Board of Ed on House Ways and Means

Bill Bell on House Ways and Means
"right in the middle of the state budget development"
the floor debate has begun on the budget
full house completed a series of amendments on local aid and education
concerns with "assessment and curriculum" budget item; was restored in amendment to $32.5M
"series of smaller number...regional transportation reimbursement, after school grants"
traditional
all told, there's about $8.5M added (to education) in the budget yesterday
increasing funding for our districts
aid spending up $160M over the House 2; minimum aid, a little on target reduction, additional more money for circuit breaker, some on the Foundation Budget Review Commission
"we won't know the percentages for those" until this year's claims are filed
concerned about the federal level; "a little less money on the school improvement area"
have been dealing with designated funds for school improvment being gone (now comes out of Title I)
maybe $6M less
numbers are jumping around
in FY18, Legislature has been talking about supplemental funding on circuit breaker and regional transportation
$8.5M out of Senate Ways and Means for circuit breaker [NOTE: This is the Senate Ways and Means REDRAFT of the House's supplemental, which had $12.5M. Per DESE, the $8.5M is 70.4%; the $12.5M was 71.6%. The full Senate takes it up Thursday.]
68% right now; 75% is considered full funding
have been sharing numbers on regional transportation with legislators, 'though nothing in the Senate bill

Riley: still have gaps that need to be closed; students that historically have benefited from these dollars [at the federal level]
West: allows state to set aside 7% of allocation for school improvement
Bell: 7% comes after we take care of set asides; series of calculations we need to go through
"we can't just take it off the top"
Moriarty: "how responsive if at all the budget process is to the recommendations we made at the front end of the budget process" is something he'd like to review
are there going to be resources for PD for teachers and other prep for the standards implementation and such for the social studies and history?
hope is that Board passes revised standards in June
already built a civics institute for those who teach 8th grade; used Title II dollars
hope to run this summer; not dependant on state dollars, nor on the districts having to do it
Riley: to me it looks like we might not have the resources we've had in the past to bring to our most needy students

Doherty "I don't like to bring controversy to the Board"
"to provide a quality education to all students"
FBRC found that public education was being underfunded by "about a billion dollars"
If the Board feels that the resources being brought to bear are not sufficient, is it inappropriate for this Board to advocate for additional resources for public schools in Massachusetts?
Peyser: runs through another round of how marvelous the Governor is on implementing FBRC because of the wee nods they keep making on health insurance...give me a break 
Doherty is asking if the Board has taken a position on, for example, a ballot question in the past, as they need to potentially take a position on Fair Share
Sagan: we already do make recommendations on the budget; we can see if we should can/should do more
another issue, is do we recommend where the funding comes from