McWalters

PROVIDENCE — Peter McWalters, one of the nation’s longest-serving state education commissioners, will step down next year — a decision that follows a month of closed-door discussions among Governor Carcieri, McWalters and the state board that oversees public education about whether to extend his contract.

Yesterday, Robert G. Flanders Jr., chairman of the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, announced the Regents had agreed to extend McWalters’ contract by six months, expiring June 30, 2009. Last month, McWalters had informed the board that he would not seek a two-year extension of his contract, which would have expired this Dec. 31, according to a news release from the state Department of Education.

By the time he leaves next year, McWalters will have been the state education commissioner for 17½ years, overseeing numerous changes, including a new high school diploma system, the implementation of statewide testing under the federal education law No Child Left Behind, and initiatives to boost middle school performance.

Flanders thanked McWalters, 61, for his service and his leadership, but Flanders also acknowledged a growing frustration that Rhode Island’s education system continues to trail national averages on standardized tests.

Flanders said he plans to assemble a search committee “immediately” to find a new commissioner “who is prepared to take the state to the next level of reform and change and get us to where we need to be.”

“We are far from getting into the Promised Land in terms of where K-12 education is concerned and we need a new leader who will get us there,” Flanders said in a phone interview. “None of us are satisfied with where we are now. So all the good things we are doing are fine, but it’s not enough. We need to get to an even better place, and our new commissioner will be the person to lead the way.”

Discussions about McWalters’ contract began when the Regents met in executive session after their regularly scheduled March 13 meeting, which Flanders missed due to illness. Since then, Flanders, McWalters and Carcieri have met, and the Regents have privately discussed how much longer McWalters should stay on, all agreeing to the six-month extension, Flanders said.

Supporters call McWalters a nationally recognized visionary who has called for greater accountability from schools and teachers and has led the state through a series of major education reforms, despite limitations on his powers and diminishing state resources. Critics say that despite some gains, he has not done enough to raise the test scores of Rhode Island students and the time is ripe for change.

McWalters assumed the state’s top education job in January 1992, and ranks among the top five longest-serving commissioners currently serving around the country. He earns about $149,000 a year, and the state pays another $22,500 a year into his retirement account, as he is not part of the state pension system.

McWalters’ fifth three-year contract, which was set to expire Dec. 31, 2007, came up for review last spring by the Regents. But when former Chairman James A. DiPrete was replaced by Flanders, McWalters’ contract renewal was put on hold until this year, McWalters said. His old contract rolled over another year and would have run out Dec. 31, 2008.

The Regents will vote on the matter at an April 23 meeting held at 4 p.m. at the state Department of Education, 255 Westminster St.

McWalters said that he is satisfied he will have another 14 months to further several initiatives. He said he was not being forced out of his job earlier than he wanted to leave.

“The system has cycles, and this keeps me here through the next school year and the next legislative session,” McWalters said in an interview in his office. Discussions about his contract “really were about how much longer do I want to stay and what do I want to get done,” he said.

McWalters said his priorities include: revising middle and high school regulations to further the state’s new diploma system; updating the state’s basic education plan; dealing with teaching issues such as implementing a more rigorous evaluation process; and more intensely intervening in struggling school districts — Providence and Central Falls.

Standardized test scores for elementary and middle school students — particularly low-income students in urban districts — have steadily risen over the past three years, after the state, along with Vermont and New Hampshire, developed grade-level expectations and tests aligned with the new expectations. The results of new high school tests, which rolled out last October, were sobering, with just 22 percent of 11th graders proficient in math and 61 percent proficient in reading, although education officials say they expect to see those scores rise in the coming years.

Supporters of McWalters, including several regents, charter school leaders, union officials and an organization representing principals, said the state is losing a tested leader at a time of enormous change and strain.

“We are making progress in a number of areas, and I’m concerned about a change with so many irons in the fire,” said Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Education Association. “He’s been leading reforms and fighting larger battles with fewer resources, and when you weigh that all together, he’s done a remarkable job.”

Valerie Forti, president of the Education Partnership, a business-backed nonprofit advocacy organization, says McWalters should not be “the fall guy” for failures in education, “because the problem is much bigger than one person.” Forti said the Regents and lawmakers need to do more to push key education reforms, including redesigning teacher contracts. Forti also warned that McWalters’ replacement will face the same obstacles and finance battles.

At the same time, Forti said, a new person will bring new energy and vision.

“We’re not going to have one person come in and be a white knight and have the perfect thing happen,” Forti said. “On the other hand, could Peter have moved more forcefully on some things? Perhaps. He was able to get some things accomplished. But he was not moving as fast as the governor and now this Board of Regents wanted him to.”

jjordan@projo.com