Monfredo: Foundation Budget Needs to Move Forward Now Contact State Officials

Sunday, January 08, 2017

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”…Ben Franklin

That is sound advice from a great leader… Ben Franklin! Again it’s that time of the year that the community needs to be involved in the school budget and look what we, as a city, are allocating for our schools. It is fair to say, how the state budget for education goes, goes the budget for the Worcester Public Schools. Thus, where do we stand on the Foundation Budget for education?

In Massachusetts, the definition of an adequate spending level for a school district is called its “foundation budget.” The goal of the Chapter 70 formula, established in 1993, is to ensure that every district has sufficient resources to meet its foundation budget spending level, through an equitable combination of local property taxes and state aid. The foundation budget is perhaps the most important factor used in calculating a district’s Chapter 70 state education aid. However, there is a need to update the Foundation Budget.

Last year the School Committee and Administration met with our Local Legislator Delegation to discuss the educational needs of our school system. The discussion had to do with the state’s foundation formula that was under review by the States Foundation Budget Review Commission and since then have been passed by the Legislatures but no action has taken place. Needless to say “The Commission” found the Foundation Budget to be woefully underfunded and has made several recommendations.

Last year, Brian Allen, the Worcester Public Schools chief financial officer, pointed out to the Local Legislative delegation that based on its findings by the “Commission” the budget is underfunded in the current foundation budget formula. Areas of concern are health insurance, special education and the skipped inflation adjustment in 2010. This total adds up to $67.9 million and the Commission’s recommendation on funding English Language Learners and Low Income students could potentially provide an additional $25 million in funding, totaling $92.9 million as follows:

Category Impact

Health Insurance: $29.1

Special Education: $29.8

English Language Learners: $ 5.0

Low Income Students: $20.0

Inflation Factor Adjustment: $ 9.0

Shortfall and Impact: $92.9

The students are being short changed in the following areas. Under the current formula, we are spending less on non-special education instructional positions, operations & maintenance of school buildings, professional development, and instructional supplies and materials than the foundation budget provides because of the underfunding in other areas. Worcester spends at the foundation budget level, so any underfunding in one area cause under spending in other areas; unlike other state-wide districts we only have as much as the state formula provides. Many other districts have the luxury of spending above the foundation budget due to their city or town providing additional funding.

If the state had the needed revenue, as recommended by the Foundation Budget Review Commission, administration stated that they would recommend the following to the School Committee to consider:

Align elementary class sizes to the foundation budget ratios in any areas that class size exceeds the current formula and provide targeted interventions as intended in the formula ($9 million)
Provide additional secondary teachers for additional course offerings, particularly in new or enrichment classes for students thereby providing greater opportunities and fewer study halls for students. ($9.3 million)
Implement full-day Pre-K opportunities for students (space availability), provide Kindergarten instructional assistant positions in all classrooms, and expanded K-3 instructional support services. ($10.0 million)
Increase school instructional supply and material allocations to current foundation allocation, nearly doubling the current per pupil allocation, as well as providing all opportunities for adequate and current levels of textbooks at all schools. Administration envisions creating an annual textbook replacement cycle that would be funded from this new revenue. ($9.3 million)
Increase teacher specialists and other support positions, such as school adjustment counselors, guidance counselors, psychologists, wrap around services, instructional coaches, literacy and numeracy specialists, school librarians and school nurses. ($15.8 million)
Provide current foundation budget formula spending levels in area of operations and maintenance by implementing lower-cost preventative maintenance procedures, addressing deferred maintenance needs, and investing in school safety and security equipment ($11.4 million)
Provide current foundation budget formula spending levels in the area of staff development through additional and on-going training opportunities and common planning time for instructional staff. ($3.1 million)

With regards to the recommendations for ELL and low income students (total potential funding of $25 million), administration recommended to the Foundation Budget Review Commission that Worcester would replicate successful turnaround practices that were used in our Level 4 schools, our lowest performing schools , as measured by their state’s accountability status. These strategies have included expanded school time for students (90 minutes per day), common planning time for teachers (30 minutes daily), expanded staff development (90 additional hours per year), wraparound services, and other additional instructional support staff positions. As Mr. Allen stated, “We have estimated that the sustainability of these services to be approximately $2,000 per student.”

Obviously the full package could not be funded in one year but there has to be a starting point for the legislators to move the needle. Why not do what was done from 1994 to 2000 when the original Foundation budget was created? Phase the funding over seven years and this would have less of an impact on the State budget. All districts need to articulate this to their Legislators for this will be an important issue when our Legislators come back from their winter recess. Remember the words of Ben Franklin… “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Let’s move the Foundation Budget forward now!