Tuesday, April 24, 2018

To echo the Commissioner's comment on loss of federal funding

which has also been a theme in Worcester finance presentations for as long as I have been paying attention...
You might note this article from EdWeek, which looks at each state's Title I and Title IIA allocations. Massachusetts loses in both columns:

  • Title I is a 2.9% drop, of $7M.
  • Title IIA is a 4.5% drop, of $1.6M.
I also think it's worth noting that Member West assumed the news was good, because Title I was increased. Much like with the state budget's impact on districts, though: what matters is where it goes.

It's not coming here.

Do also note, however, that Massachusetts overall spends something more than $16B (billion, with a B) on K-12 education, so this isn't a lot in that context. This is more a question of where it goes. It goes to high poverty kids and to teacher professional development.
I'd argue that this makes the Foundation Budget Review Commission implementation MORE urgent, because low income is, yes, one of the recommendations, and we should push that if we're going to be shorted on Title I. And Title IIA is supporting a LOT of professional development that's being underfunded, sometimes to frightening levels, due to the lack of reconsideration of the foundation budget. 

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