Joint Committee on Ways and Means FY21 hearing on FY21

coming you today from the Malden Senior Center, just down the street from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in downtown Malden, where the Joint Committee on Ways and Means is having their FY21 hearing on local aid and education. These "on the road" hearings are frequently chaired by the nearest rep and senator, so today we have Rep. Christine Barber and Senator Jason Lewis, as Barber reps Melrose and Somerville, and Lewis reps Malden. This hearing, like several of the others, are a bit of a set piece; they aren't open to anyone to testify. That hearing is at the State House on March 24 at 11 am. 
And this decidedly will NOT start on time; I'll start updating once it does. 

Senator Lewis opens the hearing, welcoming people to the city of Malden, noting that the Reps may be coming a little late as they were in session late.
Barber: with Student Opportunity Act, there is much to do with ensuring the funds are spend equitably
Lewis outlines who will be testifying and reminds speakers that "brevity is the soul of wit" (which is the first time I can recall Shakespeare being quoted in a Ways and Means hearing)
Mayor Christenson welcomes the committee to Malden, noting that Malden was the first to answer the call of the second Continental Congress
he asks that they give the support necessary for local communities to do their work
and he urges them to stay and eat lunch, because they could use the revenue from the meals tax

Secretary Peyser with the three Commissioners (Aigner-Treworgy: early ed, Riley: K-12, Santiago: higher ed)
and he runs through what he feels have been the changes under this administration (and it's a lot of numbers and there's no way that I'm going to catch those)
aha: though he presents the low income as "close to 1/5" of the low income target
"a deeper understanding of student success" is what he argues the reports will do
"each agency has made equity a central underlying theme" (but this is things like access to college and career?)
"doing more of what we already know is working"
Santiago says he won't this year read his testimony, but that he'll talk this year about the "why" (rather than the "what") of his budget
demography is changing in Massachusetts in very fundamental ways
traditional aged students in high schools is going down and will for the next decade
growth among students of color and among students in our Gateway cities
students who traditionally have not been well served by Massachusetts education
and zip code continues to be destiny
need to go to campuses where the atmosphere is welcoming
need an analytical framework for us to assess the tools needed for them
early college targeting students who are low income, students of color, largely in Gateway cities
backlog of 22 districts and higher ed who are looking to launch new programs
a lot of costs that go beyond books, supplies, and fees (in acknowledgement of unmet need)
100 Males to College program in Worcester, Brockton, Salem, and continues to expand
results from Springfield is 95% went on to college (5% to military)
reducing those gaps that have so stymied public education
Riley: says that he's a son of someone in the Marine Corps who believed deeply in meritocracy, but that only works if everyone starts in the same place
and then thanks for the SOA
"we recognize that we have a lot of work to do on the SOA"
but "we should not forego looking into the future for what comes next"
have been flat on national tests; use those resources for "next level work so we can maintain our place as number one"
students need additional pathways and credentials
challenge standards-aligned curricular materials
Aigner-Treworgy: early ed
presenting strategic plan to stakeholders
block grants to communities in Massachusetts
subsidizes enrollment for about 55,000 students across Massachusetts on a daily basis
working with DESE for alignment across the early years

Lewis: thanks Commssioners, staffers for their work
recognizes Deputy Commissioner Wulfson for his decades of service for our schools and our children


Rep. Higgins (of Leominster): can't imagine something I'm more proud of in my first three years in education
"I was both confused and taken aback that the heart of the" SOA
"and I'm a little confused about your testimony, saying we'd gotten 1/5th of the way" to low income
"I'm wondering why leaving behind economically disadvantaged kids...why it wasn't worth it to fund kids" in this budget
Peyser speaks of the count of students, then argues that you'd need to lower the implementation of health insurance, special education, EL for equity if low income went up (um, no)
Higgins: there's still a $74M gap in year one
"how are we every going to catch up? and how do I tell a second grader in my city that they have to wait for another year for that funding?"
Peyser says it will accelerate in implementation over the next six years
Higgins: "we're seeing this is getting kicked down the road by another year"
Peyser: cites the number, Higgins notes that's how much we would expect to get if nothing had changed
Barber want to talk about low income students
"can you say more about counting and how you are getting to the number of low income students?'
Peyser: one year of using FY16 if higher
Barber: and that is coming soon?
Peyser: due in November
Barber: can you give us an update?
Peyser: in next few months will have at least a preliminary report that we'll be suggesting in the field
Vargas: even though the pie is bigger, you're saying we'll still be able to implement in five years?
Peyser: (in sum) yes
Vargas: could you roll out the new version earlier to get more accurate count earlier for this coming year?
Peyser: rolling out with districts over next few months
Vargas is checking here on what numbers need to be reported on, Peyser checks money, there's a bit of a back and forth of how much is new money 
I don't know who is asking this, but: if the Legislature filled that gap [on low income], would you support it?
Peyser tap dances, depends on revenue, etc
Response: that wasn't the answer I was hoping for
Q: any impact on coronavirus?
Peyser defers to Commissioner
call with field later this morning; meet this "ever evolving situation"
Q: hiring more people cleaning, districts prepared to have kids learn from home for a time? incurring costs
Santiago: costing resources to bring students back to this country, very concerned about large events that they host
and a plea here to expand four year education on the Cape
We also had a brief disquisition of charter schools enrolling neighborhood students
Rep. Muradian makes a pitch for a higher per pupil increase next year, noting not all districts saw an increase under the SOA
he also says this would be more fair and equitable...which isn't really the case
there was then an extended back and forth about trauma in children in schools 
Santiago (to a Q) is speaking of the pilot program of housing students who are homeless
"it is an issue, it has now gotten to a national level"
"we have gotten some funding, we have partnered with food banks"
partnered with a community colleges, but four year colleges have available facilities, "I think that has helped"

Higgins: an equitable implementation
meant that every part was implemented equitably
"not looking at the dollars...but that we needed to look at the needs of our children, no matter where they were in the Commonwealth"
included that language because needed to make sure that it didn't get tinkered with
"continue to share my frustration that we took the low income kids, the ones who this bill is meant to lift up, and the Governor's budget missed the boat"
"respectfully, we knew there'd be a lot more kids in the count in the first year" and thus that isn't an excuse for less funding per pupil
Vargas: we don't have to take away from the other categories if we put more money into that category
"as I understand it, there is a risk here, as we'll have to jump higher" to implement the low income rate over the next six years
"just viewing it from a risk perspective...part of this is how we share that risk"
he also is advocating for additional funding for civics implementation, as it is hard to do project based civics without funding; he asks if the administration would support that and the Secretary is non-commital 

Lewis: workforce diversity in our public schools
notes Commissioner's MTEL policy tweak but larger Q is college students of color who are not thinking of being teachers
Santiago: difficult to imagine for students who have never seen a teacher who looks like them
a difficult issue
"there are efforts that have been done, both K-12" and in higher ed
"major change for [K-12] department"
have to look at the MTEL, have to look at the pathway
"what are we looking for? are we looking for content specialists?"
"getting a more diverse teacher corps all through the ranks" is important for all of our students
Lewis: want to encourage continued long term collaborative strategies
and also feedback back to the Legislature for what we can do to better support those efforts
Lewis: more significant responsibility for public schools in early ed aligned with K-12
Aigner-Treworgy: have to think about all the early ed sector
trying to learn from some of the investments we've made already
take a look across nine communities and have lessons learned

and I took a break during the higher ed panel

Now the K-12 panel: MASS (Mary Bourque), MASC(Glenn Koocher), MTA (Deb Gesualdo of the Malden Education Association)
"the Governor's budget is a step in the right direction, but it shorts" the low income part
Gesualdo: "we request that the immediate needs of these communities be addressed in the FY21 budget"
"our students across the Commonwealth and in Malden need access to high quality affordable public higher education"
Bourque: thanks for work on
"my greatest disappointment, however..." is she retired in December "and I did not get to spend the money"
ask that the same "moral imperative" that pushed the bill also push implementation
there was a 37,000 student increase in low income count
substantial change, and thank you for change to 185%
"however the second component...was implemented at 14% rather than 4%"
the rate and the count were combined to meet the argument of dollar implementation
"conflating count and rate continues the 2016 equity issue that that MASS and the urban superintendents have long advocated" to fix
raising the question of the timeline for poverty count correction
growing concern that the district level steps will go through too late for implementation
ask that it be "no later than July 2020 so fiscal 22 will not be impacted"
the stumbling block may be a district-level eligibility form
"so that districts will have time to do the necessary outreach to families prior to the FY22"
"there is no hold harmless" after this year
ask so districts can use the summer to do outreach over the summer
expanded learning time grants: H2 cuts funding from $14M to $4M in 12 districts
circuit breaker fully funded at the 25% implementation (of transportation being added)
minimum aid increase 183 districts (57%)
accountability: monitor how much time superintendents and their teams are having to spend on these, both the short and the long form
should adjust in future years
Koocher: in full support of the arguments of our colleagues the superintendents
we "don't know what's going to happen with the economy"
concerned that ability to implement the SOA depends on the economy
"however eighty pages of regulations to put the thing into effect never goes away"
range of other services that also serve children "we're sympathetic to them; they're legitimate concerns"
concern about full funding for the circuit breaker; "every districts gets something from the circuit breaker"
Medicaid eligibility and funding
put in a plug for McKinney-Vento "a declared unfunded mandate by the state auditor"
support the METCO program
small and rural schools
will get back charter mitigation over the next several years; if there is a slump, charter reimbursement may not be funded, but charters will still be funded

panel of Strategies for Children Amy O'Leary
equity of early educators and K-12 in salaries even with even certifications
YMCA: collectively, we're the largest provider of early educator and out-of-school time in the state
22,000 employees statewide
significant increase in state dollars in this field over the past several years
appreciate the commitment

Local aid panel: MMA
John Robertson, Director of Government Affairs
Adam Chapdelaine, Arlington Town Manager
Robertson: thanks for SOA, generational change
interested in ensuring three different schedules that are included in the SOA are implemented
a lot of things that cities and towns pursue in common during this budget time
done in some sort of harmony to best serve the cities and towns that live there
Chapdelaine: non-restricted government aid
would like it tracked to revenue capacity
ask enough aid to reach the new foundation funding standard
there are 183 minimum aid districts
"ask that minimum aid be set so all districts ensure a reasonable increase over fiscal 20"
ask for a circuit breaker for districts on charter tuition
many will see an increase in their charter tuition increase over their Ch. 70 (so they'll see a net loss)
ask that the increase be implemented after the charter tuition is removed
ask for full funding for the (actual) circuit breaker
Robertson: small and rural district needs:
regional transportation reimbursement
and transportation to out of district placements
two studies: property tax study untaken by DESE and DOR
particularly for smaller towns to explain what higher taxes do to their ability to fund schools
rural schools study: looking forward to that kicking off
recommendations are due December "so there's not a lot of time"
Lewis says his office has been reaching out to DoR and DESE on the student they've been charged with doing on municipal contribution
"think it's important that it be a public process" as the law requires
also need the commission on low and declining school districts be up and running

AND ADJOURNED