We were interested in examining who is left behind at BPS schools facing budget cuts, and as a result, are experiencing reductions in staffing, supplies and programming. We analyzed all BPS schools funded through Weighted Student Funding and correlated each school with the current state DESE level (1 is the highest performing category, while 5 is the lowest performing category). Next we examined the student populations within each school and compared them to the districtwide average for each group.
Among the schools facing budget reductions due to declines in enrollment this year, 66% have a higher concentration of Economically Disadvantaged Students (ED); 72% have higher numbers of High Needs students (HN); 60% have higher amounts of Students With Disabilities (SWD); 42% have higher amounts of English Language Learners (ELL); 46% have higher numbers of First Language Not English (FLNE); 54% had a higher than average number of black students; and 26% have more Latino students. Every indicator of students within the achievement gap was overall higher within the group of schools facing budget reductions.
As we mentioned in our last budget post, there is a troubling number of level 3, 4 and 5 schools receiving budget reductions. Not surprisingly, our research revealed that schools that are facing budget cuts -and- have a high DESE level also have significantly higher concentrations of Economically Disadvantaged, Students with Disabilities, African Americans and High Needs students. View the entire data set here.
While our teachers are expected to deploy differentiated learning strategies, using targeted interventions when a student is falling behind, the BPS administration does not use these indicators of a school in crisis to allocate budgets or provide extra supports. We only have to look to the closure of the Mattahunt to know this is true. Imagine a doctor taking all the vital signs the nurse has given him, throwing them in the trash and then giving the wrong prescription.
As we mentioned in our last budget post, there is a troubling number of level 3, 4 and 5 schools receiving budget reductions. Not surprisingly, our research revealed that schools that are facing budget cuts -and- have a high DESE level also have significantly higher concentrations of Economically Disadvantaged, Students with Disabilities, African Americans and High Needs students. View the entire data set here.
While our teachers are expected to deploy differentiated learning strategies, using targeted interventions when a student is falling behind, the BPS administration does not use these indicators of a school in crisis to allocate budgets or provide extra supports. We only have to look to the closure of the Mattahunt to know this is true. Imagine a doctor taking all the vital signs the nurse has given him, throwing them in the trash and then giving the wrong prescription.
We are leaving the students facing the greatest challenges behind by cutting their schools year after year. For the 3rd consecutive year, Brighton High, Dorchester Academy, the McCormack, the Perkins, Edison K-8, the Timilty, the Tynan and the Winship are all facing budget reductions and all of them are Level 3 and 4 schools.
It was of great interest to us that on the same day that the Boston School Committee voted to pass this budget that will create deficits at 48 schools, the Supreme Court ruled that public school districts must provide funding for a “free appropriate public education” under the IDEA or Individuals with Disabilities Act.
Quoting from the 8-0 ruling on the matter: A “…child’s educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances, just as advancement from grade to grade is appropriately ambitious for most children in the regular classroom. The goals may differ, but every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives. It cannot be right that the IDEA generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom, but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not.”
When our district’s most vulnerable schools and students are facing a budget that does not even live up to, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts, “barely more than de minimus progress,” something is going terribly wrong. The Citywide Parent Council, Black Educator’s Alliance of Massachusetts, and the District’s own Opportunity and Achievement Task Force have all voiced their opposition to this budget because it will harm our most vulnerable students. Lower performing schools need more support, not less, to break the cycle of under-performing schools and assist students already facing socioeconomic and educational challenges.
We urge the members of the Boston City Council to consider who is being left behind at under-funded and under-performing schools when you pass “de minimus” budgets year after year after year.
