Massachusetts School Committee Members Call on Legislature to Fix Undercount of Low-Income Students and Provide Adequate Education Funding
By: Roberto Jimenez
Tags: Racial Justice, Massachusetts, Education

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If you are a School Committee member and would like to add your name to this letter, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/x1zzWU9xGoZRL4Ui9

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TO:

Governor Charlie Baker

Education Secretary James Peyser

DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley

Senate President Karen Spilka

House Speaker Robert DeLeo

Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues

House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz

Joint Education Committee Co-Chair Jason Lewis

Joint Education Committee Co-Chair Alice Peisch

Gateway Cities Caucus Co-Chair Eric Lesser

Gateway Cities Caucus Co-Chair Antonio Cabral

RE: Low-Income Count and Student Opportunity Act FY21 Funding

Earlier this year, a group of over 150 School Committee members, City Councilors, Superintendents and educator union presidents from across the 26 Gateway Cities sent a letter asking lawmakers to fully fund our schools for FY21. Today, as School Committee members from across the state, we are reiterating the call for fully-funding the first-year implementation of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA), and also demanding that the Legislature fix the low-income count in the foundation formula so our students can receive the resources they need to have a free appropriate public education.

The current fiscal crisis in our school districts requires us to raise revenue from the individuals and corporations that have not only weathered the COVID-19 crisis, but profited from it. Twenty billionaires in Massachusetts have seen a combined net worth increase of $17.2 billion. It is unconscionable that as the wealthy continue to amass wealth, our Governor and Legislature are neglecting our poorest communities, which educate an overwhelming majority of the Commonwealth’s students of color.

Governor Baker, Secretary Peyser, and Commissioner Riley justify delaying the funding of the Student Opportunity Act by saying that districts’ pandemic relief funding, plus the Chapter 70 inflationary increase, is larger than the first-year implementation of the SOA. However, this is an attempt to confuse people into believing that they are funding the law. Pandemic relief funds and the SOA funds are two completely different things, and they address fundamentally different problems. The former targets additional expenses that are directly related to the pandemic; much of it has been provided by the federal government and already been distributed to districts. The SOA, on the other hand, targets inequities that existed long before the pandemic and that have only worsened during COVID times.

One key aspect of the underfunding of our schools this year is the structural undercalculation of low-income students in the foundation budget, which has a catastrophic impact on our school budgets. Just because the formula’s count is broken does not mean that we suddenly have fewer low-income students than last year. Instead, the broken formula undercounts tens of thousands of low-income students across the Commonwealth, erases the challenges these students live through on a daily basis, and underfunds their education by more than $115 million. This is in addition to not fully implementing the rate increment at an appropriate 1/7th step towards the goal. Both of these, of course, are only a fraction of the total underfunding from not implementing the Student Opportunity Act at all for FY21. (For a breakdown of 25 of the most-impacted cities, see the chart below.)

Fixing the funding for low income students isn’t about giving additional resources to these students as a gift. It’s about giving these students the resources they are owed and were promised. It requires raising taxes on profitable corporations and the wealthy. Our students are not the ones who have made millions since March, so why are they the ones bearing the brunt of this pandemic after their communities have been the hardest hit by the COVID pandemic? Investing in these students is not only required by law and the right thing to do; it is an investment in the Commonwealth’s future, one that will likely have a high return on investment when these students enter the workforce. It is also a constitutional obligation that has been enshrined in our state Constitution for 240 years.

As we near the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Student Opportunity Act, many of us are wondering if you truly believe in promoting an equitable future for all our children. With some notable exceptions, it appears that you don’t. As many noted in late 2019, the Student Opportunity Act appropriated a grand total of $0, meaning that the true test would be getting the new formula funded this year. Fixing the low-income count and rate will require tapping into new sources of revenue, and there are many proposals that show the path forward, available from organizations like Mass Budget or the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition. They include restoring the corporate tax rate to 9.5%, increasing capital gains taxes to 8.95%, and closing the tax loophole on GILTI (Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income).

Preparing our children to lead fulfilling lives and become full citizens in our society is one of the foundational objectives of our state government. Our communities and our students need this funding, now more than ever. We demand that you do the right thing and fund our schools.

Signatories:

Roberto Jiménez-Rivera, Chelsea School Committee

Tracy O’Connell Novick, Worcester School Committee

Laura Clancey, Worcester School Committee

Molly O. McCullough, Worcester School Committee

John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

Marisol Santiago, Chelsea School Committee

Thomas J. Minichiello, Jr., Brockton School Committee

Andrew C. Lipsett, Woburn School Committee

Irene Feliciano-Sims, Holyoke School Committee

Nancy “Nes” Correnti, Hingham School Committee

Judy Sullivan, Brockton School Committee

Tony Rodrigues, Brockton School Committee

Stacey A Rizzo, Revere School Committee

Paul Ruseau, Medford School Committee

Samantha Lambert, Everett School Committee

Adam Weldai, Malden School Committee

Karen Hallbauer, Methuen School Committee

Ellen A. Crowley, Esq. Woburn School Committee

Jennifer Aborn Dolan, Braintree School Committee

Dana Murray, Everett School Committee

Marcony Almeida Barros, Everett School Committee

Frank Parker, Everett School Committee

Jason Fraser, Plympton School Committee

Cynthia Rivas Mendes, Brockton School Committee

Denise Spencer, Franklin School Committee

Manikka Bowman, Cambridge School Committee

Andre Green, Somerville School Committee

Eileen Griffin, Leominster School Committee

Ellenor Barish, Somerville School Committee

Emily Ackman, Somerville School Committee

Michael A. Ferrante, Revere School Committee

Diane M. Mayhew, Westfield School Committee

Gary Christenson, Malden School Committee

Brandon Robbins, Leominster School Committee

Peter Haigis, Leominster School Committee

Kelly J. Cobb-Lemire, Braintree School Committee

Joshua Amaral, New Bedford School Committee

Ilana Krepchin, Somerville School Committee

Mildred Lefebvre, Holyoke School Committee

Susan Gravellese, Revere School Committee

Lorna Rivera, Boston School Committee

Devin Sheehan, Holyoke School Committee

Martha Simon, Burlington School Committee

Kari Denitzio, Walpole School Committee

Rachel Weinstein, Cambridge School Committee

Ayesha M. Wilson, Cambridge School Committee

Sarah Phillips, Somerville School Committee

Jeanette Velez, Chelsea School Committee

Paul Goldner, Triton School Committee

Henry Wilson, Chelsea School Committee

Sara Cuthbertson, Lexington School Committee

David Weinstein, Cambridge School Committee

Kathleen Lenihan, Lexington School Committee

Rebecca Shangraw, Weymouth School Committee

Liz Exton, Arlington School Committee

Lily Rayman-Read, Watertown School Committee

Charise Rohm Nulsen, Topsfield School Committee

Augustin Serino, Topsfield School Committee

Jonathan Guzman, Lawrence School Committee

Sally Cragin, Fitchburg School Committee

James M. Walsh, Fitchburg School Committee

Jessica Andors, Lawrence Alliance for Education

Kelly Garcia, Chelsea School Committee

Colleen Cormier, Woburn School Committee

Frederick Sannella, Revere School Committee

Denise M. Hurst, Springfield School Committee

Rebecca Birks, Holyoke School Committee

Barbara Davis, Holbrook School Committee

Timothy Sullivan, Brockton School Committee

Mark D’Agostino, Brockton School Committee

Zeina Marchant, Winchester School Committee

Beverly Hugo, Framingham School Committee

Carl Foss, Burlington School Committee

Jared C. Nicholson, Lynn School Committee

Millie Cardello, Everett School Committee

Yessenia Alfaro, Chelsea School Committee

Jackie Doherty, Lowell School Committee

Lucia Henriquez, Chelsea School Committee

Ana Hernandez, Chelsea School Committee

Andrew Prazar, Topsfield School Committee

Allen Panarese, Everett School Committee

Tom Abruzzese, Everett School Committee

Cynthia Sarnie, Everett School Committee

Hilary Clark, Lowell School Committee

Kendra Foley, Watertown School Committee

Kristin Pangallo, Salem School Committee

Jenny Graham, Medford School Committee

Joseph N. Nystrom, Barnstable School Committee

Katherine Yon, Pittsfield School Committee

David Schryver, Chicopee School Committee

Melanie McLaughlin, Medford School Committee

Anthony D’Ambrosio, Revere School Committee

Heather Sullivan, Westfield School Committee

Laura Often, Grafton School Committee

Kathleen Kreatz, Medford School Committee

Andre Descoteaux, Lowell School Committee