Why do we always come here...on the FY25 WPS budget before Council

Why do we always come here

I guess we'll never know

It's like a kind of torture

To have to watch the show…
from "The Muppet Show Theme"

I had family commitments yesterday afternoon, so I was unable to make it to the Worcester City Council taking up the Worcester Public Schools' budget. Thanks to the wonder of recording, however, we can all relive it, and I think the only way I can bear this is to blog it. 

I post the above, by the way, not to call anyone a Muppet, but to note again that a) Worcester does this backwards, as school committees in Massachusetts send their requested appropriation to their appropriating authorities, and of course the Worcester School Committee hasn't yet met on the budget, b) the Worcester City Council, like any appropriating authority, has very little oversight of the Worcester Public Schools budget.
Both of that, incidentally, are per MGL Ch. 71, sec. 34:

Every city and town shall annually provide an amount of money sufficient for the support of the public schools as required by this chapter, provided however, that no city or town shall be required to provide more money for the support of the public schools than is appropriated by vote of the legislative body of the city or town. In acting on appropriations for educational costs, the city or town appropriating body shall vote on the total amount of the appropriations requested and shall not allocate appropriations among accounts or place any restriction on such appropriations. The superintendent of schools in any city or town may address the local appropriating authority prior to any action on the school budget as recommended by the school committee notwithstanding his place of residence. The city or town appropriating body may make nonbinding monetary recommendations to increase or decrease certain items allocating such appropriations.

The vote of the legislative body of a city or town shall establish the total appropriation for the support of the public schools, but may not limit the authority of the school committee to determine expenditures within the total appropriation.

And also, of course, the city charter in section 5-2 says:

 The city council may, by majority vote, make appropriations for the purposes recommended and may reduce or reject any amount recommended in the annual budget, but except on recommendation of the city manager, shall not increase any amount in or the total of the annual budget, nor add thereto any amount for a purpose not included therein, except as provided in section thirty-three of chapter forty-four of the General Laws.

There are very few questions the Council has purview to ask, and very little they can do, and that's even if they funded schools appropriately!
So when I say I don't know why we do this: I really don't know why this is what is done!
And this is not the first time I have said this.

On city finances and planning

 At the April 9 meeting of the City Council: 

Toomey makes request under suspension for a five point plan on school building finances needs and renovations.

— Marco Cartolano (@marco_cartolano) April 10, 2024

While it appears to be deleted, Councilor Toomey later clarified on Twitter that she was speaking of amending the city's five point financial plan. 

A quick note on Worcester Public Schools FY24

 While I plan to write up what did (and didn't) happen at the Worcester School Committee meeting on Thursday (very interesting meeting!), I did want to quickly note that the T&G caught the news of the night, which was setting a new bottom line in the FY24 (current year) budget. While the backup memo is posted here, the School Committee agendas now have backups that go to Google Drive files that don't allow download or copying, so I've screenshotted and posted the full memo here. 

I hope the Committee changes that; it makes it feel as if access is deliberately being limited. As they aren't being posted as PDFs, it also means one cannot mark and link to particular pages. 

There's really two pieces of news here within this memo:

The first, coming with the final vote on the FY24 (which, remember, started in July), is that, as was noted at the first quarter report in the fall, the charter reimbursement for the Worcester Public Schools is not fully funded: it's $688,455 short. That amount was cut from the paraprofessional account--an account, as was also noted in the first quarter, with vacancies--and the new bottom line for FY24 set that much less. It's that $688,455 less from the $1.2M that was already moved out of the account in the first quarter report.

The new bottom line of the budget is $461,862,571 in the general fund.

And kudos, incidentally, to Member Sue Mailman, who, in her new capacity as MASC Division IX chair (as of January), noted that this was an issue for state level advocacy, and made a motion that passed 8-1, Biancheria in opposition, to raise at the state level, including with the state delegation. One of the pieces of the Student Opportunity Act is that charter reimbursement is to be fully funded now. Worcester's, at least, was not. That's wrong, and we should be clamoring about that to say the least. It's a core piece of the School Committee's fiduciary and advocacy responsibility to see that our reimbursements are fully funded. 

The second piece of news is the school piece of a City Council item from December 5; tucked in among the finance items the night of the tax classification hearing was this memo (that link goes to the Council version) that creates, with an initial investment of $1M, of a school capital maintenance fund.
As Mr. Allen outlines in his accompanying memo to the Worcester School Committee: 

It is, of course, a longstanding need, but it has gone unrecognized til now, as the schools' capital funding has been level funding. It is the prioritization of school facilities under Dr. Monárrez and the collaboration with City Manager Batista which means we've finally moved beyond people talking about it, to something being done about it. 

A hopeful beginning to the FY25 process in Worcester. 

Full WPS memo:

The Worcester Public Schools before Council for FY24

 with a reminder of all of this

While we listen to the Fire Department, here are the images that I posted this afternoon on Instagram! 

And the presentation that the superintendent will be presenting is here. 

I'm not taking any notes on this, but here's a note you'll need:

"how can we work together as a city...to go to the state and say 'we want to find a solution that can work' and we need to do this together to find something that can work."

Colorio: asks what enrollment is
"it looks like we haven't been at 24,318 in over a decade"
argues that the numbers don't bear out an enrollment increase; which Allen notes our forecasting does
Colorio: how many new teachers? 75
How many new administrators? "the net increase is five"
Colorio: can you run down recent investments we've made in the schools in various areas?
McGourthy: don't necessarily have a comprehensive list
with that, the city carries debt; $15M capital debt service
(as a reminder, that is three cents of every dollar)
Colorio asks where the teachers are going

Russell: task hanging over the whole city's head
as well as the day to day operations, "from what I can see she's doing a great job"
"but that being said, it's not secret that I've been advocating for things for district 3 for a long time"
"I want to be perfectly clear that I'm not trying to micromanage anything" in city government 
"relaying concerns" from neighborhood
"but the question is where do we go...the question is could we doing something on a temporary basis"
"how many times do we look at a Parks Department construction...and get on a path to where we can correct these items"
going to request a detail report about traffic concerns 
has asked the principal, Mr. Allen, Mr. Hacker...for what it's going to take to rectify the traffic and parking around Roosevelt and Burncoat
Details around where the $3.5M would go
"and if that's the case, that's the case..."
"is there anything we can do on temporary basis"
asks if there is anything in the budget addressing these issues
Allen: looking at different options that wouldn't be those in the full ideal solution for the school
Russell: is there anything temporary thing, leasing spaces
Allen: can certainly look at that: believe the issue is the traffic loop and not the parking per se
Russell: elevate issues, look at options
"if we're going to put a number in multi-millions in the parking issue, it's probably not going to see the top of the pile"
Worcester East Middle School: how are we going with that?
Allen: cost of window replacement is for any window deemed to be inoperable
"where we will have funding struggles is where the project cost will trigger ADA upgrades"
Russell: how much is it?
Allen: will know when it fills that Gap
Russell: have you considered applying for a waver?
Allen: has been discussed
Russell: is the district going to spend the money on something else
Allen: the district is committed to doing the windows at Worcester East Middle
Russell: have there been specific asks?
Monárrez: have to come together and look at all of our needs
Look at enrollment changes 
"need to work closer with each other on all of the work"
"We need to have a strategy to ask our state to have other ways of funding districts as large as Worcester"
"a building will get to a point where the MSBA won't consider an accelerate repair" for a building because it is too run down 
Allen: "MSBA has told us that Worcester East Middle is a core replacement"
Monárrez: funds one core project at a time
Russell: "I agree with the superintendent, it's clearly something we need to work together on"
"what generation are we going to be talking about when we're building a new East Middle School"
and apply that to several others
Petty: seven millions sitting there...asks what one million in bonding gets us
I have no idea what he's talking about here
McGourthy: one million gets us ten million
Petty: I think working together we can get through this

Toomey: thanks superintendent
had a thought to use Stop and Shop parking lots which would mean even more students would walk across the street
safety audit: wondering when the Council will see them
Monárrez: once received, it will be shared with the School Committee, which will then make it public
"perhaps available at our July meeting or August"
Toomey: asking about fire alarm replacement and cameras (she's reading the capital budget)
Allen: those have been ongoing projects that we've been dealing with as they come up
expect these and others to be addressed in the findings
training, policies, practices, protocols
Toomey: repairs to Claremont front entrance
paving...could you let us know what that entails
Allen: Claremont walkway and driveway has been unusable for some years; has taken this long to get into the capital budget
Toomey: notice that fuel oil is going down due to 
Allen: still working through RFP process
Toomey: there's an increase in rent and quizzes both
understand that there is a dedicated gas station and how does funding work
Allen: Pullman Street, gas comes through the city
Toomey: are you using municipal aggregation?
Allen: have net metering credits; will defer to the ctiy
Toomey: can I get a detailed list of administrators and salaries?
Petty doesn't vote the request

Rivera: excited to see an increase of wraparound coordinators
overdue to look at a building maintenance plan
"what might have needed a bandaid needs surgery...it's really an equity issue"
concerned to see UPCS roof as late a date as that
Allen: most of the projects before this were windows, and now are roofs
"have to do bandaids until they get accepted into MSBA" (assuming they bring the program back)
Rivera: are we looking at growth for schools?
new housing by Canterbury, by Chandler
are we prepared, are we looking for the growth of children coming into these schools?
Monárrez: exactly what City Manager and I have spoken about a few times
housing development we know about, what is coming, so we're not waiting til our schools are bursting
Rivera: UPCS not equipped for any type of physical limitations
also concerned about our playgrounds: getting outdoors
hard if in the schools we don't even have that capability
Woodland has to take turns going out; "definitely a huge equity issue"
Allen: working with some community organizations to look at Woodland
the challenge there is the lack of space beyond what is on the footprint
the parking lot but creates traffic and parking issues
don't have a solution at this time
Rivera: these things weren't looked at when these spaces were created
vocational education: hope to shift it
shortage in the workforce
questions equity in AP access at Claremont and UPCS
have there been conversations with other colleges like Clark does
Monárrez: continuum of college and career a position now
formalizing some of these agreements that have been happening, now from district level
Rivera: work on diversity, equity, and inclusion
refugee population, including unaccompanied minors
speaks of a family that had a disheartening experience with a school
have seen labels put on our kids
"under the right administration, these kids just fly"
Monárrez: thank for sharing story
as part of the restructuring this school year, based on what the families said and best practice
hired directors of family and community engagement
very early on in conversation: what is WPS going to do for the needs for social justice
"will continue to train up people"
Chief Diversity Officer was to diversify workforce; moving forward, position has been reworked but will as Chief Equity Officer will be "guardian of equity" ensuring leading though an equity lens
training up leaders including on unconscious biases
equity doesn't sit with one person

King: last comments are music to my ears
talk a little bit about any cost savings that were realized
has cost savings on transporation been quantified?
Allen: about 3 and a half million a year
some put back into transportation for service improvements
King: families having piece of mind
looking forward to you guys being able to experience that
daughter at Chandler Magnet
wondering if there is any cost savings due to La Familia merging into Chandler Mag
Allen: saving the lease cost and the cost of a principal (if looked at in isolation)
King: ADA upgrades 
issue of equity: support Fair Share amendment 
"is there any sort of calculus going on or strategy currently in play for the cityside and schoolside to work on access to that funding?"
Batista: currently no strategy, but that would be a conversation 
King: have heard a little about capital funding, increases of SOA, ESSER, city contribution increase
"incumbent upon us...there are times we have to intersect to advocate for our kids"
what sort of staffing and costs will there be for the Chief Diversity Officer?
Monárrez: there right now are budgeted for four additional coaches, $350K
King: want to talk about administrative positions
outside of schools, we know waitlists for clinical resources
good to see nurses, psychologists
those infrastructure, coping positions, impact the public health outside
"that comes from this administration and the School Committee"
Worcester Tech "had become a prep school": concern about equity of access
Rec Worcester: school side took on some of that, as I recall
what that amount is
McGourthy: WPS provided support for Rec Worcester programs going on in their buildings
believe that is the number that is carried within the WPS budget itself
during the pandemic, that changed
Allen: on school side, it was $100, 000; now not allocating funds
King: not sure what happened with earmarks
Batista: trying to sustain and support what we were currently doing
expanded too fast without the structure in place to support it
King: expect some sort of intersection next school year
Batista: currently focusing on summer; next year would be part of conversation with superintendent and youth office
King: safety audit
asks what happened with prior safety audit a couple of years ago
Allen: the recommendations were not adopted
one of the reasons that we needed to reengage at this point
King: push for clinical support
Monárrez: four different providers in schools
ESSER funding; then SOA will come into play
King: resources for mental health for youth in community
Batista: ARPA dollars
million dollars for crisis response team
Shannon dollars for preventative measures and intervention work
think Rec Worcester itself is such a program
King: how many dollars are we providing over required, if you take into account the loan, OPEB contribution...(this isn't a thing)
is there a round number you can give me 
McGourthy: FY24: $124M; city is contributing $138M; debt service of $15M; doesn't include OPEB contribution
"there's not one clean number...when you look at it
"upwards of $30M above the required contribution...but because of the required contribution, that is expected to be $1.5M above required"
King: former city manager would decide a certain number of dollars over net school spending "and he would hang his hat on that"
Batista: am familiar, $1M, depending on resources
King: free cash, have in past given funding "for books" (when? what?)
When was the last time?
Batista: just done in October
King: once that goes over, the School Committee figures out what to do with that?
Batista: that's correct
King: kudos on middle school coaches
city has a lot of competing issues
appreciate joint committee last Monday; looking forward how we can all do better together
"I think Roosevelt is unique"

Petty: long night, where the issues are
"especially for the city to put more money into schools"
commend superintendent for the infrastructure you've put into place

account passes

About process

'Can't argue with the truth, sir.' 
'In my experience, Vimes, you can argue with anything.
Terry Pratchett, Jingo  

One of the first challenges when you move to a new place is learning how things work: who has what authority; who gets to decide what to do what; and how are those decisions made.

In my own life, it was the state's proposal to plow an airport access road through my own neighborhood at the time that sent me into learning, rapidly, how things work. Issues since then--most notably the proposal to put a slots parlor into Green Island--have been further opportunities for learning.

The same thing is true when one joins a public body: how does one get things done? What is the process? Where are the levels? And what are the things over which your public body has control and does not.
And so one learns about filing items, having subcommittee meetings with public discussions with extensive reports from administration, making decisions in public meetings within the purview of that public body.

And then we have a week like the past one...

On the city's FY24 budget

City Manager Batista released his administration's recommended FY24 budget on Friday; you can find it here on the city website.

Maybe I missed it before, but I don't remember this jazzy graphic:

This means Worcester's at least attempting the "what are we trying to do here"
connection on budgeting, which is a good place to start.

The city, per usual (and as some other municipalities do), does again do a sort of smash up version of how funding flows to the district. We get a revenue chart on page 6: 

And yes, that means we as a city get nearly as much in state education aid as we do in property taxes, and that fully 49.5% of our funding comes from the state in one way or another.
(there's also a neat little graphic showing that our state education aid includes both ch. 70 and school choice and charter reimbursement, but if it bothers me greatly that the graphic doesn't use different sized boxes for those three things)

And we have a graphic on page 7 on overall city spending:

...but what we don't have--we will Friday!--is a representation of how much of the education spending comes from city resources, though we do get this note:

Of that total amount, $44.7M provides funding of Charter and Choice schools, leaving a Worcester Public Schools budget of $462.7M. 

Of course, that $44.7M comes nowhere near municipal coffers, moving straight out of our chapter 70 aid to the charter (mostly) and choice schools and districts.

If we did have a representation of local revenue going to the Worcester Public Schools, WPS would come between fixed costs and public safety for FY24, at $138M.

...which is of course the main reason why we in Worcester pay so much attention to the state budget, were among those who filed suit in the late 80's against the state, were among the most active and vocal of districts on the foundation budget reconsideration, and threatened to file suit against the state again just before we finally got the Student Opportunity Act. 

The McDuffy decision, the case on which the state education formula rests, held:

What emerges also is that the Commonwealth has a duty to provide an education for all its children, rich and poor, in every city and town of the Commonwealth at the public school level, and that this duty is designed not only to serve the interests of the children, but, more fundamentally, to prepare them to participate as free citizens of a free State to meet the needs and interests of a republican government, namely the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It is the state's duty to provide. That is how we have a standard education formula that not only calculates how much a district must be funded, given the students the district services, but one that calculates--again in a standard way across the state--a community's ability to support that. 

And thus Worcester, like not only its sibling Gateways, but like other districts with high amounts of student poverty with low ability of the local community to contribute is seeing the Student Opportunity Act come through with increases in which the state is carrying the majority of the dollar increases. This is literally what we fought over a decade for. We are majority state funded; we are supposed to be!

That really is something we should be celebrating in this budget. It's year three of a six year implementation. 

In any case, thus, the WPS section of the budget is the dollars allocated to us; it doesn't include costs the city carries that get attributed as school spending. In our case, the largest chunk of that is health insurance, but it also includes water and sewer, things like the city treasurer and purchasing department, and police liaisons. You thus can't just take page 161 and figure out all that goes into the schools.

You can, though, see from how the city attributes the dollar increase; the state said city funding for schools was required to go up by $6.1M over last year's budget as passed (you can pull that out of the state's spreadsheets). Because the City Manager last fall requested, and the Council passed, just under $1M out of free cash to hold the schools' budget harmless when the charter tuition came through as less that was originally budgeted, from our (projected) budget, that looks like $5.1M. 
That amount--$6.1M over budget as passed last year, $5.1M over actual FY23--is what is here. 

That's meeting required net school spending. 

What this doesn't include is the city capital budget, which was the topic of much discussion at our joint City Council Education and F&O meeting earlier this year, and has been part of ongoing discussion among and between the administrations. 

Updates from the Worcester Public Schools

 compiled in part, though not entirely, from the weekly updates, Dr. Monárrez sends the Committee

First up, ones that I've been worrying over: starting May 1

• Richard Ikonen will be serving as Director of Facilities. He's coming from Minuteman Regional, where he was Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Facilities.
  
  
• Ryan Hacker will be serving as Assistant Director of Facilities, focusing (I think I have this right) on capital projects. Ryan comes from UMass Med, BUT he last appeared here for his testimony during the hearing on the WCACS, as he's president of ArtsWorcester, AND he's a Burncoat High grad (yup, Burncoat!). 

I haven't met Rich as yet; I know Ryan. I'm looking forward to this.

The Auditor's office did meet with the WPS administration before vacation. That, plus our full delegation backing our call for investigations, is heartening that our concerns over OSV's management of the charter schools are being taken seriously. 

There's an executive session of the full Committee tomorrow (Monday) on negotiations with units A&B (and as it's negotiations, that's all I can say).

As I mentioned in my last post, the administration is recommending--much to the relief of many!--a new ELA curriculum for elementary students. This is of course in response to the many, many concerns from all kinds of places over the Fountas and Pinnell curriculum that the previous administration was very committed to. Major curricular changes need to go through the School Committee, so the recommendation is going to TLSS for a (virtual only) meeting tomorrow at 4:30 before coming to the full committee Thursday. This timeline has been an attempt to balance as much time for a pilot as possible, while still giving time to order materials and get them and PD to teachers before school is out.

Wit & Wisdom and Core Knowledge Language Arts are what was piloted in 21 or 22 classrooms each; page 13 of the presentation gives where. The rest of the presentation is based on feedback from the teachers and others involved in implementation. 
I won't say more on this here, as this is subject to deliberation and vote, but we'd of course welcome feedback (beyond "good bye F&P," which we've heard loud and clear!).

Finance and Operates meets this week on Wednesday at 5:30 ; you'll see that agenda tomorrow, but it will include the third quarter budget report, as well as the monthly transportation report. Also, for those who have been interested in the district streaming sports events, we'll be taking up that item as well. 

And speaking of budget: 

The budget's coming! The FY24 budget will be released on Friday, May 12 (start clicking refresh about 4, though sometimes it arrives earlier!).
There will be the statutorily required budget hearing on Wednesday, May 24 at 6; this is all of the Committee, gathered for no reason other than to hear from members of the public on the proposed budget. 
The School Committee deliberates and passes the budget, cost center by cost center, on Thursday, June 1 and Thursday, June 15. We start at 4 pm.

The one thing this doesn't include--because I don't know it yet--is the date on which the Worcester City Council hears the WPS budget. As a reminder, the Council approves only the bottom line of the Worcester Public Schools; they have no authority over cost centers. The Council also, under Plan E, cannot move funds or add funds to the budget; they can only cut. As the schools are generally funded at their statutory required level plus transportation and no more, one might argue that they cannot do that, either. 

That's what I have at this point. As always, if you have questions, send them along.

Testimony on the MSBA before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means

 Offered today at the State House

My name is Tracy O’Connell Novick, and I am here in my capacity as a member of the Worcester School Committee, where I serve as the chair of the Standing Committee on Finance and Operations. I’m also the mother of two Worcester Public Schools graduates and one current high school junior.

We are profoundly grateful in Worcester, that after over a decade of advocacy, Governor Healey’s budget will fund the third year of implementation of the Student Opportunity Act. The ability of districts like mine to properly staff our schools—short, by the state’s own measures, by literally hundreds of teachers—has begun to ease. We have begun to take stock of the funding for instructional supplies and technology, and the impacts of decades of underfunding of facility maintenance.

It is about this last that I am here today, however. 

Worcester has had a strong partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Schools across our city have benefited from the Accelerated Repair program, with the life of our buildings extended by new roofs, new windows and doors, and new boilers. 

No such work will take place this year, however, as there is no Accelerated Repair program. Due to the rightful recognition of the rising costs of construction, the MSBA lacks the funding for the Accelerated Repair program this year; there is as yet no plan for it to return. 

Thus, Union Hill School and Wawecus Road School will not have new roofs this coming year, as we were unable to submit them. Within just my own district, this will create a ripple effect of boiler and roof projects that will not move forward, something my and other districts will have to scramble to patch with our limited local funding. 

Worcester likewise has benefited from the Core Program, with a new Doherty Memorial High School rising on Highland Street even as I speak. But Worcester has 24,000 students; the new buildings, even after Doherty’s opening, will house only a fifth of our students. Of Worcester’s over 11,000 elementary students, less than 600 attend school in a building built since the turn of the millennium. Worcester once again did not have a new Burncoat High School accepted into the Core program this past year, and so we are currently planning to spend millions of dollars to shore up the building to meet its reaccreditation requirements. 

The city’s funding for all of this is limited, of course, for precisely the reasons that make the district so heavily dependent on state aid to run its schools. It is, however, further hampered by the inflationary increase in the cost of the new Doherty project. The city has been hit with $21 million dollars in increases due not to changes in the building, but to pandemic influences on the economy. This is money the city cannot spare. 

Please note that everything I have outlined for you impacts other districts across the state: my peers throughout the Commonwealth likewise have buildings that will not have accelerated repairs this year, have not been accepted into the core building program, are facing inflationary increases in new buildings. 

In every case, the Massachusetts School Building Authority simply does not have the funding to cover this.

As such, we would ask the following:

1. Uncap the MSBA. The MSBA currently is capped at $800 million. While that is an increase due to the Student Opportunity Act, it is inadequate for the needs of the state.
2. Once you have done that, bring back the Accelerated Repair program. Not every school building needs replacement or a full renovation, but many projects are too big for a district to tackle alone.
3. Consider a middle option between Accelerated Repair and the Core program. Some buildings have good bones, but need full electrical work or other major projects.
4. Finally, dedicate state ARPA funding to cover the cost of inflation. The federal government foresaw that there would be rising costs as part of the pandemic. While it absolutely should not be left to local municipalities to cover these inflationary jumps, nor should it come out of the inadequate coffers of the MSBA. 

What happened at the first March meeting of the Worcester School Committee

And my apologies: it has been a big news week in Worcester, and I have been ill so I haven't been updating (I plan to spend some of the time I anticipate being snowbound this weekend catching up). Here, in any case, is what happened at the March 3, 2023 Worcester School Committee meeting, for which I was remote. As always, this is my perspective as a member of the Committee, so keep that filter in mind!

The agenda is here; the video of the meeting is here.

Note that we did open with executive session covering our negotiations with seven collective bargaining units, and we had public comment regarding those negotiations.

The report of the Superintendent was on Innovating in education. It starts about 11minutes into the video. Among other things, this gave us a demonstration of Chatbot GPT writing a lesson plan. Let me highlight a few things:
Here's where we were going:

                  

And education is caring for the present, while enabling for the future.
        

And we're moving towards this Vision of a Learner (which is how we're continuing what had been the Portrait of a Graduate) and then what that would mean. 

We had two reports out from Standing Committees: the February meetings of both Finance and Operations, and of Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports. I never got to summarize that F&O meeting, so let me just quickly note a few things:

• in terms of transportation, all of our large buses are now owned as well as operated by the Worcester Public Schools. We have added back, for the first time in two years, athletic after school runs (only two so far; more to come for spring). There is another delay on the midsize buses (yes, supply lines, still).
  
  
• There's $22.8M in ESSER funding going to HVAC and hot water. The bulk of this is going to HVAC work in nearly every WPS building. HOWEVER, in doing the full look at what is necessary, the report also noted that we need $200M in HVAC work alone. We have to pay attention to the enormous backlog we have in facilities.
  
  
• If there's anything at all that you're wondering about from a capital budget--that is, big work on buildings--side, the quarterly facilities report is the place to look. Our eyes, of course, are closely on (for example) Burncoat, where the wait for acceptance in the MSBA pipeline for a full renovation or rebuild has now resulted in a NEASC accreditation issue; we're in the process of getting a full review of exactly what it is that they are looking for and what that will cost (as, again, we've discussed over several meetings now). As always, though, there is a lot more in the report, as we have a lot of buildings. 
  
  
• we transferred a million dollars as a result of this report, and if you review the quarterly budget report (and do read our quarter budget report! They are an incredibly clear way to follow what goes on with our budget!), you'll see why: utilities are up! Way up! And we also (like many districts!) continue to have positions open, and so we've transferred money from salaries to overtime (specifically for custodial coverage). And on that last, as I said above: we have a lot of buildings, and a lot of space, and we're doing it with many fewer people. That has an impact. 

On TLSS, they discussed the ongoing use of tutoring services in the district; at this point, the administration is determining if the usage and utility justifies the cost. They also discussed school lunch and recess times--families and students may be interested in this comprehensive chart of all of them--with a motion to move all elementary schools to a 20 minute lunch without impacting the 30 minute recess, and reporting back on feasibility. The administration reported that lunch time at the secondary schools is sufficient. There will be further work and reports forthcoming on the district providing drivers ed and of the discussion on conduct and effort in grading policies. 

WE ARE CHANGING THE DATES OF OUR APRIL MEETINGS due to so many holidays and a vacation week! Stay tuned!

We are also required by state law to hold a public hearing--of the full committee!--on our budget after it comes out but before we deliberate. This year, WPS budget day--mark your calendars (you think I'm kidding? I do!)--will be FRIDAY, MAY 12! We will be deliberating and passing the budget on Thursday, June 1 and Thursday, June 15, so the hearing will be sometime between May 15 and 31. Stay tuned for that, too!

And in response to a parental concern, I've asked the administration to look at our bullying policy. More on that in a forthcoming report of the superintendent. 

The full Committee next meets Thursday, March 16. Please note that there is a meeting of Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports on Tuesday, March 14; Finance and Operations meets on Monday, March 20. 

Schools should be...

 Here's that MSBA post for you.

Rendering of the new Doherty from the Capital Budget section of the FY23 budget

The final three items from last week's Worcester School Committee meeting were proposed by me, as follows:

• To advocate to our state delegation for the use of state American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover the pandemic-induced inflationary increases in current Massachusetts School Building Core Program projects.
  
  
• To urge the state delegation to do what is necessary to restore the Massachusetts School Building Authority Accelerated Repair program.
  
  
• To urge the state delegation to do what is necessary to expand funding for the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

As I noted in the meeting (you can watch the video below), these are three interlocking items, because of Worcester's rare relationship with the MSBA:

1. Worcester has a current Core building project--Doherty--which is among the projects that have been hit with pandemic-induced inflation in the costs. While the MSBA Board voted last month to increase the reimbursement to building projects, that was only to buildings accepted into the program from last October forward. The city is carrying an additional $23M in costs as a result of the pandemic, in effect.
   While some have argued that MSBA should simply cover this, having a revenue-capped state program that already doesn't meet the need cover pandemic inflation isn't wise. Nor it is necessary, as the state continues to have undedicated America Rescue Plan funds, funds that the federal government sent to states just for the costs caused by the pandemic. They should use ARPA funds to cover the inflationary costs of school buildings.
   
   
2. Worcester has benefited perhaps more than any other district from the Accelerated Repair Program. Flip through the capital budget section, and you'll see that rarely has there been a year where Worcester didn't have multiple schools getting roofs, windows, or boilers (or a combination). This is a partnership that allows the district to continue to work with school buildings that are solid, but need these substantive upgrades.
   We would have submitted Union Hill and Wawecus Elementary Schools for new roofs this year. But MSBA announced last fall that, due to the increase in costs for the Core program, there would be no Accelerated Repair Program. That then bumps off the future year projects--we always budget these five years out--as well as continuing the issue of what we are to do about Worcester East Middle School's windows, a project far too big for the city to take on alone. 
   We have got to get the Accelerated Repair program back.
   
   
3. All of which, together, leads to that last point, which is that the MSBA needs more money. They have one of the clearest revenue lines I know: if you go buy a 99¢ burger, a penny from your 6.25% tax goes to the MSBA. It's those pennies that are building a new Doherty, that built us a new North and a new South, and that funded all those boilers, windows, and roofs.
   But it isn't enough, either for Worcester or anyone else. They need more money.

So, the above are going to the state delegation, and I, for one, do not intend to let this rest. We need not just people saying nice things about school buildings; we need money and we need real support.

You can see what I said at the meeting below.

outside Worcester and also hit by any of this? Get in touch. Let's get this done.

Worcester City Council hears the Worcester Public Schools FY23 bottom line

 ...which means it is time for my annual reminder regarding authority: 

The vote of the legislative body of a city or town shall establish the total appropriate for the support of the public schools but may not limit the authority of the school committee to determine expenditures within the total appropriation.

Russell asks about Worcester East Middle and the capital appropriation (which is thus out of order, because capital is not part of the WPS operating budget)
Augustus agrees that it is about $7M; some question on if the state ARPA funds could be used for that. "That would be my suggestion" rather than adding to the city debt. 
Just for some perspective on the municipal debt:

p. 427

Also discussed other needs, boilers and the like, and he'd defer to the district.
Russell asking what the dollar amount would be to get it started.
"as far as the capital plan for the schools, is there anything that can be done
Augustus: city provides $3.5M for capital, and $500K for equipment
$3M for Foley "we're taking that out of our budget, not out of the $3M of the schools"
$10M from ARP for schools requiring ADA for upgrades for work that has happened in the past
Russell asks if any of the parks plans could be postponed
urges others to walk through WEMS and look at the plastic on the windows
Toomey says she thinks plastic on windows is a fire hazards
Allen: all school buildings are code inspected every year
Toomey asks what is being done in capital budget
Allen notes that the $7M is the windows, but will trigger other costs
Toomey floats how much it would be
Augustus: I don't know that the $10M will be the biggest needs but we don't have a choice
"I don't know that this is the best use when we have boilers and things that are on their last legs"
maybe you'd be doing something else in another building if you hadn't triggered that cost
Toomey: can windows be phased in so as not to trigger ADA?
Augustus, they anticipated that
Bergman don't want to replace the windows only to build a new building
Council orders combining Grafton Street and WEMS (um what?)
Rivera: studies looking at economics and education
asks diversity in hiring
Binienda: CDO reports to superintendent, has added position
Rivera: not just hiring, but looking at equity in curriculum and equity all around
Binienda: that's correct (it is?)
Rivera talks about the UPCS science lab
King: remembers Binienda' s first budget hearing, now at her last
know Council role, not SC's role
"every budget hearing I talk about the need to increase social workers in our schools"
"for the last several years, you've consistently added school social workers"
student decreases in enrollment in Head Start and kindergarten: budget impact?
Allen: last year lost 1000, this year 250; up about 500 students since October
what that means for financial impact; 250 students is a loss of $2.5M in the FY23 budget
King: agree we need more social workers
data on quantifying data to access grants?
Binienda: we've been down 4 psychologists all year, can't find them
if when we interview, have more, come back to the school committee and ask for further (that...isn't represented in the budget)
most principals asked for wraparound coordinators
data that was presented came from the agencies that would have gotten the referrals
King: met NSS?
McGourthy: scheduled to break even
$334K projected for next year
King: what were we in FY21 and FY20?
McGourthy notes that FY21 was an outlier of $10M (due to COVID) and was $3M in FY20
Augustus OF COURSE interrupts to talk about debt service...remember it's in total still less that 30% of the city spending

King talks about mental health, Binienda talks about collaborative problem solving and how "teachers are key"
"we have data proving that collaborative problem solving has been very effective"
and the superintendent is now reading a whole section of the budget to Councilor King
"we're doing a lot but there's always more to do"
King asks about salaries of "lower range educators" but also asks about diversity
talks about ESSER funds for MTEL, teacher leader residency program
diversity position sits on hiring committee, says data is being kept
King: lower salaried educators in the WPS
Allen notes that wages are done through collective bargaining which is done by the School Committee
King: can you share the data on hourly wages...
we're in negotiations and it's NOT UNDER HIS PURVIEW AT ALL
recruitment in numbers?
Binienda: all positions for qualified certified staff to apply
CDO has been involved, network of CDOs: sharing best practices
King: "it's been a long six years...I wish you well"
Haxhiaj: one of the parents who has been frutrated by bus service encouraged to see buses 

coming in house; cost savings? service? alternative fuels?
Allen: about a $4M eventual savings
some will be used for additional service for additional staff
procuring buses; purchasing 165 buses, gasoline
don't have infrastructure in place for other alternative fuels as yet
some leased buses coming off will be looking at other alternative fuels
plan working towards
plan to have at least 13 vehicles in FY24 that will be alternative 
Haxhiaj: $2.5M in maintenance; how to increase further
Allen: $1M increase specifically to principal requests for building repairs
now built in $1M for school based facilities 
"as a result of the Student Opportunity Act" as that was one of the underfunded lines
Colorio: know "we haven't seen the last of you" to Binienda
asked a question about enrollment
Allen notes enrollment decline happened across state
rebound isn't happening
Colorio: was there an increase of mental health cases this year?
Binienda: more students exhibiting anxiety
being out of school 
May have skills that kids need to learn
recently looked at discipline data; "we already had had an analysis, will be presenting at next meeting"
"And it isn't true" (this about presentation on student discipline last week)
"are looking for community support...need families to have connections"
students who felt alone during the pandemic
"that's probably the wrong answer to what you're asking"
Colorio: huge proponent of parental rights and involvement; have them been efforts on this?
(remember; "parental rights" is a watchword)
Binienda: first half of the year, not as many parents in schools; second half of the year "especially since we removed the masks" more parental involvement
Colorio: "biggest hits"
Binienda: "math...because it's something you can't really teach yourself"
(what?)
Mero Carlson: questions with regard to transportation
"do we currently have enough staff for the busing and when does that start?"
"I read in the newspaper that there were 100 and something laid off...are we offering them jobs?"
Allen: self-operation begins for summer schools, full operation for school year
Durham was required under the federal WARN Act to notify of future layoffs
"have discussed with Durham drivers" offering positions
"as of today, we do not have enough drivers...currently training drivers through MassHires and NightLife" and expecting drivers to come over
Mero Carlson: "is that same rate the same as it was driving for Durham"
Allen: were until most recent contract; taken care of through collective bargaining process
Mero Carlson: how will new transportation be communicated?
Allen: only change is that all buses will be operated by WPS; routes and distances will not change
"excited to launch the MyStop bus app next year so parents and students will be able to see where their buses are in relation to their house"

AND APPROVED

Top ten reasons to go to Wednesday's Finance and Operations meeting

 The agenda is here. This is the Zoom link and the password is 462049.

Here are ten reasons why you want to join us:

on WPS capital spending

 The Worcester School Committee just received the following email:

At the School Committee Meeting that was held on Thursday, February 27, 2021, Miss Biancheria made the following motion:

      Request that the Administration provide, in a Friday letter, any updates on the Roosevelt School traffic problems once contracts are signed.

Response from the Administration.

The Worcester Public Schools Five-Year Capital Budget allocated $1 million for the Roosevelt School traffic reconfiguration project from the FY22 allocation (see page 180 of the budget book). However, with the city’s recent purchase of several Becker College properties,  the WPS is expected to fund the purchase of the Weller Academic Building through a reduction of its capital budget allocation.      Since the acquisition of Becker College properties was not included in the district’s five-year capital plan, the district must defer $3.5 million of projects listed on the five-year plan to a later date.   The WPS Administration is working with the City of Worcester Administration to shift project funding and develop a longer-term collaborative capital funding strategy.  The district will evaluate the Roosevelt School parking lot funding plan as part of these adjustments. 

The entirety of the Worcester Public Schools' capital budget is $3.5M each year, as follows from page 192 of our budget: 

Effectively then, the capital budget of the Worcester Public Schools is being zeroed out for an entire year to purchase buildings on which the Worcester School Committee was not consulted and had no say in.

What will be postponed? Start with page 188. The memo says that it is the five year plan, so it won't necessarily be this year's plans. 

There are meetings in Worcester this week!

There are THREE Worcester School Committee meetings this week!

• Monday night is the third of the four of budget sessions to inform the plan due April 1 under the Student Opportunity Act. This one is at Doherty High and like the others is at 6.
• Wednesday night is the fourth of these sessions, this time at North High, also at 6.

Do remember that these sessions are open to ANYONE (and have food and have translators! And crayons, for that matter), so please do come.

Thursday at 7 pm is our REGULAR meeting (yes, we just did that last week, but February break always throws off the sequencing, which is usually the first and third Thursdays). While the agenda doesn't yet appear to be up (and no, that isn't an OML violation, as there's still more than 48 hours on business days before then), we do have ours, so let me give you the run through:

A few things to watch from last week's Worcester School Committee meeting

I mean, I always tell you to go watch the budget presentation, literally. It starts about 15 minutes in.

• There was some updating of minutes necessary, but the upshot is that there will be, going forward, a standing item on the Finance and Operations subcommittee agenda on transportation, a form for families and students to fill out to report late and missing buses, and reports on that weekly posted online and sent to the School Committee until we get an app and can report from that. So far, no sign of the form. 



...in the meantime, let us know...

• This was coming out of Miss McCullough's subcommittee, but, as was noted in the T&G, there's some revision going on around admission to Worcester Tech. Note that there is also a larger state effort around equity in admission that may require further revision. 
• Mrs. Clancey's item to provide social media updates in multiple languages passed for implementation, so watch for that.
• I asked for a report on all fees paid by families of Worcester Public School students for classes. When this comes back, I'd appreciate some reflection on if we've missed anything, as we are supposed to be offering a free public education.
• The dress code is back in Governance, but we've also sent this to the Student Advisory Council. This needs student and family input!
• My request that we pass a resolution, calling on the City administration to not attribute work on Duffy Field or Foley Stadium's fields stemming from Doherty's construction to the Worcester Public Schools' capital budget passed, 5-2, Monfredo and Biancheria opposing. Here's why that matters: the School Committee does not pass the schools' capital budget. As with all municipal committees, it is passed on the city side. For both North and South, we had to make allowances of various kinds to get athletes to practice space during school construction. For Doherty, it was proposed back at the December meeting that the back field at Foley and Duffy Field (which is a city park) both be astroturfed, to a cost of $5-$7M. As I noted last month, funding this work from the Worcester Public Schools' capital budget of more or less $3M a year would zero our other capital work out for most of two years if not more. We simply cannot afford to have absolutely NO capital work done in our 50 buildings, which have 86% of the delayed maintenance on 60% of the city buildings, for multiple years.
  This was a view shared by most of my colleagues. 

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday: FY21 discussion starts NOW

I mean, at least publicly it does...

If you want the one thing on Thursday night's agenda that you should note, it is the report of the Superintendent, which will be the first look at the FY21 budget numbers. The backup is not yet posted. Do note that this is, of course, the Governor's proposed budget, which is not usually--certainly never in this administration--where the numbers end up.

Do also note that the Department's requirements around reporting out on Student Opportunity Act spending was shared yesterday. I would say that they have rather aggressive definitions of what constitutes the "new" funding on which districts need to report. More on this to come

There are of course recognitions, retirements, and such...

Also on the agenda: not one, not two, but three subcommittee reports! The only one we're missing is Governance, which meets next Tuesday at 4:30 pm at the Administration Building (the agenda isn't posted yet; I'll share once it is).
Reporting out is the standing committee I chair (School and Student Performance; agenda here), TLSS chaired by Ms. McCullough (agenda for that here), and Finance and Operations chaired by Mr. Foley (agenda here; my notes here). As F&O had the second quarter report, there's about half a million dollars in transfers coming through there (transfers by cost center require a vote of the School Committee).

Reports coming back:

• a report on the condition of the crew boats, 'though Miss Biancheria was specifically asking about the one named for Brian O'Connell (the answer is that others are in rougher shape)
• a backup on the grants we passed last week (tough to read, I know)

We are being requested to accept donations :

‑ $66.00 from American Life Insurance Company
‑ $79.60 from Box Tops for Education
‑ $500.00 from Big Y
...to Canterbury Street
‑ $118,200 from the Worcester Technical Skyline Fund to support the Innovation Pathways Program
‑ $2,000.00 from Worcester Historical Museum/Pow Wow Worcester to WPS Visual Arts
‑ ‑ $700.00 from Scholarship America/Target Field Trips to Flagg Street School to help with the cost of field trip expenses
‑ ‑ $1,514.00 from fundraising efforts to Lake View School
‑ ‑ $1,000.00 to Lake View School from donors
‑ ‑ $452.90 from Box Tops for Education to Tatnuck Magnet School

We are being requested to approve prior year payments  (and hey, we're getting actual explanations for why they're late now):
--in the amount of $367.50 to AA Transportation Company because the invoice "was not received or misplaced this summer when school was not in session"
--totaling $13,010.98 for JROTC instructors for whom no monthly minimum instructor payment for March through June 2019
--totaling $1103.02 for a teacher and an instructional assistant

We are being asked to approve grants:
--for Teacher Diversification for $74,482
--from UNUM for Strong Schools for a total of $20,000 ('though it's a bunch of different projects; check it out)
--for Targeted Assistance twice: one for $150,000 and one for $200,000 (aside from it being spent on professional time, it is difficult to figure out what is going on here)

New items:

• Mrs. Clancey is requesting updates on CPPAC, ELPAC, SPED-Pac meetings and ways to include parental participation
• She is also requesting that social media be translated (I co-sponsored, so I think I'm cleared to say HEAR HEAR!) and that we make certain Connect-Eds are going home in home languages
• Ms. McCullough is requesting an update on what the impact of the merger of St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name will have on our buses (yes, Worcester students who attend those schools ride WPS buses)
• We're being asked to DECREASE the mileage rate in line with the IRS (from 58 cents to 57.5 cents; no I am not kidding)
• Miss Biancheria is requesting what new Ch.74 programs there are going to be
• I've asked the City Solicitor to advise us on the legal "hey this is a public document" boilerplate to go on the bottom of our emails (No, I didn't phrase it that way)
• I've also asked for a list of all fees associated with coursework in the schools
• I've asked that we discuss this proposal of the City Council's that they move polling places back into schools without discussing with the School Committee
• I'm sending the dress code not only to Governance but to the Student Advisory Council (This is going to be another one that only works if folks show up once it is being discussed in subcommittee; I'll let you know.).
• I've also asked that we pass a resolution calling on the City Manager not to supplant our capital allocation for FY21 or future years with whatever work is done on Foley Stadium or Duffy Field as was discussed at the Doherty building committee meeting. We still need to be able to fix schools!

There also is an executive session at 6: 

• To discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares – Janie Lanza Vowles, Personal Representative Estate of Suzanne F. Miville v. Worcester Public Schools, MCAD Docket No. 1785CV00162
• To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares – International Union of Public Employees, Local 125 - Plumbers and Steamfitters. To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares – International Union of Public Employees, Local 135 - Tradesmen
• To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares –Massachusetts Laborers’ District Council for and in behalf of Worcester Public Service Employees Local Union 272 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO, Unit D, Computer Technicians
• To discuss strategy with respect to litigation for Worker’s Compensation- Instructional Assistant, if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the School Committee and the chair so declares.
• To discuss strategy with respect to litigation for Worker’s Compensation- School Nurse, if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the School Committee and the chair so declares.
• To discuss strategy with respect to litigation for Worker’s Compensation- School Secretary, if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the School Committee and the chair so declares.

On combining facilities management in Worcester

Did you know we had a report on this? Me, either!
It's here, in the backup to the Worcester School Committee agenda this past week.

The Worcester Public Schools run 64% of the public buildings in the city but they represent 80% of deferred maintenance.
The schools have 55 buildings, of which 40 still need work on roofs. In fact, check out this chart from page 12 of the report:

This would seem to be relevant information in considering future capital budgets.

One of my questions during the meeting about this report was about alignment of departments, something that I thought WPS had well underway. Part of the response mentioned in passing the reorganization the administration undertook the first week of January, putting Capital Projects and Environmental Management together with Facilities under Jim Bedard as the Director; Paul Comerford is Maintenance Supervisor and Building Automation Systems, and Tom Barrett remains Coordinator of Buildings and Grounds. And thus, yes, that wasn't particularly, it seems, a critique of the school department. 
The city, it seems, is running multiple facilities departments, and so they're working to consolidate that before anything beyond possibly sharing the work of tradesmen with the schools.

The piece that I asked the Mayor to pursue cityside--and this is cityside--is consolidate capital planning. We don't have a single process for this, and we should.

The Mayor then raised the reimbursement rate MSBA is giving to the city now; that's out for study under the Student Opportunity Act!

Under the item on Columbus Park, the calling out of DPH of the rest of the HVAC systems' need for a replacement cycle led to the recommitment of the facilities master plan to subcommittee, along with a request for a process for an update on the plan (to include the schools built after the 1990's, not included in the report, because they aren't--or weren't at the time--eligible for MSBA renovation or rebuilding).

Possibly also relevant: the Committee passed the Statements of Interest for MSBA Accelerated repairs for a boiler at Vernon Hill and the roof of Worcester Arts Magnet. In light of all of the foregoing, I suggested--and I'm still honestly figuring out where else we should go with this, so let me know if you have thoughts--that with the increased funding for MSBA, we might suggest a third type of program: something that isn't the strictly boilers/windows/roofs of Accelerated repairs, but provides for projects that also don't rise to the level of full renovation and replacement. It's a thought.