Now there's a headline you won't see most places

 I had to darkly laugh when I saw this headline in the T&G last week:

headline reads
"City Council passes 90-day parking ban near Worcester elementary school"

...I mean, do you like being an elected official?

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 FY23, as of the start of the fiscal year

 ...budgets are not merely affairs of arithmetic, but in a thousand ways go to the root of the prosperity of individuals, the relation of classes, and the strength of kingdoms.

John Morely, writing in The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1

 ...which of course is just a fancier way of saying "budgets are moral documents."

This is probably the weakest year I've ever had for blogging the Worcester Public Schools budget usual warning: it's 444 pages, so that's a big document), for which you all have my abject apologies. FY23 started yesterday--yes, happy fiscal new year!--and I did want to take a look at what it is that the Worcester School Committee passed last month for this coming year. 
This is a long post, but then, the budget is long, too.

elementary schools

Request that the Administration review options for additional classrooms and instructional space, as needed, to include but not be limited to, the possible reopening of former elementary schools.

Referred to administration

"No reduction of positions and no loss of programs or services for students" WPS FY16

The FY16 budget is now out, and, having now had a chance to go through it, a few notes from me follow.
(Much of this can be found in the accompanying budget summary memo)

The above title is the first thing to know: no layoffs and no program cuts this year! Whew!
In fact, we're adding! The proposed budget adds:

• 10 elementary teachers
• 11 secondary teachers
• 11 special ed teachers
• 14 ELL teachers
• fifth grade dual language teachers
• a school nurse position
• a full time (from halftime) librarian at Burncoat Prep
• 3 school adjustment counselors
• 3 custodians
• 1 assistant principal, and converts a lead teacher to an assistant principal.

Notice that the above additions focus heavily on why we have an increased budget: increased enrollment and changes in enrollment, namely:

• enrollment increase (Pre-K-12) of nearly 600 students
• 834 more ELL students 
• 776 more low income students

That's where the increased funding is coming from (remember, the inflation rate is only 1.5%). 

The budget also proposes boosting school safety's line item 50% and funding the arts magnet program an additional $10,000 (to fund their programs for the entire year). 

And--this is exciting--it takes $425,643 of district funding and puts it up for Erate funds, which brings back $5.1 million! The plan is for all new network switches, adding wifi access points to the schools with weak spots or no spots, increase internet connections (to 100MB for elementary, 1GB for secondary), and replace switched Ethernet with fiber, districtwide.

Of the total budget, 28.2% of it comes from the city; 58.2% (the largest section) is state chapter 70 aid.

The City Council hears the Worcester Public Schools' bottom line on May 26 at 4 pm. There is a (probable) Joint Meeting for a public hearing on the WPS budget on May 27 at 7 pm (we don't know where yet). The School Committee will hear the budget on June 4 and 18 at 4 pm.

As always, more to come!

Nelson Place VOTE

Just starting the Nelson Place meeting on the design vote.
You can find the presentation tonight here. 
Full schematic design being submitted this week (Dec. 11)
Plan right now still to have school opened for beginning of school 2016
hope to have a contract awarded to a firm by mid-January
meeting with them later this week
When will construction happen? Starting early 2016

first elementary school in the city in quite some time (I believe it's two decades)
"real good showing of that enthusiasm and those efforts"
stairwells at both ends
building will have solar panels on the roof: "hoping to have 40-50% of electricity" provided by solar panels
"very compact and efficient plan"
"very tough site, a tight site"
separation of drop-offs for parent cars, full sized buses, small buses
main entrance faces the back of the current space
evergreen buffer along bounds with neighbors
four foot fence, ending at wetlands on both ends
mostly glacial till, with rock: "a lot of material that has to move off the site"
Phase I is building site and building
Phase II is taking down current gym and getting at access
Phase II is taking down current building
will build new building by skirting current gym
roads will largely be fill
how will water flow affect Indian Lake? Detention areas on site so there's no increase in runoff; hold water back "and let it out at a much, much lower rate"
water quality issues as dicated by DEP, "that's all part of the calculations that engineers do"
submission to ConCom "probably next April"
Paul Moosey: "This process shows me that the system can work...have a much better plan that we would have been able to do if we just put it together in some office somewhere"
VOTE:
unanimously in favor

A few back to school notes

Overall, a good first day! A few back to school notes from me:

• Did you get one? We have "please update and return" forms for the basic office information this year! That is because parents asked that we work on the number of back to school forms (yes, you ARE heard! And there are still too many.).
• School lunch costs $1.75 this year.
• If your child is in secondary school (particularly middle school) and there is not a nearby bus stop, get in touch with the school's assistant principal. We don't stop at everyone's driveways in Worcester, but your child should, if he or she is bused, be able to get to a bus stop safely.
• Remember that requested supplies are not required! We are not funding school supplies adequately, so if you can help, it's appreciated, but requests for supplies--or for checks to cover classroom supplies--are requests only. And if you're hearing otherwise, please let me know.
• Yes, some elementary class numbers are high; we did cut 23 elementary positions in this year's budget. The way that the remaining to-be-assigned teachers are placed is largest classes, highest number of kids impacted first (as adding a teacher lowers all class sizes of that grade). There's "a handful" of teachers left to be assigned; we have some elementary classes over 30. And the only way to fix this is to adequately fund education. We don't. 
• That student handbook your child brought home? Don't just sign and return the back page; give it a read and then hang on to it! 

Please keep the queries coming, and I'll field them as I get them! 

We have a budget memo!

You can find the budget memo we received from Superintendent Boone yesterday here.
You can find last night's presentation to the City Council by City Manager Augustus here.

So, what's the story?
Bottom line is that the City Manager is recommending a WPS budget line of $305,201,911 to the Worcester City Council.
What that means for our budget is, first, that 15 elementary teaching positions that were up for a cut will not, now, be recommended to be cut. Good news.

Where does that leave the rest of the recommended budget?
As the City Manager said last night, state funding for schools has been growing at $9 to $10 million a year, but it's down to $670,000 in growth for FY15. That doesn't at all realistically represent our children's needs.

First, the bad news:

• 23 elementary teaching positions cut
• 24 secondary teaching positions cut
• 2 central administrators cut
• 7 central administrative clerical positions cut
• 11 MCAS tutors cut
• 5 reading tutors cut
• 1 credit recovery position cut
• 3 custodial positions cut
• 2 secondary school clerical positions cut
• 3 school-based parent liaison positions cut

...overall there is a reduction of 44 teaching positions from all funding sources. There are 94 positions being reduced in total.

In other news:
19 preschool teaching positions are recommended to be transferred from grant-funded to general fund funded.

We are receiving a recommendation to add (net) 30 Instructional Assistant positions (special education, for the autism program; 55 are being added from now contracted services, 16 current IAs are being converted to teaching positions, and 10 are being transferred from the general fund to grant funded).

We are receiving a recommendation to convert 16 English Language Learning IAs to teaching positions.
We are receiving a recommendation to add 2 school adjustment counselors.
We are receiving a recommendation to add 6 ESL positions.

We are receiving a recommendation to add 2 energy management positions; currently this is privately managed (if I said that was to mixed reviews, I would be overly kind).

Athletics next year is recommended to be level-funded through school choice funds.

The following will be recommended to not be funded in FY15:

Clark Masters' Program

community schools

Future Teachers' Academy

Fast ForWord

Focus on Results

Pinpoint (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

dual enrollment

(note that much, 'though not all, of the above were funded through Race to the Top funds)

Some more general notes:
This budget is an increase of 0.6% over last year's funding (when all funding is considered).
FY15 will have a nearly 10% reducing in central administrative staff; it will have a 2.2% decrease in teaching positions.
In all areas possible, FY14 open positions have been frozen to save money without laying people off (this doesn't, please realize, change the need for the position that's open),
This budget will see the phasing out of Race to the Top and our first round of School Redesign Grants.
AND--I've said it before, but I'll say it again--all of the above are administrative recommendations for the FY15 budget. There is no Worcester Public Schools budget until a bottom line is passed by the Worcester School Committee on June 19.

FULL BUDGET COMES OUT FRIDAY! And we'll have full details on all of the above then!

as always, much more to come!

Public hearing on FY15 WPS budget

plea to keep Fast ForWord program
keep class sizes as low as possible for students

query as to additional city contribution goes where? non-NSS, like transportation
how does current deficit affect that? number tonight shows only required growth, as we don't know
but city is required to make up gap from this year? Yes
success of WPS is success of city
School Committee must "really take on the role of advocates...go into these conversations and force these issues"

how much do we lose at school choice? $2.7M
theory that other districts spending more
"a lot of students opting out...we're creating a...gap between students and parents who have the wherewithal who can take advantage of the choice at opt out...and those who do not"

Monfredo: meeting Net School Spending still only hits the bottom of the barrel

reopening schools

you can find the report here
Allen: "kind of a realistic estimate of what it would take to reopen some of our schools"
some of the space is being fully utilized, and moving those programs would create rental costs
Harlow being the only short term possibility
all of Central Mass Collaborative's rental agreements are up this year; they're looking to put it all in one site, which would open up Harlow to us
that would be 12 classrooms
that would be about 250-300 students
between $1.7M and $2.5M, though some of those costs are already covered
some things we wouldn't know until you knew the needs of the schools and possible reallocations
Ramirez: "that's one way to go...overcrowded middle schools, as well"
Allen: "administration agrees with you...doesn't identify as an elementary school"
Foley: may want to look more systemically
Novick: could spin up use of space over several years
any plans for the space if the Collaborative moves? not yet

WPS Instrument Lessons!

One of the things we do that I'm most proud of: FREE instrument lessons during the school day!


The Worcester Public Schools is pleased to announce the In School Instrumental Lessons Program. Students may choose to study violin, viola, cello, flute, trumpet, alto sax, French Horn, or clarinet. Please see the attached brochures for more information about this exciting program.


Woodwinds and Brass lessons are available for students in grades 4,5 and 6 at the following schools:

Belmont St. Community	Jacob Hiatt Magnet
Burncoat St. Prep	Lake View
Canterbury Street	Lincoln Street
Chandler Magnet	May Street
City View	McGrath
Clark Street	Nelson Place
Columbus Park	Norrback Avenue
Elm Park	Thorndyke Road
Goddard School	Wawecus Road
Heard Street	Worcester Arts Magnet

Strings Lessons are available for students in grades 3,4,5,and 6 at the following schools:

Burncoat St. Prep	Rice Square
Clark Street	Roosevelt
Grafton Street	Tatnuck Magnet
Lincoln Street	Thorndyke Road
McGrath	Vernon Hill
Midland Street	Wawecus Road
Norrback Avenue	Worcester Arts Magnet

Is your child's school not on this list? Send us an email and ask that we work on that! 

Largest elementary enrollment changes for next year

Schools with biggest enrollment increases for next year:
Union Hill: 15.6%
Chandler Elementary: 14.9%
Wawecus: 12.3%
Belmont Street: 11%
Columbus Park: 7.5%
Quinsigamond: 7.1%
Worcester Arts Magnet: 5.9%

Schools with biggest enrollment decrease:
Burncoat Prep: 12.1%
Flagg Street: 8.5%
Chandler Mag: 7..7%
Gates Lane: 6.7%
Clark Street: 5.9%
Rice Square: 4.7%
Jacob Hiatt: 4.2%

Public testimony (updating as we go)

updating as we go
testimony from Flagg parent: which is projected to lose three teachers, which would be moved elsewhere

FY14 Budget first read through

I did my first read through of the FY14 budget last night; here are a preliminary summary:

• Much of the gap that sequestration left us is being made up by the special education department. The Collaborative is, for the second year in a row, granting us a $1 million tuition freeze. Plus by adding five teachers and 16 IA's, we can bring many more students with autism back to the district, saving the district nearly $2 million (not to mention serving them in their home district).
• There's a substantial increase in the teacher account on special education, over and above that move, making a total addition of 17 teachers.
• There's also a substantial increase in special ed IA's, of 26 positions.
• There's two adds in the IT department, both to help teachers use technology more effectively but also to keep it all online and running. This budget also begins, mid-year, a five year lease program for computers. 
• As projected, there is an additional of three nursing positions. 
• The only change in elementary is moving one sixth grade teacher from the elementary line item to the secondary line item, as Worcester East Middle is adding sixth grade next year. There are, however, changes school-by-school in elementary, so look at the building-by-building budgets on those (the order is high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, other buildings, in the somewhat-but-not-quite alphabetical order of their state numbers). As always, the number of positions reflects the projected enrollment. 
• Secondary is adding nine positions, largely in the foreign languages at the high schools. There is also some substantial shifting of positions, school by school, so do look at the building budgets.
• There's also a number of shifts in funding as grants have been cut: moving 23 IA positions and the Staffing and Mentoring Coordinator to the general fund. We've also lost quite a bit due to sequestration (as feared): 32 tutor positions, a substantial loss in Head Start (which will mean we serve fewer kids), the 21st Century grant being zeroed out (which will hit us in after school and summer school programs), and cuts in other grants. 
• There's some central admin cuts: the Student Intervention Support Coordinator, the Facilities Project Coordinator (which was a temporary position for the city-funded capital projects, now completed), and the Race to the Top Design Project Leader (RTTT funded), and the Extended Learning Time Facilitators (of which there are two).
• There's also money set aside, as promised, for space rental for Chandler Elementary, to avoid having 6 classes of 30.
• It also adds back in the Out-of-State travel account (which has been set at zero for years) and the Personnel Office travel account (same page).
• There's a substantial jump in the AVID program. 
• And this will possibly interest no one other than me, but I am cheered at the news that our #2 fuel oil line item is down by 59%, as only three of our buildings (one of which we don't own) are still using it. In the same vein, we're saving $75,000 this year because just about everyone is getting their direct deposit slips via email, rather than through the mail. 

More to come! Take a look and get in touch!

Not spending enough time on science

...or enough training on math, are among the conclusions of this survey of elementary school teachers.
The bit that jumped out at me:

Another issue the report identifies was how little time science gets in the early grades. Averaged across a week, it amounts to 19 minutes a day in grades K-3, compared with about 90 minutes for reading/language arts and 54 for math.

Right, because (as I heard recently) "we'll get back to science and social studies after MCAS."

Instrument lessons

...are available for free during the school day at all Worcester elementary schools except:

• Chandler Elementary
• Flagg Street
• Gates Lane
• Quinsigamond
• Union Hill
• Woodland* 
• West Tatnuck

*Woodland is working with Neighborhood Strings to get their students lessons

Request for how much it would cost to expand to the remaining seven schools.

Libraries

...asking for a report on how many elementary libraries are open, how many hours, and who's doing the staffing at this point
(We employ one and a half elementary librarians districtwide right now.)

Here's the recommended allocation on $1.7 million

 Note that all of the following is subject to School Committee allocation:
Tonight, Superintendent Boone announced a recommendation to the School Committee that positions be restored or added to the following elementary schools:
1 Belmont
2 Elm Park
1 Goddard
1 Grafton St
1 McGrath
1 Quinsig
1 Tatnuck Magnet
1 Flagg Street
1 Union Hill
There are also five teachers being held for assignment in the fall, pending August class numbers.

She announced that the following secondary positions would be added:
1 WEMS science
1 Burncoat High science
1 Doherty communication/advertising
1 North technology & business
1 South math
1 Worcester Tech science

And that full-time nurses would be at:
Challenge and Reach Academy
Creamer
Lake View
Lincoln St
May St
McGrath
Midland
St. Casmir
UPCS
and another full-time nurse added at Quinsig

 The School Committee takes up the budget again on June 21st.

The good news in brief

$350,000 being cut from elsewhere in WPS budget to go to classrooms
$350,000 coming from City Manager's discretionary and from WPD (not hiring class until October)
$1,000,000 coming from city capital to replace PCB removal funds currently allocated in WPS budget (this will postpone some other rehab work the city was planning)

The recommended allocation from school administration will be coming later this week. It, I am told, includes elementary teachers, MassCore (secondary) teachers, and school nurses.

You can read the memo from City Manager O'Brien and Superintendent Boone here.

Councilors on the budget

Councilor O'Brien: "I'm just trying to follow this math here..."
Boone: "part of what we needed to do was address those PCBs..that's what's now being capitalized"
Worcester East Middle science labs? Moving forward this summer
 Economou: "Tremendous first step"