fiscal budget. How are communities trying to cope with another lean financial year.
Isn’t it time for the Legislature to have the courage to overhaul Prop 2 1/2?
The mandates keep coming, but we need to do more to prepare our students to be 21st century learners.
Please share widely!
The plight of schools is very real, and I wonder what your committee would do if state aid basically vanished if voters repealed the state income tax as a State Hosue News service suggests they might do. (http://www.statehousenews.com/public/poll/internals.htm)
<
p>This poll showed 45 percent for repeal and 46 percent against. I imagine the Libertarians will say that this will free up local money for schools, but I can’t imagine that most towns will pass overrides high enoough to make up the amount they will likely lose.
I don’t see this an a realistic alternative. This will not free up money for schools.
<
p>Over the last 10 – 15 years, schools have had to undertake more mandates – both federal & state. Many of these mandates come with no funding which has to be picked up by the local municipality. Energy bills have skyrocketed.
<
p>At both the state & national level, we need new approaches to funding. Our children are lagging behind other countries in being prepared for the global workforce. This is a responsibility we have to the children of our communities.
If Massholes are no longer paying state income tax, they have more money in their account from their pay check — that’s the money I think he meant would be freed up for overrides.
The funds are coming from all the money we’ll get from opening casinos. Deval figured it out on the plane to New Hampshire Iowa South Carolina….wherever he is.
The areas of concern that I see are… user fees for extracurricular activities
<
p>…having taxpayers pay for extracurricular activities. By definintion, they are outside of the school curriculum. As far as I’m concerned the participants in the extracurricular activities should be charged user fees.
Tough sh**t I presume?
<
p>How about transportation? The law doesn’t require towns to transport all students, just the ones who live far enough away from the school. (I think it’s a two mile radius). Many towns charge for transportation.
…which is, what if the taxpayer can’t afford it? The last time I looked, money doesn’t grow on trees.
<
p>BTW, when I was in k-12, there were some long stretches that transportation wasn’t covered by taxes. Either our families paid for us to ride the school bus, or they delivered us to school and picked us up themselves.
Is it right to deny students what many would consider an important part of their education (sports, art, clubs) because they can’t afford it?
Is teaching a child art or music or sportsmanship or journalism or editing or photography not part of education?
<
p>I think it is, or at least it ought to be. Our society is richer with art and with sport. Why not support it?
<
p>
<
p>P.S. I don’t know if there’s a correlation between athletic participation in school and health costs thoughout life. If there is, perhaps spending a few bucks now on athletics would help save [or cost!] oodles down the road, depending on that correlation. Anybody got numbers?
…regarding extracurricular (presumably after-hours) sports programs. If children want to particupate, they should either get their parents or, perhaps, people like yurself, to support the programs. Or they can enlist local (or not so local) business to support them in exchange for advertising When I was growing up, it was the latter that was done with, for example, little league baseball teams.
<
p>Extracurricular sports programs are the biggest problem because, as I have mentioned before, they carry a not insignificant insurance burden on the school budget, for very little return. I learned that decades ago, when I was working on the town’s insurance committee.
<
p>Regarding music and art, I have litle problem with those as long as the classes are held during the school days OR the instructors aren’t paid extra for remaining late. It’s doubtful, for example, that someone would be seriously injured by a falling sousaphone or tuba.
I suspect communities are doing the same thing they do every year, reduce staff (preferably via attrition), cut back on everything that isn’t contractually mandated (How much are you spending on books?) and find any outside source of revenue possible. (Grants! Fees!)
<
p>Another thing, you forget to mention Special Ed.
All points are well taken. User fees for athletics and extracurricular have been in place for several years in our town. They were amongst the highest in Merrimack Valley. This year we took a risk and lowered the fees and opened up additional extracurricular activities to students. The athletic numbers have remained constant but we are still building the numbers for extracurricular activities. We do face a slight deficit going into winter sports.In my community, people wanted to pay the increased user fees but did not want to support an override (which would have let them use those dollars for a tax deduction).
<
p>Special Education is another area. Having served on a school committee in another community many years ago, it is not uncommon that a child (or children) move in during the year and the school has to assume anywhere from $30K – $50K cost of educating that child (or children). Luckily we are part of a collaborative that has helped keep those costs in line.
<
p>Having attended the joint Mass School Committee/Mass Superintendent conference last November, a number of small and rural districts are studying per pupil spending cost as well as what it would take to form collaboratives.
<
p>The committee I serve on was the first in the state to do a case study of what actual per pupil costs would be. This year, we rank in the bottom 15% of per pupil spending statistics. When we took into account the federal & state mandates, we would need an additional $2M dollars. We have 2250 students and a $16M budget. We presented this study to the Senate Ways & Means staff last year. We also have advocated for a state study on what the true costs to educate pupils should be. Is this a pie in the sky number or something that can be attained over a number of years. That has to take in recommended class sizes, transportation, technology, staff development, etc. The Legislature doesn’t have the will yet to do this.