Two things on Massachusetts school budgets

•  The United for Our Future coalition, which includes (among others) MASC, MASS, and the MTA, sent a letter calling for increased education state education funding to cover an array of issues. The Eagle-Tribune covers that here.
  
  The letter reads in part: 
  

  The “perfect storm” of factors behind the fiscal crisis remains in place. Rising special education and transportation costs, funding lost to charter schools, the constraints of Proposition 2 ½, and technical issues with the formula that determines how our schools are funded all continue to strain local budgets, as they have for years. In addition to those challenges, many districts also face looming threats of federal funding cuts along with unanticipated declines in enrollment spurred by federal attacks on our immigrant students and families. These enrollment declines are heartbreaking for our students and school communities and directly impact funding in a school finance system such as ours that is based on per-student allotments.
   When our districts are under-resourced, our attention is forced away from developing creative and innovative ways to enhance student learning and more effectively support their social and emotional wellbeing. Instead, we are left to fight to minimize devastating cuts to programs and staff so that we can try to maintain the basic, daily services on which our students depend. We cannot accept this situation as an unavoidable reality. As champions of public education, we know what work must be done to build public schools that prepare all students for success in the classroom and beyond, but local communities cannot do it alone.

• The Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance held a briefing yesterday at the State House of the impact of Trump administration immigration enforcement on school enrollment. WGBH covers that here; it does not appear that anyone picked up the State House News coverage, which quotes Chelsea School Committee member Sarah Neville: 
  

  In Chelsea, a city where 46% of residents are foreign-born according to Census data, about 350 students have left school in the past year, Chelsea School Committee member Sarah Neville said at a State House press conference Wednesday. That represents about 5% of the district. The formula the state uses to determine how much aid to send to each district considers enrollment as a primary factor. Neville said the district's budget took a $6 million hit due to that 5% enrollment decline alone. Combined with inflation and rising costs, Chelsea is trying to make up an $11 million deficit with budget cuts. A Tuesday night school committee meeting in the city was held in a "packed auditorium" she said, where board members told parents and educators they'd have to cut 70 positions in the school. "And yes, some staffing cuts are necessary because we do have fewer students. But what about our fixed costs? What about keeping the lights on? It's just not possible for a district like ours to absorb such a huge loss of state aid in one fell swoop," she said.

  Relatedly, WBUR yesterday looked at the impact this has had on one kindergarten in Framingham.
  

  Kids in the class know why some of the students have left, Landry said, even if they don’t understand the broader context.
  In one case, Landry said a student peeled off the name tag of a classmate following the winter recess, saying her friend had gone to Brazil.
  “All the kids were just silent for a few minutes,” Landry said. “I was just really kind of humbled by how somber and seriously they took the situation. I’ve been teaching kindergarten for seven years and I have never seen them quite so empathetic.”<,blockquote>