BPS High School Budget Cuts Persist

Photo by Kenny Jervis

School Site Councils at BPS High Schools are rushing to re-evaluate their budget situation ahead of the Boston School Committee vote on Wednesday, a little over a week after BPS restored some of the cuts on the high school level. I’ve frantically continued my work contacting our high schools to assess the new financial landscape, and unfortunately the news is bleak. While the budget cuts at the exam schools were reduced to $96,000 at Boston Latin School (down from $705,000) and to $100,000 at Boston Latin Academy (down from $492,000), deep cuts persist at some of our most vulnerable schools. Boston Community Leadership Academy’s budget cut is still a whopping $500,000, down from $800,000. Charlestown High, home of the Diploma Plus (DP) Program, still has a $350,000 budget cut and the DP Program is still on the chopping block. Snowden International, the school where the planning of the BPS walkout began, is still slated to lose $240,000, down from $370,000. I’m awaiting updates from several other high schools that are scheduled to have their School Site Council meetings early this week.

These high school budget cuts persist because of the changes in Weighted Student Funding (WSF) for students with autism and emotional impairment. The weight for students with autism has been changed from 4.3 to 3.9, and for students on the high school level with emotional impairment, the weight has changed from 3.5 to 3.0. The changes in WSF were intended to equally distribute budget cuts. However, students with special needs tend to be concentrated within certain schools, so they are getting hit harder than schools with a higher concentration of regular ed. To state this frankly: The children at schools who have always benefited from a softer landing will continue to do so, while the students who have always had to struggle to overcome challenges must now work even harder.

Throughout this budget cycle, one thing that has bothered me is that all of these cuts to Special Education come in the wake of the recent Foundation Budget Review Commission report that Massachusetts is already drastically under-funding Special Ed. When it comes to identifying the “fat” in BPS, I would respectfully suggest that we look somewhere else.

Photo by Andrea Doremus Cuetara

Ante up

I was going to try to write an articulate piece about why cutting student weights for our teens and special needs children is an immoral way to balance the BPS budget, but honestly I'm so sick of playing this game. When you listen to Mayor Walsh speak about the BPS budget, there is one thing he always says again and again: After the new contract is signed with the BTU he will make more money available for Boston Public Schools. He never says there is not enough money to fully fund BPS. This budget standoff is not just about finding efficiencies with Boston Public Schools; this standoff is about the Mayor getting his way in collective bargaining negotiations. It is an interesting coincidence that Sam Tyler’s BMRB report from last week indicates that there is $13 million in excessed teachers while we are facing $13 million in cuts on the school level.

The Mayor is playing political poker and our children are his bargaining chips. The last BTU contract for 2010 - 2016 was signed 2 and half years late in September 2012. The Mayor should not be forcing this contract through and withholding money from our schools until it’s signed. The last time he rushed into an agreement with the BTU, we were forced to roll out Extended Learning Time before anyone in BPS had a chance to evaluate the necessary transportation implications and before BPS was able to put in proper supports for teachers and schools.

Furthermore, the City of Boston HAS a robust collective bargaining reserve to pay for raises related to contracts. The $13.5 million that the Mayor gave this year does not take into account the estimated $21 million dollar increases associated with this year’s contract increases.

While the adults continue to fight, our schools are being deliberately underfunded. The cuts are real, the layoffs are real, and the time and angst over all of this for students and parents is real.

Please, Mayor Walsh, fully fund our schools. Enough is enough.

Why the #BPSWalkout?

This list was collected by Boston Latin School parents in collaboration with the Citywide Parent Council Budget Subcommittee. 

Boston Arts Academy

• Losing $367,000 plus $187,000 that the BAA foundation is working to raise (Total being raised by Foundation is over $2 million dollars - almost the entirety of the arts education budget)

• Losing 1 teaching position

• Losing Health and wellness staff and support

• Losing administration staffing

Boston Community Leadership Academy

• Losing over $800,000

• Losing 5 - 7 teaching positions, including librarian, theater teacher

• Losing free SAT prep course

• Advanced Placement classes cut

• Losing teacher of the leadership program

• Cuts to autism program

Boston Latin Academy

• Losing $492,000 despite an increase in enrollment

• One 7th/8th grade math teacher retiring, will not be replaced

• Arabic program eliminated

• History Dept. Director eliminated

• Arts Dept. Director eliminated

• No supply budget

• If any cuts happen next year, then electives will be cut

Boston Latin School

• Losing $705,000

• A teacher in each department (7 teachers)

• Larger class sizes (up to 31)

• Eighth Grade Science (an MCAS Requirement)

• Reduction of Support Services

• Reduction of AP Courses, including a proposed an AP African American History Class

Boston Teachers Union (BTU) K-8 School

• Losing $339,000

• Losing two teachers: one middle school and one learning specialist

• Field trips cut
• Spanish class cut

Brighton High School
• Losing $434,000 
• Losing ESL and Health Careers Pathway (retirement, not replacing)
• Losing a History, a Math, a PE, and an ELA position
• Losing one Librarian, one Admin (centrally funded) and a half time tech support position.

Charlestown High

• Losing $600,000

• Losing Diploma Plus program, an alternative ed program serving 70 teens who are behind grade level, many of them living in extreme hardship and crisis. Program helps them rapidly catch up to grade level and graduate high school. Described as a “family” by current students and graduates.

Chittick Elementary

• Losing the specialist that Chittick got to make ELT work last year; going down to 4 specialists

Dearborn Academy

• No information about the budget. Principal also doesn't have access to the budget as they're run by an outside operator, the Boston Plan for Excellence

East Boston High

• Losing $680,000

Edison K-8

• Losing one K0 teacher and one K1 teacher

Excel High

• Losing $500,000

• Losing technology class and art class, JV sports cut

Fenway High School

• Losing $134,000

• Losing Career and College Readiness coordinator

• Languages cut so students can't fulfill language requirements for college/graduation requirement

• Losing SAT prep program

Guild Elementary

• Losing $281,329
• Losing 6.5 paraprofessionals

• Cut 1.3 ESL teacher, cut .6 specialist, cut. 8 resource too and very low supply line

Jeremiah E. Burke High School

• Losing $300,000

• Losing librarian, technology teacher, social worker
• Spanish teacher cut (only language offered)

JFK Elementary

• Losing $150,000

• Losing 1 teacher, 1 para, 2 lunch monitors, limited field trip budget and $0 for supplies

John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science

• Losing $339,782

• Losing 6 positions

• No foreign language instruction (a requirement for most colleges)

• Loss of computer technology department

• Reduction of library hours

• Reduction in health and wellness services

Lee K-8

• Losing $253,000

Lyndon K-8

• Losing $253,000

Manning Elementary

• Losing 5.1%, or over $91,000

• Losing two part-time resource specialists, which is the equivalent of one full-time position.

• Losing library services, dropping the librarian from 1.0 FTE to 0.8 FTE.

• Losing Playworks and music program

Mather Elementary

• 2 positions cut, 2 positions hours reduced

• Loss of funding for Playworks and ANET materials.

Mendell Elementary

• Losing $85,000

• Losing Playworks coach

• Potential loss of interns who support inclusive practice in grades 1-5

• Lost lunch monitor

• Supply budget cut to $0

Roger Clap

• Losing $53,000

• 4 Inclusion classes only .5 resource teacher

Roosevelt K-8

• Losing $319,000

Snowden School

• Losing $370,000

• Elimination of Japanese program

• Losing part time librarian, calculus teacher, registrar, guidance counselor, reduction of 2 English teachers to part time

Tech Boston

• Due to weighted student funding cuts, they have no music or art. Other cuts unclear

Timilty Middle School
• Losing $390,000
• Losing Registrar, the history teacher, and the cluster substitute
• Gym teacher and the resource room/IEP teacher reduced to part time
 
 West Roxbury Academy

• Losing $500,000

West Zone Early Learning Center

• Losing $108,000

Young Achievers K-8

• Losing $470,000

Across the system, schools are being asked to cut into critical services. Many of these cuts will mean that some schools cannot be accredited, and in some cases students will not be able to take the courses needed to enter most colleges. This is completely unacceptable.

As parents and families, what are we asking for a complete review of these devastating cuts.

Please, help us, and help our schools.

The Citywide Parent Council Budget Subcommittee

Kristin Johnson, Boston Latin School

Kristin Johnson, Citywide Parent Council Rep for the Ellis Mendell

Taking Stock(man)

There is so much to say about Farah Stockman’s recent opinion piece “A ‘starving’ school system” that I don’t even know where to begin. I will first start by disagreeing with the premise that $1 billion is the tipping point for public outrage. Recent studies have shown that increased school spending is linked to favorable outcomes, including higher graduation rates and lower poverty rates. An investment in our children now is an investment in our city’s future tomorrow.

BPS educates a diverse student population with significant challenges. Many positions require a teacher to have a Master's Degree and multiple licenses in General Education, Special Education and English Language Learning, pushing them into a higher pay grade. The cuts to our schools over the past several years mean that our teachers are lacking the supplies and supports their students need, from lost social workers and counselors to nurses. On top of classroom instruction, our teachers are crowdfunding supplies and field trips, managing conflict de-escalation, trauma counseling, and even administering first aid.

Last year, a Forbes article detailed all the different ways that Boston is one of the top 5 Most Overpriced Cities in the United States. Utilities are 23.4% higher than the national average, groceries are 14.5% higher, health care is 21.5% higher, transportation is 8.8% higher, and other various costs of living are 28.3% higher. The average BPS teacher salary in 2014 was $90,799 and the median salary for the Boston area residents is $87,317. It does not bother me one bit that our teachers make more than some of the national averages; their salaries are on par with the city’s average and our cost of living is significantly higher than the national average. Not only that, our salaries and benefits draw national talent to our school district, despite our aging school facilities.

The deep budget cuts we’re seeing on the school level again this budget cycle are rooted in rising district costs and chronic underfunding of known variables. In 2012, Mayor Menino signed a new 6 year contract with the BTU, and in 2013, he signed a new contract with bus vendor Veolia. The total rising costs are about $38 million in FY17, and BPS has identified about $8M in cost savings. The Mayor is seeking to expand K1 seats by 200 - 300 at an estimated cost of $4 million, which means Mayor Walsh’s $13.5 million increase is only $9.5 million. To state this another way, with Mayor Walsh's expansion of K1 seats, any allocation lower than $34 million (3.4%) causes a deficit and budget cuts.

A 3.4% increase would not be out of line with the two other large departments in the City of Boston. Also keep in mind that the total cost of $1.014 billion includes the cost of employee benefits, which have increased by 7% in the past 5 years to $146 million. All other City departments budget the cost of benefits centrally, outside of each department’s budget. So when you look at this chart below, keep in mind that the health care and benefits of Boston Fire and Boston Police are not included in these numbers. I don’t show this to you to pit teachers vs. police vs. firefighters; I show this to explain again that the rate of rising costs of the BPS budget is in line with other departments when you take into account the relative size and number of employees.

Am I rambling? Unfortunately I’m going to keep going.

The basic framework of school budget spending in Massachusetts is based on something called the Foundation Budget Formula. This formula, explained in this video, determines the amount required to provide an adequate education to the specific demographics in the student population. The formula has not been updated since 1993, so last year the Foundation Budget Formula Commission convened to re-evaluate it. The Commission’s report released in October 2015 revealed that the Foundation Budget dramatically underestimates school spending, especially when it comes to Special Needs, English Language Learners and the cost of health care. The Governor ignored these recommendations in his proposed FY17 budget. I know this is very complicated, but simply put: when the costs of SPED, ELL, and health care are funded at a dramatically lower rate than actual cost, that causes underfunding throughout an entire school system. So folks better get over this whole ONE BILLION dollar hysteria thing; when we actually start funding BPS properly it’s going to get a lot higher than that.

Inquiring neo-liberals want to know: Where can one find savings in this Cadillac sized budget? Okay, I’ll play this game for a few minutes.

Transportation: This is a $109 million dollar problem that no one can solve. I’m just going to throw some facts at you and you can come up with a plan. No one knows how many BPS kids actually take the bus. BPS wants to install tap card kiosks onto each bus to track children, but that costs money. They should just ask every school principal how many of their students are on the bus, because they have clipboards they use every morning to check kids in, but who likes common sense really? Each bus costs $90,000 per school per year, even if there’s only 5 kids on that big yellow school bus. A Manning parent once told me there are 13 buses serving their school of ~160 students. That's about $1.17 million in transportation costs for one school serving 160 students. I’m only half joking when I say each kid could get an Uber every day on a BPS credit card and that would be cheaper. Also state law mandates that BPS pays for the buses for all kids in the CITY from Kindergarten to 5th grade. It costs $14 million for charter school transportation and ~$1 million in private school and parochial school busing.

Asset management: I once got lost in a basement of a BPS high school on my way to a Citywide Parent Council meeting. Stacks of unused textbooks were being used as doorstops. Boxes and boxes of books and software sat there unused, unopened and definitely not inventoried. Computers and monitors were piled up. I happened to pull out my phone to snap a few pictures.

When it comes to asset management, no one is better than librarians, but unfortunately many of them are currently on the chopping block. We were hopeful this kind of waste of resources would be addressed in Mayor Walsh’s audit of BPS, but instead the audit was a thinly veiled plan to downsize our district based on incorrect metrics, with a whopping $660,000 price tag.

So I’ll stop here, even though I could go on and on and on and on in response to Ms. Stockman’s piece. To close, I would ask Ms. Stockman to think back to a teacher who inspired her to change lives with her words and taught her she was brave enough to travel to the world’s most dangerous places to find the truth. I would ask her to put a price tag on that. She asked, "If this is what starving looks like, where do I sign up?"

Sign up here: http://www.teachboston.org/

***************************** 
EDIT March 1st, 2016
The morning after I published this piece, Ms. Stockman shared a link to my perspective with her followers on Twitter. It's this kind of sharing of ideas that will bring us to a compromise and help us find common ground. I would like to thank Ms. Stockman for her generosity.