What's in the proposed FY25 Worcester Public Schools budget: just the facts

 Ahead of Monday's public hearing on the proposed FY25 budget for the Worcester Public Schools, here's a brief look at what is in the document. I'm going to attempt to leave aside opining here on the administration's recommendations (not that I don't have plenty) but stick to an overview. As always, all of this is offered in my capacity as someone who lives here and cares, not in any official capacity at all. 

First up, revenue: 

This budget is projected not meet the city's legal obligation to fund schools for the fourth year in a row:

chart from page 113 of the FY25 WPS budget document

About that spun school safety article...

...I was going to write up a post on how silly that was, but Clive's beaten me to it.

Clive nails it

a smidge behind on posting this:

Last year, members of the Worcester School Committee hyperboosted their campaign against the stewardship of former Superintendent of Schools Melinda Boone by using a number of student fights at North High to gin up fears around safety in the Worcester public schools.  

Students such as Coralys Dejesus tried to give these committee members a much-needed perspective. In a local article she said, "These past few days have been a nightmare to the North High community because what the media fails to capture, and what the rumors fail to spread, is the brilliance that is North High."  

That didn’t dissuade these committee members, whose fearmongering would suggest to some that they were in charge of a correctional facility rather than a public school system.  

Now that they ran Ms. Boone out of town and have their superintendent of choice, these committee members are singing a different tune.

In a Telegram & Gazette article this week, we found out that the number of students leaving the school district through the school choice program is accelerating. We were told that one of the reasons for that flight might be the perception some parents have that the Worcester public schools are unsafe. 

So, now some School Committee members want to create a video highlighting the school system’s greatness. 

“We could give it out to real estate brokers and other organizations to let people know about the progress going on in the Worcester public schools,” committee member John Monfredo said. “We don’t do a good job selling ourselves. I think we are trending up (as a district), but we have to let parents know.”  

A good place to start, John, is for you to stop manufacturing the safety issues these school choice parents are apparently fleeing.

Sputnik. Or not.

I never thought I'd see the day when the Telegram and Gazette was citing Yong Zhao. Nice one, Clive!
Here's Professor Yong Zhao himself on the same test results:

I don’t know why this is such a big surprise to these well educated and smart people. Why should anyone be stunned? It is no news that the Chinese education system is excellent in preparing outstanding test takers, just like other education systems within the Confucian cultural circle—Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Also here.
For more on waiting for Sputnik, see here.

Round of applause for Clive

As mentioned below, Jack Foley pointed out the significant cuts made in the schools over the past six years in answering the City Council's charges from Tuesday. Clive McFarlane lays out the numbers in print this morning. They aren't pretty.

Let's, PLEASE, get away from this insane, ridiculous attitude that somehow the "city" and the "schools" are separate entities. It's all the City of Worcester. The money is entirely allocated by the City Council; the specifics of the schools allocation happens to run through School Committee. To talk as if the schools are...well, Clive put it quite well:

Parents and teachers listening to Tuesday’s City Council meeting must have been stunned to hear some city councilors speak of the public schools with the covetousness and belligerence with which the leaders of a nation with a strong military and a sliding economy would probably speak of a neighboring country with a weak military and vast natural resources.

When was the last time the City Council had to ration its paper use? Meet in a room with a leaking roof? Depend on badly outdated materials for information? Use a bathroom without a working lock? Do you really want to have this conversation, Councilors?