MAGNANI FILES PLAN TO FREE UP FUNDING

BOSTON - To restore funding for charter school reimbursement, a
MetroWest lawmaker yesterday filed a plan to save the state money by
sparing non-violent offenders from serving their full mandatory
minimum sentences behind bars.

A budget amendment sponsored by state Sen. David Magnani,
D-Framingham, would slash the Department of Correction's budget by 5
percent and use the $23 million in savings to fund charter school
reimbursements for local school districts.

Magnani's proposal also would amend the state's minimum sentencing
laws, giving judges the discretion to release non-violent offenders
from prison and let them serve up to half of their sentences under the
supervision of electronic monitoring.

Releasing non-violent offenders from prison and monitoring them with
electronic bracelets would save money without jeopardizing public
safety, Magnani said.

"It shouldn't be controversial," he said. "Almost everybody we've
talked to in the criminal justice community feels mandatory minimums
don't reduce recidivism rates."

The vast majority of non-violent offenders serving mandatory minimum
sentences have been convicted of drug crimes, according to Professor
Jack McDevitt, associate dean of Northeastern University's College of
Criminal Justice.

"If they're carefully selected, I don't think it would pose a danger
to the community to release some of these people back into the
community with electronic monitoring," McDevitt said. "Some states are
doing it, but it is a relatively innovative idea."

On Wednesday, Senate leaders unveiled a budget plan that eliminates
more than $46 million in funding that House lawmakers had set aside
for charter school reimbursement.

The cut is particularly painful for Framingham, which is eligible to
receive about $1.4 million in state aid to reimburse the town for
students who leave public schools to attend a charter school.

Magnani said his amendment would restore about half of the $1.4
million in reimbursement money that Framingham expected to receive in
fiscal year 2004, which starts July 1.

Magnani also filed a separate amendment that would allow cities and
towns that host a charter school to tap into a $7 million "pothole"
account.

Communities could apply for the funding if they can demonstrate that a
charter school that has opened in the past three years has cost them
"extraordinary funding losses," according to Magnani's proposal.

The Framingham Community Charter School opened last year. Framingham
didn't receive any charter school reimbursement money last year
because former acting Gov. Jane Swift vetoed the program's funding.

"I think members would like to see funding restored for charter school
reimbursement. It's just a question of how much funding is available,"
said Sen. Robert Antonioni, a Leominster Democrat who co-chairs the
Education Committee.

The Senate's budget debate is scheduled to begin Wednesday. Under the
Senate's rules, senators who file amendments that would increase state
spending are required to find another area of the budget to cut by the
same amount.

"It's easy to spend money," Magnani said. "It's much tougher to find
places where you can find legitimate savings."

That's why Magnani drafted his plan to relax the state's mandatory
minimum sentencing law.

Critics of mandatory minimum sentences argue that long prison terms
for non-violent drug offenders are counterproductive and don't serve
as an effective deterrent to crime.

Lloyd Fillion, chairman of the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, said
Magnani's amendment sounds like "an excellent opportunity to save
money and also bring some reasonableness and thoughtfulness to
(sentencing reform)."

Others, however, question whether a budget amendment is the best
vehicle for reforming the law.

"I would like to see the evidence that you can safely monitor these
types of offenders with a bracelet and show that the state can realize
some cost savings from it," said Middlesex County District Attorney
Martha Coakley.

Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, said the Legislature is already
crafting legislation to overhaul the state's sentencing guidelines for
judges. Mandatory minimum sentences are part of that debate, she said.

"I would prefer to take a balanced approach that looks at sentencing
guidelines from every angle...(rather than) pick one little piece of
the sentencing structure and attempt to change it," said Jacques, a
former prosecutor.

But Jacques shares Magnani's interest in preserving funding for
charter school reimbursement.

"That's an important funding commitment," she said. "I applaud him for
trying to find a creative way to fund it."