Worcester Could Lose 1,500 Students and $11M in Next 5 Years to School Choice
Friday, October 02, 2015
In the past ten years, more than 3,000 students have left the Worcester public school district to pursue their education outside of the city due to Massachusetts’ school choice program which allows parents to send their children to schools in communities other than the city or town in which they reside.
“We have to take this issue serious and figure out what needs to be done. Do we have any feedback from parents that have left? The core of a strong system centers on a strong middle class and we need to do all that we can to keep them in our school system,” said Worcester School Committee Member and GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™ John Monfredo.
Along with those students that have left, over $15 million also exited the district in form of tuition payments to the districts that received Worcester students.
Monfredo filed an agenda item which was discussed at the Standing Committee on Teaching and Learning last week pertaining to the issue of the high number of students leaving and the low number coming in.
According to data trends from the Massachusetts Department of Education (see graph below), Worcester is on pace to lose more than 1,500 students and $11 million dollars over the next five years.
Over that same time period, Worcester will likely only welcome an average of 60 students per year from outside districts along with $325,000 each year in tuition payments.
“When students leave the Worcester Public Schools to attend public schools in other communities, our loss of funding is significant. However, the loss runs deeper than that. We lose not only the participation of those students in our schools - academics, clubs, sports - we also lose the assistance, insight, advice and volunteer support which their families could have offered us,” said School Committee member Brian O’Connell.
Competing Districts Surround Worcester
“Parents and guardians who remove their children from the Worcester Public Schools often focus less on Worcester public education after doing so, and they are less likely to advocate for funding for the schools, or for appropriate changes in policies and practices. These intangible losses may well be, ultimately, the most severe for us, long-term,” O’Connell said.
“Most are leaving from grades 7 and on. Again, perception is everything and perhaps more needs to be done to highlight the many outstanding programs that go on in our school system,” said Monfredo.
Catherine Knowles, Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services with the Wachusett Regional School District told GoLocal, “Many of the students coming to our district from Worcester are not academically challenged; a very high percentage of them had proficient or advanced scores on their MCAS tests. Parents that I have spoken to from Worcester have expressed their excitement to me about our district and the programs that we offer.”
"We should encourage Worcester families considering enrollment of their children outside of Worcester, through school choice, to visit our schools before doing so, to make an objective and well-informed decision, based on first-hand knowledge," said O'Connell. "We do offer a wide variety of options to students, tailored to their interests and skills, and many such options are not available in districts with a smaller school population. We also have extensive experience and expertise in addressing particular needs of students, which can be vital for some young people who need focused support."
Both Monfredo and O’Connell believe that Worcester could do a better job promoting the full day kindergarten program that is very lucrative for the city and beneficial to parents in Worcester County.
“Many systems still have half day kindergarten classes and that's an area that might incise parents to consider Worcester if we have to room or if we are willing to make room,” Monfredo added.
What About Chapter 70 Aid?
“We are in competition with other school districts and it comes down for us to point out why their child should stay in our schools or come to our school system. Last year, we paid receiving districts close to $7 million which was subtracted from our chapter 70 aid from the state,” said Monfredo.
According to Roger Hatch, Administrator of School Finances for the Massachusetts DESE, on average, Worcester will receive just over $8,400 per pupil in Chapter 70 aid in FY2016.
Hatch said, “Regarding Chapter 70, the foundation budget for a choice pupil is the same as for a pupil who stayed in the district, except that the low income component is assigned to receiving district not the sending district.”
Hatch told GoLocal that Worcester would receive this aid in its foundation budget for the pupils it sends out to other district. However, the district would only receive the low income increment for any of the kids who fell in the category of low-income.
“So the amount of Chapter 70 aid generated would depend upon the grade level, program, and low income status of the pupils because those all generate different foundation budget amounts,” Hatch added.
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