EDIT: My cleared up and probably more readable report for MASC is over here.
Opening this morning with the National Anthem and other music from the Peabody High School Chorale and welcome from Peabody Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt, who notes that the building was an opera house.
Opening panel of the three Commissioners (Weber, Santiago, and Wulfson) and Secretary Peyser, who says Higher ed, early ed, and K-12 ed will be the order of testimony
Peyser: different decisions
most significant education spending increases $103M
"fully funding the existing foundation formula...inflation factor of over 2.6%...treatment of health insurance costs"
28,000 more low income students counted in FY19
"equity reform" minimum state contribution of at least 17.5%
"nearly twice what" the foundation budget would require
another $15M in foundation budget reserve account for PR and USVI, same as FY18
rate increases in early ed
"unprecedent increases in scholarships for community college students"
double Mass Grant allocation for community college students
continued expansion of Commonwealth Commitment
just of $18M highest priority "industry culsters" in vocational ed
early college programs
Five priorities of Baker admin:
- quality of early ed
- "reenforce the foundations of the 1993 education reform act": "cannot take success for granted" 1993 "underlying cause of what we have achieved" have to strength standards, assessment, and accountability
- "empower schools and educators"...yes, this talks about the empowerment zone
- career and tech expansion
- college affordability and completion
Santiago: three priorities in Higher Ed:
1. college more accessible and affordable
2. closing opportunity and achievement gaps
3. improving college completion rates
declining college enrollment; only growing population is among Latino students
"silver tsunami" Baby Boomers exiting the workforce
both things that public higher ed poised to assist with
"serve the public good by investing in human capital"
"higher ed changes lives...and in doing so, changes communities"
"when our students succeed, so does our Commonwealth"
speaks of transfers between and among campuses
close achievement gaps and increase college achievement
"failed system of remediation" redesign remedial programs, as students enroll concurrently in credit-bearing courses, working to end "churn of remediation"
"I see a system that is poised to public upon successful efforts" at collaboration
Weber on early ed:
childcare servers birth to 16, residential programs up to 21
fostering learning and development
"stable and high quality early education system"
three key efforts;
1. improving outcomes through access
2. improving success through support
3. complying with federal mandates
mention of significant investment in early ed from federal government
federal benchmark: paying public early childhood providers at least the 75% benchmark of the private rate (which it sounds like we're still working on)
continue to be paid higher reimbursement rates (from FY18)
background record checks on all licensed and receiving of funds programs; checks being done in house, necessitating expanded EEC staffing
"career lattice" for staffing to allow access to higher ed for degrees and other certifications
key foundational components: health, safety, child development blocks becoming part of licensure
differential licensing models: unannounced visits to programs
additional licensing modules may be required; review of staffing levels will be done under changes
seeing firsthand in preschool expansion initiative that early work can limit need for later interventions
Wulfson: forgo reading my testimony this morning
25th anniversary of education reform, celebrating successes and plan for work ahead
visionaries who drafted law, governors and legislators who have supported it
teachers, educators and support staff doing daily work
QUESTIONS:
Rep. Miceli with a question on layoffs at Middlesex Community College
Santiago explains the decentralized nature of such oversight
Mayor Driscoll of Salem (taken out of order):
Ch.70 funding
charter school funding formula being underfunded is a disencentive to serve all students
a million dollars over the past three years
"I think it's $70M underfunded from the statory funding formula"
Rep. Tucker: you said achievement has plateaued; will we still see remedial need
Peyser: key challenge that confronts us
focus on where the gap is the greatest
Lawrence as "example of what is possible"
"when approach to the work is changed and improved"
"a misconception that a lot of new money that went into Lawrence and that's why its improved so much"
suggestst that empowerment zone is seeing that as well
will see resources discussed as well
Q: how critical is dispensing with collective bargaining agreement to work?
Peyser: contract largely is a compensation system
"to my knowledge, Springfield teachers' union has wholeheartedly embraced" new contract
and credits it with some of the work
(I would not take Peyser's word for what the union thinks)
Q: EEC's annual legislative report on number of children is down
Weber: overhall number has decreased over the past decade; number of reasons why
increasing number of children that we're serving at DCF; "that's part of the caseload" change
income-eligible population...providing access to that
"they've had to make decisions about how to ensure there's a high enough indication of quality, and that plays into access as well"
"system capacity has remained flat...the distribution of that has shifted over past years" from family based to center based
taking out of order...Peabody Superintendent Herb Levine
asks for reimbursement of transportation
on the kindergarten grant: "when grants die, often times they die after we've budgeted for them at the local level, which doesn't allow us the funds to make up from them going away"
"would urge you to reinvent the kindergarten grant, especially to keep class sizes low"
all of the markers that you'd take a look at improve with class sizes low
"would have a tremendous impact on kids"
speaks as the father of a young man who was opioid addicted: "you have to be much more bold" in addressing issue
of the drug companies: "these people need to go to jail"
worked on recovery high schools: "we need more of them: they need to expand; they need to double and triple"
any time there's been changes "we've been bold"
"we need to be as bold with the opioid epidemic"
Qs from Senator Chang-Diaz:
highlighting the pothole account on evacuees from PR and USVI
wanted to pick on where Peyser left off on why the plateau for achievement
"focusing on the areas of greatest need and greatest disadvantage"
the FBRC recommended an increment for low income students "as a learning that we could take away from the past 25 years on what it takes to close achievement gaps": can you speak to that?
Peyser: administration proposed "a progressive formula for districts with the highest concentration of low income students"
consolidated formula for low income students
have increased the overall foundation budget and have increased overall percentage going to low income students
and health insurance: beneficiaries are districts that are right at foundation
Chang-Diaz:
can you give us the brackets?
back and forth here
Peyser: $3600 is lowest?
Chang-Diaz: how can we be asking them to perform when we aren't taking action on these?
Peyser: main beneficiaries are the districts that get most of their funding from state
"choices have to be made...I think they have been biased towards education"
Chang-Diaz: was $70M short right?
Peyser: it was intended to be transition
"has never been fully funded"
Senator Wong:
would like to look at who much towns and cities can afford to pay into vocational schools
Peyser: "I think there's a lot of room for that."
Rep. Arciero: workforce development: invest in community colleges and vocational schools
has the report of some years ago been revisited
Peyser: snapshot of regions: industry clusters, credentials, so to see what to address those gaps
"a little bit hard to put your finger on"
Senator Jehlen: follow up on Chang-Diaz's questions
"especially since Secretary Peyser said that the adminstration is prioritizing education"
have you thought about the fact that education funding has plateaued?
Ch. 70 has increased by less than the revenue has increased, and less than the percentage that local aid has increased
"whether you see any relationship in plateauing in achievement and plateauing in increases in chapter 70?"
Peyser: funding has been driven by formula, "as you're well aware"
funding "has significantly" gone beyond the
"frankly there's been years of research between spending and performance"
"spending money isn't as important as spending it well, and we don't always spend it as well as we should"
Ch. 70 isn't all of the spending: cites local and state funding
"spending has been growing significantly over this whole period"
Jehlen: I don't see how laying off 61 teachers (Brockton) in increasing achievement
charter reimbursement "you're suggesting that we relieve the problem by changing the formula rather than fulfilling our obligation"
Peyser: especially in districts like Brockton that get something like 80% of their funding from the state, which is close to their actual spending
...and he's now explaining how charter reimbursement works again...
"an appropriate way to provide high quality options to families who might not otherwise have them"
Chang-Diaz
was a source of excitement that candidate Baker had committed to funding ch. 70 at same rate as revenue increase
"that's ballpark a 25% difference" between revenue and local aid to education
"we have to remember...formula is a baseline, it's a minimum"
"have bipartisan agreement that" this formula is outdated
"to say that we're spending more than the formula requires is cold comfort at best"
funding going to higher need communities is as it should be
"we're asking those school districts to do more"
"how is it accurate and fair to say that we're giving more money to districts that we're asking to do more?"
is it your position that the administration is fulfilling its responsibility to low income students through the changes in the foundation budget?
Peyser: "low income budget is growing at a faster rate than the overall foundation budget"
and I missed a question here to Weber
Chang-Diaz to higher ed: 100 males to college: how is it successful?
Santiago: partnership and community
students that are strugging a bit in high school
"almost a one to one mentoring approach"
go to different higher ed programs but are prepared similarly
"show how they can succeed in college, and that has made all the difference"
Chang-Diaz: robust wraparound services to bring to scale?
Santiago: agrees
"work closely with the K-12 system..and it really is a community effort"
Rep. D'Emilia: deferred maintenance at higher facilities
"a staggering number when you think about it"
Peyser: estimate that it's well over $5B "so it's a huge problem"
have prioritized maintenance over new construction
Rep. deMacedo: no new buildings?
Peyser: specific to the captial budget
doesn't mean no new construction, but generally that it would be replaced
Sen. Lovely: Brockton article in the Globe
spending per student; educators that are digging into their own pockets; comment on that?
Peyser: "I can't speak to the specifics of Brockton...the choices that they make between maintenance and staff are really up to them"
"it's not to say that they're making bad choice, it's just that we don't control the choices they made"
Lovely: "there's also a $60M deficit in their school budget that they're dealing with, and that's not specific to Brockton as well"
BREAK!
Beverly Griffin-Dunne (Peabody School Committee) and Nerissa Wallen (Triton Regional School Committee)
Wallen: refers to Globe article "looking down the cliff" at Brockton
"no one is getting enough aid"
"Triton is one budget year or one bad budget year away from Brockton"
"not just in our schools, it's in our towns"
"we need your help"
full reimbursement on transportation
draw a contrast between Secretary Peyser's use of "significant"
would ask for significant investment in foundation budget
asking for $100 per pupil increase
"trying to deliver them a quality education and it's becoming more and more difficult every year"
Griffin-Dunne: problem with Ch.70 "perhaps it was adequate when it was implemented"
"as anyone knows, our schools right now are a reflection of what society is"
"not just teaching math and science in our classrooms"
"doesn't recognize today's needs...it's based on an old system"
"apparently they never get the memo saying send a box of tissues or a roll of toilet paper to the schools"
"when you're faced with cutting a teacher or deferring maintenance, your school committees are always going to put a teacher before the students"
Rep. Walsh: if you don't get everything you need, how do you manage that?
Wallen: have passed a budget more than what the FinComs have called for
if override fails, going to have to make some significant cuts
Rep. Malia: want to underline the concepts you're expressing
"kids who are encountering these things are damaged...kids really need supports, extra supports"
Higher ed panel
Middlesex Community College:
addressing needs of students including housing and food insecurity
UMass: thank you for your support for higher ed
demand for a UMass education has never been higher
"affordablity is central to our mission...hold increases to the cost of inflation"
"record amounts of revenue to financial aid"
Priorities: UMass online; partnerships with non-profits; partnerships with business community; increasing financial aid and endowment
"role UMass plays in the state economy should not be overlooked"
UMass educates more Mass residents than the top eight universities combined
Rep. Tucker: students struggling with homelessness and hunger: outreach?
Middlesex: agencies to steer to, how do we sensitively inquire?
Coordinated Family and Community Engagement panel now
outreach in all different levels and places
parent of children that were in a private liberal arts school and now are sending older child to Triton Regional
grateful for all of the STEAM programs they offer
"the message that the state is sending to all of its citizens...to bridge the gap to reach opportunities (of colleges)..."
"up until then, I felt like I had an umbrella and I could move back into the public schools"
districts having to make sacrifices
"and its very well documented that small class sizes make a difference"
MTA panel (whose names I am going to miss)
Madeloni, MTA: "at best disappointment, moving towards outrage" at budget
funding decrease dramatically in recent years
accounting for inflation and enrollment factors, K-12 down 5% since FY02
in the context of a student body that is much needier
"unacceptable anywhere, but particularly in a state that holds itself as an example of public education"
FBRC two and a half years ago
annual schedule setting process to implement all five recommendations
differences between Brockton and Weston should trouble us into action
Governor's budget makes "no meaningful investment in public education"
with this budget, Baker follows the example of his party's president Donald Trump and his party's education secretary Betsy DeVos"
"stealth privatization agenda"
notes that Springfield teachers union opposes bill on empowerment zones
"it seems we have more money for testing but no money for learning"
reductions in state funding have contributed to a sharp rise in tuition and fees in public higher ed
community colleges' funding "has been increased by only .1%...I'm not sure what they're supposed to do" with those lacks of resources
reminder from Everett that district was looking to reduce their staff by 110 members in the middle of the year due to underfunding
"listen to what the secretary had to say and thinking through this budget [this analogy to Trump and Devos] is not [hyberbolic]"
"public education is foundational to our democracy; it's what will protect us"
"those students in Parkland learned how to speak out in their public school classrooms"
Salem State prof: I have students every year who fall behind each year because they can't afford the books
"what is needed is debt-free public higher education"
"it's not a pipe dream" but we're constantly told that we aren't able to do it
public savings by public funding of higher ed
increasing funding as much as possible now, commit to significant increases to higher education
public education "accessible and affortable"
Beverly teachers' union president: special education circuit breaker is not enough to cover costs
district charging a wide range of fees
kindergarten full day: "essential, so why shouldn't it be free for all students"
$1200 for school-leased laptop; "while not required" students who do not are at a significant disadvantage
ask that FBRC be fully implementated
civics and history education: "I no longer tell my students that I'm preparing my students to be good citizens, as I no longer have time to do that."
little history and social studies taught in elementary schools
asks for a moratorium on testing to give back time to cover curriculum
original purpose of public education to create an informed citizenry: "are we fulfilling this purpose now?"
Rep. Gentile: constituent who went to college in Germany because it's free
"our children can get a good start in life without a morgage"
Madeloni: reminder that the City University of New York did educated people for free at one time
"It's not something that we can't imagine"
we say we value children: "if we're not funding public education and we're loading them with debt when they leave college, I don't know that that's what love looks like."
"we've been given this austerity narrative that we have to compete with each other" for anything more
Testimony from MAAPS (Ch. 766 special ed) calling for full funding of the circuit breaker
noting that FY18 funding is inadequate, and was not addressed by a supplemental budget
mentoring matching grants line item
MMA panel:
Mayor Hawk of Gardner: "whatever you do, we're going to get blamed for it"
"no matter what you do, we're going to get blamed for it"
local aid keeping pace with revenue
local receipts have decreased
Gardner is a minimum local aid district; Monty Tech going up $500K
vocational school "creaming the kids and then they tout the good test scores they get"
"there has to be a solution of what we have"
"there are a lot of pressures on the municipal level"
VP of MMA Ellen Allen "when your schools are going downhill the way they are in Brockton, their parents want to send them to charter schools"
"creating this vicious circle where it gets worse and worse"
my town "really getting nailed by the circuit breaker
$111,000 short on funding
will be applying for extraordinary relief
"we urgently need a supplemental budget for the charter schools and for the circuit breaker"
Town Manager of Athol Shaun Suhoski on impact of regional transportation
"many of these western Massachusetts communities have regional schools"
now we're at 73 + or - on reimbursement
"out of district transportation for vocational is like a Powerball ticket that you don't want to hit"
town of 400 students with 7 students going to vocational school; "per capita cost is $2500" for those pupils
more than half of towns have populations of 1200 students
"look carefully at funding funding" transportation
Mayor Bettencourt of Peabody
money goes to infrastructure work, goes to police and fire
aid "really allows us to invest in our community"
for Ch. 70: "I believe we have a tremendous school system, but we have our struggles, special education, maintaining class sizes"
Hawke on current budget: 12 teachers, 7 paras and 1 school secretary laid off as it stands
25-27 class size "which I'm sure we can agree is unacceptable"
Sukoski: higher average costs due to location
funding for schools is the single best economic tool we have as a Commonwealth
something that local officials can educate their communities on
ADJOURNED
1. college more accessible and affordable
2. closing opportunity and achievement gaps
3. improving college completion rates
declining college enrollment; only growing population is among Latino students
"silver tsunami" Baby Boomers exiting the workforce
both things that public higher ed poised to assist with
"serve the public good by investing in human capital"
"higher ed changes lives...and in doing so, changes communities"
"when our students succeed, so does our Commonwealth"
speaks of transfers between and among campuses
close achievement gaps and increase college achievement
"failed system of remediation" redesign remedial programs, as students enroll concurrently in credit-bearing courses, working to end "churn of remediation"
"I see a system that is poised to public upon successful efforts" at collaboration
Weber on early ed:
childcare servers birth to 16, residential programs up to 21
fostering learning and development
"stable and high quality early education system"
three key efforts;
1. improving outcomes through access
2. improving success through support
3. complying with federal mandates
mention of significant investment in early ed from federal government
federal benchmark: paying public early childhood providers at least the 75% benchmark of the private rate (which it sounds like we're still working on)
continue to be paid higher reimbursement rates (from FY18)
background record checks on all licensed and receiving of funds programs; checks being done in house, necessitating expanded EEC staffing
"career lattice" for staffing to allow access to higher ed for degrees and other certifications
key foundational components: health, safety, child development blocks becoming part of licensure
differential licensing models: unannounced visits to programs
additional licensing modules may be required; review of staffing levels will be done under changes
seeing firsthand in preschool expansion initiative that early work can limit need for later interventions
Wulfson: forgo reading my testimony this morning
25th anniversary of education reform, celebrating successes and plan for work ahead
visionaries who drafted law, governors and legislators who have supported it
teachers, educators and support staff doing daily work
QUESTIONS:
Rep. Miceli with a question on layoffs at Middlesex Community College
Santiago explains the decentralized nature of such oversight
Mayor Driscoll of Salem (taken out of order):
Ch.70 funding
charter school funding formula being underfunded is a disencentive to serve all students
a million dollars over the past three years
"I think it's $70M underfunded from the statory funding formula"
Rep. Tucker: you said achievement has plateaued; will we still see remedial need
Peyser: key challenge that confronts us
focus on where the gap is the greatest
Lawrence as "example of what is possible"
"when approach to the work is changed and improved"
"a misconception that a lot of new money that went into Lawrence and that's why its improved so much"
suggestst that empowerment zone is seeing that as well
will see resources discussed as well
Q: how critical is dispensing with collective bargaining agreement to work?
Peyser: contract largely is a compensation system
"to my knowledge, Springfield teachers' union has wholeheartedly embraced" new contract
and credits it with some of the work
(I would not take Peyser's word for what the union thinks)
Q: EEC's annual legislative report on number of children is down
Weber: overhall number has decreased over the past decade; number of reasons why
increasing number of children that we're serving at DCF; "that's part of the caseload" change
income-eligible population...providing access to that
"they've had to make decisions about how to ensure there's a high enough indication of quality, and that plays into access as well"
"system capacity has remained flat...the distribution of that has shifted over past years" from family based to center based
taking out of order...Peabody Superintendent Herb Levine
asks for reimbursement of transportation
on the kindergarten grant: "when grants die, often times they die after we've budgeted for them at the local level, which doesn't allow us the funds to make up from them going away"
"would urge you to reinvent the kindergarten grant, especially to keep class sizes low"
all of the markers that you'd take a look at improve with class sizes low
"would have a tremendous impact on kids"
speaks as the father of a young man who was opioid addicted: "you have to be much more bold" in addressing issue
of the drug companies: "these people need to go to jail"
worked on recovery high schools: "we need more of them: they need to expand; they need to double and triple"
any time there's been changes "we've been bold"
"we need to be as bold with the opioid epidemic"
Qs from Senator Chang-Diaz:
highlighting the pothole account on evacuees from PR and USVI
wanted to pick on where Peyser left off on why the plateau for achievement
"focusing on the areas of greatest need and greatest disadvantage"
the FBRC recommended an increment for low income students "as a learning that we could take away from the past 25 years on what it takes to close achievement gaps": can you speak to that?
Peyser: administration proposed "a progressive formula for districts with the highest concentration of low income students"
consolidated formula for low income students
have increased the overall foundation budget and have increased overall percentage going to low income students
and health insurance: beneficiaries are districts that are right at foundation
Chang-Diaz:
can you give us the brackets?
back and forth here
Peyser: $3600 is lowest?
Chang-Diaz: how can we be asking them to perform when we aren't taking action on these?
Peyser: main beneficiaries are the districts that get most of their funding from state
"choices have to be made...I think they have been biased towards education"
Chang-Diaz: was $70M short right?
Peyser: it was intended to be transition
"has never been fully funded"
Senator Wong:
would like to look at who much towns and cities can afford to pay into vocational schools
Peyser: "I think there's a lot of room for that."
Rep. Arciero: workforce development: invest in community colleges and vocational schools
has the report of some years ago been revisited
Peyser: snapshot of regions: industry clusters, credentials, so to see what to address those gaps
"a little bit hard to put your finger on"
Senator Jehlen: follow up on Chang-Diaz's questions
"especially since Secretary Peyser said that the adminstration is prioritizing education"
have you thought about the fact that education funding has plateaued?
Ch. 70 has increased by less than the revenue has increased, and less than the percentage that local aid has increased
"whether you see any relationship in plateauing in achievement and plateauing in increases in chapter 70?"
Peyser: funding has been driven by formula, "as you're well aware"
funding "has significantly" gone beyond the
"frankly there's been years of research between spending and performance"
"spending money isn't as important as spending it well, and we don't always spend it as well as we should"
Ch. 70 isn't all of the spending: cites local and state funding
"spending has been growing significantly over this whole period"
Jehlen: I don't see how laying off 61 teachers (Brockton) in increasing achievement
charter reimbursement "you're suggesting that we relieve the problem by changing the formula rather than fulfilling our obligation"
Peyser: especially in districts like Brockton that get something like 80% of their funding from the state, which is close to their actual spending
...and he's now explaining how charter reimbursement works again...
"an appropriate way to provide high quality options to families who might not otherwise have them"
Chang-Diaz
was a source of excitement that candidate Baker had committed to funding ch. 70 at same rate as revenue increase
"that's ballpark a 25% difference" between revenue and local aid to education
"we have to remember...formula is a baseline, it's a minimum"
"have bipartisan agreement that" this formula is outdated
"to say that we're spending more than the formula requires is cold comfort at best"
funding going to higher need communities is as it should be
"we're asking those school districts to do more"
"how is it accurate and fair to say that we're giving more money to districts that we're asking to do more?"
is it your position that the administration is fulfilling its responsibility to low income students through the changes in the foundation budget?
Peyser: "low income budget is growing at a faster rate than the overall foundation budget"
and I missed a question here to Weber
Chang-Diaz to higher ed: 100 males to college: how is it successful?
Santiago: partnership and community
students that are strugging a bit in high school
"almost a one to one mentoring approach"
go to different higher ed programs but are prepared similarly
"show how they can succeed in college, and that has made all the difference"
Chang-Diaz: robust wraparound services to bring to scale?
Santiago: agrees
"work closely with the K-12 system..and it really is a community effort"
Rep. D'Emilia: deferred maintenance at higher facilities
"a staggering number when you think about it"
Peyser: estimate that it's well over $5B "so it's a huge problem"
have prioritized maintenance over new construction
Rep. deMacedo: no new buildings?
Peyser: specific to the captial budget
doesn't mean no new construction, but generally that it would be replaced
Sen. Lovely: Brockton article in the Globe
spending per student; educators that are digging into their own pockets; comment on that?
Peyser: "I can't speak to the specifics of Brockton...the choices that they make between maintenance and staff are really up to them"
"it's not to say that they're making bad choice, it's just that we don't control the choices they made"
Lovely: "there's also a $60M deficit in their school budget that they're dealing with, and that's not specific to Brockton as well"
BREAK!
Beverly Griffin-Dunne (Peabody School Committee) and Nerissa Wallen (Triton Regional School Committee)
Wallen: refers to Globe article "looking down the cliff" at Brockton
"no one is getting enough aid"
"Triton is one budget year or one bad budget year away from Brockton"
"not just in our schools, it's in our towns"
"we need your help"
full reimbursement on transportation
draw a contrast between Secretary Peyser's use of "significant"
would ask for significant investment in foundation budget
asking for $100 per pupil increase
"trying to deliver them a quality education and it's becoming more and more difficult every year"
Griffin-Dunne: problem with Ch.70 "perhaps it was adequate when it was implemented"
"as anyone knows, our schools right now are a reflection of what society is"
"not just teaching math and science in our classrooms"
"doesn't recognize today's needs...it's based on an old system"
"apparently they never get the memo saying send a box of tissues or a roll of toilet paper to the schools"
"when you're faced with cutting a teacher or deferring maintenance, your school committees are always going to put a teacher before the students"
Rep. Walsh: if you don't get everything you need, how do you manage that?
Wallen: have passed a budget more than what the FinComs have called for
if override fails, going to have to make some significant cuts
Rep. Malia: want to underline the concepts you're expressing
"kids who are encountering these things are damaged...kids really need supports, extra supports"
Higher ed panel
Middlesex Community College:
addressing needs of students including housing and food insecurity
UMass: thank you for your support for higher ed
demand for a UMass education has never been higher
"affordablity is central to our mission...hold increases to the cost of inflation"
"record amounts of revenue to financial aid"
Priorities: UMass online; partnerships with non-profits; partnerships with business community; increasing financial aid and endowment
"role UMass plays in the state economy should not be overlooked"
UMass educates more Mass residents than the top eight universities combined
Rep. Tucker: students struggling with homelessness and hunger: outreach?
Middlesex: agencies to steer to, how do we sensitively inquire?
Coordinated Family and Community Engagement panel now
outreach in all different levels and places
parent of children that were in a private liberal arts school and now are sending older child to Triton Regional
grateful for all of the STEAM programs they offer
"the message that the state is sending to all of its citizens...to bridge the gap to reach opportunities (of colleges)..."
"up until then, I felt like I had an umbrella and I could move back into the public schools"
districts having to make sacrifices
"and its very well documented that small class sizes make a difference"
MTA panel (whose names I am going to miss)
Madeloni, MTA: "at best disappointment, moving towards outrage" at budget
funding decrease dramatically in recent years
accounting for inflation and enrollment factors, K-12 down 5% since FY02
in the context of a student body that is much needier
"unacceptable anywhere, but particularly in a state that holds itself as an example of public education"
FBRC two and a half years ago
annual schedule setting process to implement all five recommendations
differences between Brockton and Weston should trouble us into action
Governor's budget makes "no meaningful investment in public education"
with this budget, Baker follows the example of his party's president Donald Trump and his party's education secretary Betsy DeVos"
"stealth privatization agenda"
notes that Springfield teachers union opposes bill on empowerment zones
"it seems we have more money for testing but no money for learning"
reductions in state funding have contributed to a sharp rise in tuition and fees in public higher ed
community colleges' funding "has been increased by only .1%...I'm not sure what they're supposed to do" with those lacks of resources
reminder from Everett that district was looking to reduce their staff by 110 members in the middle of the year due to underfunding
"listen to what the secretary had to say and thinking through this budget [this analogy to Trump and Devos] is not [hyberbolic]"
"public education is foundational to our democracy; it's what will protect us"
"those students in Parkland learned how to speak out in their public school classrooms"
Salem State prof: I have students every year who fall behind each year because they can't afford the books
"what is needed is debt-free public higher education"
"it's not a pipe dream" but we're constantly told that we aren't able to do it
public savings by public funding of higher ed
increasing funding as much as possible now, commit to significant increases to higher education
public education "accessible and affortable"
Beverly teachers' union president: special education circuit breaker is not enough to cover costs
district charging a wide range of fees
kindergarten full day: "essential, so why shouldn't it be free for all students"
$1200 for school-leased laptop; "while not required" students who do not are at a significant disadvantage
ask that FBRC be fully implementated
civics and history education: "I no longer tell my students that I'm preparing my students to be good citizens, as I no longer have time to do that."
little history and social studies taught in elementary schools
asks for a moratorium on testing to give back time to cover curriculum
original purpose of public education to create an informed citizenry: "are we fulfilling this purpose now?"
Rep. Gentile: constituent who went to college in Germany because it's free
"our children can get a good start in life without a morgage"
Madeloni: reminder that the City University of New York did educated people for free at one time
"It's not something that we can't imagine"
we say we value children: "if we're not funding public education and we're loading them with debt when they leave college, I don't know that that's what love looks like."
"we've been given this austerity narrative that we have to compete with each other" for anything more
Testimony from MAAPS (Ch. 766 special ed) calling for full funding of the circuit breaker
noting that FY18 funding is inadequate, and was not addressed by a supplemental budget
mentoring matching grants line item
MMA panel:
Mayor Hawk of Gardner: "whatever you do, we're going to get blamed for it"
"no matter what you do, we're going to get blamed for it"
local aid keeping pace with revenue
local receipts have decreased
Gardner is a minimum local aid district; Monty Tech going up $500K
vocational school "creaming the kids and then they tout the good test scores they get"
"there has to be a solution of what we have"
"there are a lot of pressures on the municipal level"
VP of MMA Ellen Allen "when your schools are going downhill the way they are in Brockton, their parents want to send them to charter schools"
"creating this vicious circle where it gets worse and worse"
my town "really getting nailed by the circuit breaker
$111,000 short on funding
will be applying for extraordinary relief
"we urgently need a supplemental budget for the charter schools and for the circuit breaker"
Town Manager of Athol Shaun Suhoski on impact of regional transportation
"many of these western Massachusetts communities have regional schools"
now we're at 73 + or - on reimbursement
"out of district transportation for vocational is like a Powerball ticket that you don't want to hit"
town of 400 students with 7 students going to vocational school; "per capita cost is $2500" for those pupils
more than half of towns have populations of 1200 students
"look carefully at funding funding" transportation
Mayor Bettencourt of Peabody
money goes to infrastructure work, goes to police and fire
aid "really allows us to invest in our community"
for Ch. 70: "I believe we have a tremendous school system, but we have our struggles, special education, maintaining class sizes"
Hawke on current budget: 12 teachers, 7 paras and 1 school secretary laid off as it stands
25-27 class size "which I'm sure we can agree is unacceptable"
Sukoski: higher average costs due to location
funding for schools is the single best economic tool we have as a Commonwealth
something that local officials can educate their communities on
ADJOURNED
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