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Mayor outlines plans for Boston’s schools

Highlights unified enrollment, early education

Jule Pattison-Gordon
Mayor outlines plans for Boston’s schools
Demonstrators held a picket line in front of Symphony Hall, protesting predicted BPS budget cuts.

More than 125 Boston Public School parents, teachers, students and activists protested predicted budget cuts to Boston Public Schools last week, maintaining a picket line as guests lined up for Mayor Martin Walsh’s second State of the City address held at Symphony Hall.

Inside, Walsh prepared to set forth his commitment to a number of policies, some of which the outside demonstrators denounced, including a unified enrollment system that would automatically sign parents up for charter and district schools. Walsh did draw some positive attention for his pledge to sufficiently fund BPS.

Outcry and hope over BPS budgets

Mary Lewis-Pierce, parent advocate and special education attorney who led the protest, said its goal was to pressure Walsh into prioritizing BPS funding. Spurred by the mayor’s announcement last week of $50 million in cuts to Boston schools, a coalition of parent and student groups converged for the demonstration, including the Boston Education Justice Initiative, Citizens for Public Schools, the Citywide Parent Council, Quality Education for Every Student and Youth Organizing United for the New Generation

“Things are at a breaking point now,” Lewis-Pierce said “If they continue to slice away resources from the schools, the schools will become non-functional.”

“These budget cuts to public education are not acceptable, especially in the light of all the tax breaks that are being given to big corporations to come into Boston,” said Marléna Rose, campaign coordinator with Boston Education Justice Alliance, who attended the protest.

Speaking before the mayor’s speech, city Councillor Tito Jackson said the city has the resources to better fund its schools, citing the recent tax break deal to bring General Electric’s head office to Boston.

“We are a very well-resourced city,” he said. “If we can give tax breaks to corporations, why aren’t we fully funding schools? We’re not moving in the right direction. Our budget is a values statement.”

Walsh acknowledged such budget fears in his State of the City address.

“I’m calling on everyone to come together to back all our children, all our teachers and all our schools. That means fair and sustainable funding for both district and charter schools,” he said in a copy of his remarks sent to the media.

He underscored his commitment to BPS by inviting hundreds of its students to attend the speech.

“I invited them, because they need to be part of the conversation about the direction their city is heading,” Walsh said in his remarks. “When it comes to our schools, they deserve to know that their mayor stands behind them.”

School Superintendent Tommy Chang speaks to parent activists Peggy Wiesenberg and Karen Kast-McBride during a demonstration outside Mayor Martin Walsh’s State of the City speech at Symphony Hall.

Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, said the statements were encouraging.

“[Walsh] did comment that he wanted to see a thriving city with enough money and resources for charter schools as well as public schools. I took that to be a positive comment that he would perhaps address the budget issues that we’re facing right now,” Stutman said. “He’s shown that he wants a unified city with good schools of both kinds. That was encouraging. I think he went out of his way to say that.”

Walsh’s statement did not include specifics on how funding needs would be addressed.

At the protest, school Superintendent Tommy Chang observed and engaged parent activists in discussions. Chang told blogger Karen Kast-McBride that the proposed school budget may well change.

“The mayor has told me that he’s committed to getting more resources,” Chang said. “We’re early in the budget process.”

But Chang also cautioned that the city has to work on fixing a longstanding structural deficit caused by rising costs of pensions, health care and transportation.

“Those are costs we have to look at,” he said. “I’m proud the Boston Public Schools invests more in teachers than other cities do, but these are costs we have to look at.”

Chang said that until the district is able to rein in expenses, budget shortfalls likely will be a yearly challenge.

“We’re in a structural deficit,” he said. If we don’t figure this out, we’ll be in the same place next year.”

Among the demonstrators were Michael Salazar a sophomore at Boston Community Leadership Academy, which is slated for a $800,000 budget cut.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” he said. “Were one of the best schools in Boston.”

Amarielis Moralis, a 2013 BCLA graduate now attending Wheelock College, said the cuts would likely diminish the school’s stature.

“It had a good student-to-teacher ratio,” she said. “It’s going to have an impact on the kids who are our future.”

Baker reassess reimbursement budget

Tuesday Jan. 26, James Peyser, state education secretary, told The Boston Globe that the governor intends to rework charter reimbursements in his new budget.

Under current policy, the first year that children attend a charter school, their home districts are supposed to receive reimbursement of 100 percent of the lost tuition, and 25 percent for five years after. In the past several years, the full refunding has not been paid.

Governor Charlie Baker proposes to add $20 million to charter reimbursement budget to help ensure payment. The amount is enough to cover first- and second-year refunding in the next fiscal year, Peyser said.

In Baker’s new plan, districts may only receive up to three years of reimbursement: 100 percent of lost tuition the first year, and — for applicable districts — 50 percent the second and 25 percent the third. Only low-performing districts with high charter enrollments would be eligible for first and second year repayment, and would need to provide outlines of how the money would be spent.

Unified enrollment

Another item on Walsh’s education agenda is exploring universal enrollment.

“This spring we will deepen the enrollment conversation, to address challenges in special education, language services, discipline policies, and transportation,” he said. He called unified enrollment “[a] system that could help families and level the playing field among schools.”

Unified enrollment has been unpopular with BPS activists, many of whom see it as a system that may draw more resources out of the public school system.

“From a fiscal standpoint, it would be absolutely disastrous for BPS,” Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, co-chair of the Citywide Parents Council, said. “[For] a system that is built on trying to have full enrollment as a measure of financial health, anything that will impact that — and [unified enrollment] will impact that very negatively — I think it is irresponsible for the proposal to be made and go forward.”

Berents-Weeramuni said the proposal asks to modify the enrollment system at a time when no analysis has been presented on how well the current system performs.

Parents who favor charter schools have expressed complaints as well at several Boston Compact meetings on the issue, charging that it would reduce their options, he added. Presently, a child may be accepted at multiple charter schools and into a BPS school; after receiving acceptances, the family takes their pick. Under unified enrollment, families rank preferences, receive only one school acceptance and can place the child on up to three waitlists.

Early education

Walsh also advocated for increasing early education seats — something he looked to the state to fund.

“We’ve stretched funding as far as it will go,” Walsh said. “And we are not alone. I ask leadership at the State House, and every legislator, to work with Boston, with Lawrence, with Salem, with Attleboro and other cities and towns to expand access to high-quality pre-kindergarten.”

Stutman emphasized the importance of early education, but expressed doubts that the Baker administration will provide funding.

“I have my doubts that the governor is interested in these things,” Stutman said. “The governor has said it’s not a priority of his.”

“It’s outrageous in this great wealthy state of ours we can’t afford public education for four-year-olds,” he added.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, chair of the Joint Committee on Education, said early education should be a focus for the state administration.

“There is enormous convergence — from academia, practitioners, parents, business leadership like the Chamber of Commerce, and even across party lines – that universal access to quality early education is foundational to the shared prosperity of the Commonwealth,” Chang-Diaz said. “The longer legislative leaders allow Governor Baker to focus on smaller-scale, less impactful education reforms, the more we are going to fall behind other states.”