Ensuring next year's state budget is ready for federal impacts

 As I noted back in October, there were changes made to how the federal government is managing SNAP and Medicaid that will have impacts on school funding and on the state budget. I said then, and I continue to fear now, that I don't see indications that Massachusetts is making this part of our preparation for FY27 and beyond. 

Applying Mahmoud v. Taylor to vaccines is alarming

 On Monday, the Supreme Court sent a case challenging New York State's ending of religious exemptions for vaccines back to the appeals court " for further consideration in light of Mahmoud v. Taylor."

Mahmoud, of course, was the decision that allows parents to exempt their children from, well, basically anything in a school, on religious grounds. 

Slate covers the issue here well: 

Unfortunately, Mahmoud’s author, Justice Samuel Alito, wrote the opinion so sweepingly that this interpretation is entirely plausible. He evinced no concern for the rights of other students—like, say, the children of LGBTQ+ parents who might feel stigmatized by the removal of books that depict families like theirs. And he contemplated no clear limits to parents’ freedom “to direct the religious upbringing of their children.” Instead, he indicated that when parents’ faith-based demands conflict with democratically enacted education policies, it is the parents who must win out and the contested policies that must yield. So the Amish plaintiffs in Miller v. McDonald are not off base when they say that Mahmoud establishes their right to send their kids to school unvaccinated. Alito’s decision is so recklessly capacious that it arguably allows parents to challenge even the most basic school-safety measures on religious grounds.

Mahmoud did at least acknowledge that infringements upon this newfound First Amendment right may survive if they are “narrowly tailored” to serve a “compelling government interest.” The plaintiffs argue that the existence of New York’s medical exemption proves that there is no compelling interest in overturning its religious exemption, insisting that these opt-outs are analogous. But they are not: As the 2nd Circuit explained, there is “a difference in magnitude” between the frequency of religious and medical exemption, with families claiming the former vastly more often than the latter. Medical exemptions are also easier to police, since states can require licensed doctors to explain why each child has a legitimate need to forgo vaccination. Public health experts have shown that religious exemptions were linked to recent outbreaks—like New York’s measles epidemic—while medical exemptions were not.

In a week in which South Carolina reports what they've termed an "accelerating" measles outbreak  and Connecticut has just reported their first case in four years, it would certainly seem as if there is a compelling interest here. It is alarming that the Supreme Court would wonder otherwise.

where we are at on federal grants

 This came out from DESE's grants office this morning. While it is not new information, I thought it was a useful summary: 

On November 12, a “continuing resolution” was passed to reopen the federal government through January 30, 2026. However, most school year 2026-2027 federal education funding levels have not been resolved and are still subject to negotiation (ESSA, IDEA, Perkins, etc.). If Congress cannot come to an agreement on FY27 funding levels by January 30^th, they must either pass another “continuing resolution” or shut down the government yet again. It should be noted that the national school meals program was the one major area of federal education funding that did receive a new full-year appropriation, through September 30, 2026.
 
Early the following week, the U.S. Education Department (USED) informed state education leaders of its intent to transition the management of several major programs to other federal agencies. The announcement stated that the majority of programs currently managed by the federal Office of Elementary and Secondary Education will transition to the U.S. Department of Labor via an inter-agency agreement. These programs will include Title I-A, Title II-A, Title III-A, Title IV-A and B, and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act, among others. 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs will, for the moment, remain at USED, as will the Office for Civil Rights. USED officials noted that signed agreements with the Department of Labor and other agencies are only a first step and could not provide immediate details on the timing or specifics of the interagency transitions. These details will vary by program. The federal press release includes links to several federal fact sheets, including one on elementary and secondary education. 

The aid didn't go out

 You might remember back in late October during the government shutdown, Worcester with GREAT fanfare announced that there was a local effort to help families struggling with hunger as SNAP benefits were also shut down. Among the things listed:

...4,000 food gift cards — each worth $100 — will go to individuals and families who stand to lose SNAP benefits on Nov. 1....$150,000 will go to the Worcester Public Schools so students and their families have access to nutritious food

Now, I know I wasn't alone in observing that there are 24,000 students in the Worcester Public Schools and 72% of them count as low income, so that was not going nearly far enough. At least, I am sure we all thought, it was something.  

So I had to re-read these paragraphs from the T&G last week twice to be sure I understood this correctly: 

A recent example of the slow pace of bureaucracy is how 4,000 food gift cards were distributed to Worcester families who temporality lost federal food aid benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the recent government shutdown. 

Donations received by the United Way of Central Massachusetts paid for the cards, each with a $100 value, and Morales said 800 have been given to families of students in the Worcester Public Schools. More cards are available, but families must fill out an application and that takes time.

Morales also noted 1,300 of the 4,000 food cards were disbursed by the Worcester Community Action Council before Thanksgiving. 

So...just over half the cards went out BY A MONTH LATER?

And families of kids in WPS had to FILL OUT AN APPLICATION to get the cards?

Every day, the Worcester Public Schools feed any child who attends. No one fills out anything, because--and this is quite explicitly why the federal program works as it does!--WE KNOW THAT IS A BARRIER to food.

What on EARTH? 

We at least temporarily have an Office of Civil Rights back

 Well, well, well, what do you know? If you lay off hundreds of people who deal with civil rights complaints in the U.S. Department of Education, what do you end up with?

...a growth in its massive backlog of those complaints. 

Thus on Friday, U.S. Ed called back hundreds of those employees, though not without the trademark unprofessional snark that is a current hallmark of the agency: 

In the email to employees, the department said “it is important to refocus OCR’s work and utilize all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.” 

“In order for OCR to pursue its mission with all available resources, all those individuals currently being compensated by the Department need to meet their employee performance expectations and contribute to the enforcement of existing civil rights complaints,” the email notes.

Remember, Secretary McMahon has repeatedly said that the mandates Congress has for the Department can and are being carried out, but as USA Today notes: 

Education Secretary Linda McMahon's decision to tap into her own laid-off workforce provides further evidence her agency is struggling more than she has publicly indicated to meet its legally mandated responsibilities.

Since cutting the department in half earlier this year, many families waiting on resolutions to their civil rights complaints have been stuck in limbo. Colleges have also reported significant issues with the federal financial aid system.

 I should note that the first report I saw of this was in FedScoop.

A note on transportation from Washington State

 Really interesting thing I learned from this article covering Spokane, Washington buying a new fleet of school buses: 

The state also now requires school districts to prove they are getting a better deal by contracting with an outside provider rather than having their own fleets.

I want to do some poking around and find out more about the law and what caused that to be the case. 

 

Some folks just need something to be angry about

 But they're fighting like dogs in the town across the river
Over a brand-new crosswalk that won't matter come winter
Lord, sometimes folks just need something to be angry about
What're you angry about?

"Pain is Cold Water," Noah Kahan

As Mass DOT held a public hearing on proposed changes to upper Pleasant Street (Route 122) here in Worcester Wednesday night, the Washington Post covering why it is that Vision Zero--the novel idea that no pedestrians should die due to drivers--hasn't been successful in the United States was timely. (That's a gift link to the Post.)

As illustrated by some of the public testimony at the Worcester meeting, the big reason that such moves fail in the U.S., per the review by the Post?

 Motorists are hostile to measures that slow traffic and favor pedestrians.

 As a result, then: 

Local leaders give token or tepid support. Spending on pedestrian-friendly improvements is not prioritized. The U.S. government, meanwhile, never backed up its pledge with federal action or significant funds.

Motorists in the U.S. want to go really fast in their big cars, and our system revolves around that.

Pedestrians, though, are all of us at one time or another. Even those who drive everywhere occasionally have to exit a vehicle to get somewhere.

And one group that doesn't drive at all? Children. 

Children walk, and ride bikes, and wait for school buses. And children, thus, bear a disproportionate burden of systems that advantage cars over those who don't drive. 

Children, also, don't vote or donate to lobbying groups.  

If we actually want to prioritize kids, we need to prioritize the safety of those outside of our big steel cages that go really fast. 

This post in part brought to you, also, by thoughts I had whilst shoveling sidewalks Wednesday, a day Worcester had school after the Tuesday storm. While the roads are plowed by the city, the sidewalks—how thousands of children in Worcester get to school—are not, and sidewalks also do not have to be cleared until 24 hours after snow stops. That means Worcester’s children made their way to school Wednesday morning on uncleared sidewalks. 

Budgets are moral documents; what we fund is what we value. We don’t value pedestrians, including our schoolchildren, enough to ensure their winter safety.