those who are concerned about the statewide exam and charter schools should “grow up...

...That year, over 200 business executives came together with a Republican governor and Democratic legislature to enact a grand compromise: high standards, accountability, and school choice in exchange for a large infusion of taxpayer dollars (more than $40 billion so far) into education...

...Far from the politics of hope, Patrick’s fi rst year in offi ce has been a cross between Mike Dukakis and Tammany Hall...

...Repayment began quickly...

...Then there’s Patrick’s wholesale sellout to the unions...

...Patrick has proven to be little more than a machine politician packaged with a New Age ribbon of hope...

...The Manhattan Institute’s Sol Stern called it the true “Massachusetts Miracle...

...He has wasted little time...

...When the test was next administered in 2007, the commonwealth did it again...

...Then he used his fi rst two picks for the Board of Education to demolish standards and choice: choosing anti-testing zealot Ruth Kaplan and charter school opponent Paul Reville—whom he also made chairman of the nine-member board...

...The reforms were overseen by the Massachusetts Board of Education, which was established in 1837 and has always been an independent entity insulated from politics...

...But the Reville-run Board of Education quickly became the fi rst to reject a charter school application recommended for approval by the acting commissioner of education...

...Beginning later this month, a new education secretary will have veto power over some of the reconstituted board’s most important decisions...

...What he is pursuing is the systematic dismantling of the successful 1993 reforms...

...Both run optimism-heavy, light-onspecifics campaigns, exhorting voters to “take a chance on your own aspirations...

...His fi rst budget eliminated the state’s independent education accountability offi ce...

...All have become national models, and the 1993 act is considered the most successful education reform initiative of the last half-century...

...If Deval Patrick is indeed a preview of Barack Obama, the lesson is buyer beware...

...Both read from David Axelrodpenned speeches—often the same David Axelrod-penned speeches...

...In 2005, Massachusetts became the fi rst state ever to place fi rst in all four categories of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, generally known as the Nation’s Report Card...

...The similarities between Barack Obama and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick are unmistakable, leaving some to wonder whether Patrick’s governorship might be a preview of an Obama presidency...

...To raise cash, he has proposed increasing business taxes, allowing the commonwealth to increase borrowing, and opening state-run casinos—the last overwhelmingly rejected by the legislature in March...

...Patrick is committed to big government and has proposed billions in new spending, including a billiondollar giveaway to biotech companies, a new $1.4 billion commuter rail line, numerous multibillion-dollar bond bills, and a proposal to make Massachusetts community colleges tuitionfree...

...Ruth Kaplan publicly complained that charter schools are too focused on preparing students for college...

...Despite Patrick’s “Together We Can” campaign mantra, there isn’t a single Republican in the governor’s cabinet...

...Then in September, he granted a big union wish, signing legislation allowing public employ Charles Chieppo is a senior fellow and Jim Stergios is executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a think tank in Boston, Massachusetts...