By Lucas Willard
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Pittsfield, MA – In 2011 the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, was discovered to have diverted over 11 million in public dollars away from their education programs. 30 Collaboratives are currently operating in the State. Including the controversy at Merrimack last year, 2 others were also discovered to have abused public funds. The report released by the State Inspector General generated the call for more financial transparency and accountability for Education Collaboratives across the state. State Senator Benjamin Downing spoke Tuesday evening after the legislation passed the Senate.
The bill which will now head to the House, as is establishes guidelines for board member training, accountability requirements, and also involves the introduction of comprehensive reviews for education collaborative every six years, similar to a typical school district in the State.
For 35 years, the Education Collaboratives have operated in the Commonwealth without this proposed level of oversight, and have been effective in providing special needs education. Joann Schumann, Executive Director of Collaborative Education Services in Northampton welcomes the opportunity to prove their organizations accountability.
The Massachusetts Organization of Education Collaboratives, or MOEC, has been working with the legislature on amending the bill to fit the needs of the collaboratives. The organizations represented by MOEC come large and small, and concerns have been addressed.
State Senator Ben Downing again .
Each Collaborative will also be required to provide financial information online and to conduct their own independent audits. The measure will soon be heading to the House for debate.