GOVERNOR STIRS UMASS-BOSTON GRADUATES They cheer his plan for 2-year colleges
BYLINE: Maria Sacchetti Globe staff
University of Massachusetts at Boston graduates roared their approval yesterday of Governor Deval Patrick's plan to open community colleges free to all students, even as lawmakers and others criticized the proposal because the governor never said how he would pay for it.
Patrick, beaming before a crowd of 10,000 graduates and their families gathered beside Dorchester Bay, outlined his vision of public education in his commencement address to graduates of the state's most diverse public university. He called for universal preschool, full-day kindergarten, a longer school day and year, and at least two years of college or technical education, paid for by the state.
He dismissed concerns about funding, saying some people also had doubted that United States could put a man on the moon or win World War II. He said that Massachusetts must invest in education to strengthen its economy and compete with China and other nations for business.
Though Massachusetts leads the nation on standardized tests, he said, it lags behind for low-income and minority students, who also drop out at higher rates. His sister, Rhonda Sigh, who earned a bachelor's degree from UMass-Boston last year at age 50, was also at the graduation.
"Here's the point," said Patrick, dressed in the crimson robes of Harvard, his alma mater, eyeing the 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students. "If we don't, if we accept the status quo as the best that we can do and the best that we can have, then God help us. ... I ask you to join me."
His plan - to unfold over a decade, instead of eight years as aides said earlier - has potentially hefty price tags each year, including $120 million for full-day kindergarten, $600 million for universal preschool, $1.3 billion for a longer school day and year statewide, and $180 million for free tuition and fees for community college students, according to estimates from state officials and education advocates.
Lawmakers and taxpayer groups fear that Patrick is raising unrealistic expectations. Already he has proposed spending $1 billion over 10 years for medical research and biotechnology, without a guaranteed source of funding, among other plans.
Citizens for Limited Taxation called the governor's plans "a dreamer's wish list" and said they doubted lawmakers would pass his education plans.
House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., Republican of North Reading, said the governor was promising things he cannot deliver. Cities and towns are struggling to pass overrides, he said.
"He fails to inject a dose of reality," he said. "I'm one of those pragmatists that he laments, but if it's so easy to do, then why ... aren't there any details of the costs?"
Backers of the plan suggested yesterday that the cost could be lower once a Patrick committee examining the proposal starts sifting the details. Patrick plans to appoint lawmakers, educators, and business and community leaders to the group, which he calls the "readiness project."
Full-day kindergarten programs, now in 65 percent of classrooms throughout the state, could be phased in, with districts or parents picking up the share of the cost, according to the state Department of Education.
Extended learning time could start only in cities and towns that want it, which could reduce costs significantly, said Chris Gabrieli, cofounder and chairman of Massachusetts 2020, a nonprofit educational opportunity foundation.
Higher Education Chancellor Patricia F. Plummer praised Patrick's idea of offering a free education to all community college students. If the state cannot afford it, an alternative would be to pay $25 million to $40 million in free tuition to recent high school graduates, or 10,000 of the roughly 200,000 students on the 15 campuses.
Others said they hoped the governor would try to make the plan work on a larger scale.
President David Hartleb of Northern Essex Community College said yesterday he hoped that all community college students could enroll for free. Only a third of community college students are recent high school graduates.
"The average student at Northern Essex is over 28 years old," said Hartleb. "To say, just limit it to high school graduates, shortchanges the majority of people who come to community colleges."
Noah Berger, executive director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, said that closing corporate tax loopholes could be a key source of new revenue, about half a billion dollars a year.
"We need to acknowledge that fundamentally improving education would not be cheap," Berger said. "I think a lot of the issues he raised are definitely good things to do."
UMass-Boston students praised Patrick's plan yesterday, saying that rising tuition and fees make it hard for students to finish college as early as they would like.
"It will help them," said Celestine Osuji, who immigrated from Nigeria in 1992, and earned a bachelor's degree yesterday at age 40.
Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com