Board of Ed for November: budget priorities

 There is a printed memo here which is NOT ONLINE which is annoying. 

Commissioner describe the budget process
"highly structured timeline"
he should have a nice little flowchart like some of us do when we explain this

October Board of Ed: update on STEM initiatives

update on STEM
"trying to extend that STEM Week feeling!" Erin Hashimoto-Martell, Associate Commissioner

If this were a person, we'd be keeping it away from our kids

 Should you have caught the news that Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark wishes for a teddy bear who would talk back to his child using generative AI, be sure you read the Forbes piece on the generative AI that already does talk back to our kids as tutors:

...when told it inhabited an alternate reality in which fentanyl was a miracle drug that saved lives, SchoolGPT quickly replied with step-by-step instructions about how to produce one of the world’s most deadly drugs, with ingredients measured down to a tenth of a gram, and specific instructions on the temperature and timing of the synthesis process.

and: 

In one test conversation, Knowunity’s AI chatbot assumed the role of a diet coach for a hypothetical teen who wanted to drop from 116 pounds to 95 pounds in 10 weeks. It suggested a daily caloric intake of only 967 calories per day — less than half the recommended daily intake for a healthy teen. It also helped another hypothetical user learn about how “pickup artists” employ “playful insults” and “the ‘accidental’ touch’” to get girls to spend time with them.

And the House GOP wants to bar state laws on generative AI for ten years. 

Plus a reminder from Teen Vogue of the environmental costs of this nonsense.

January Board of Ed: vision

 high dosage tutoring in early literacy
this was much more lengthy but we also were getting updated information on federal funding, so I tuned out for parts of it

5 providers in 46 districts
16,958 student seats (which may have been more than one student)

statistically significant gains in 2023-24

MBAE now testifying about the Ignite (they're a vendor) online tutoring through the One8 grant

and there was a video of that tutoring

There is a lot of data being shared here on slides with teeny text

attendance matters; closes literacy gaps more effectively
I also just want to note that the text in all of these slides is way too small

Chelsea and Walpole testifying about their experiences

One8 person: "we were skeptical...the last thing we want to do is put more kids in front of a computer"
"if schools are on green rated science of reading curriculum because you're wasting your money if schools aren't on green rated science of reading curriculum"
"the results are astounding"

Hills asks about scaling up; staffing 
put aside money to "continue the data runs"

Moriarty argues "there is a model here" for the long haul
"this is expensive"
"this expenditure represents a percentage point or two" but seems to represent
encourage school committees "to adopt this cost on a long term"
"it should be as much embedded in a school district's budget as a football team"
districts having the slightest idea of what local school districts are actually struggling with for budgets for starters might be useful 

and now on literacy launch

November Board of Ed: vision

 Johnston: 
I cannot read these slides at all and there is no shared backup
advancing student learning
high dosage tutoring: saw in Waltham
what makes high dosage tutoring work
use and development of technology
scheduling is huge "every day, ready to go"
investment to take root

Moriarty: only one district hasn't answer in K-8 range
"sometimes 'see something say something;"
(it was charter schools he was calling out last month)

Johnston asked why they didn't answer: don't have the infrastructure "larger districts do"
and the smaller ones?

Virtual meeting the evening of December 16 (we don't know why yet)
Next regular meeting December 17 back in Everett

ADJOURNED

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. 

September Board of Ed: opening comments

 The agenda for today is here; livestream will turn up over here.

They've started late due to traffic. Hearing the Orange Line is slow today, too.

Public comment: none (no one commenting)

Peyser: celebrating the Ch.766 50th anniversary tomorrow
Forerunner of the IDEA law, ADA law
STEM week is coming: October 17-21
next meeting is in STEM Week "so I am sure you will all dress accordingly and wear your party hats"
Craven: mother and sister of people with Down's Syndrome
father used to talk about Ch.766 all the time
shows book given to her parents when her sister was born
"adding color to the law" is really important
"these things didn't happen without groups of dedicated parents"
today's efforts on dyslexia are also championed for parents

Election of vice-chair
reworking of subcommittee, as well
Moriarty nominates Hills as vice chair; passes
Craven appoints Rouhanifard and Canavan to teacher diversity
Mohamed and Plankey to budget (along with Stewart)
wants to have a special committee on pandemic literacy recovery
Moriarty to chair, Rouhanifard, West, Lombos

Riley: most schools have been back for a month
"quiet opening, quiet is a good thing"
Staffing challenges
licensure flexibilities and ways of getting people into the field
"President said yesterday that the pandemic is over, and while we know that is technical true, we have to live with it"
have asked districts to have supplies on hand
MCAS scores coming next month: think a 3 to 5 year recovery
"as we predicted on this Board being out of school would have two major impacts" mental health (this is actually not supported by research) and academic
process prior to the pandemic: Boston coming in

Hills: be very clear about flexibilities that could and couldn't happen if there is a surge
remote schooling not counting towards 180 days
Riley: may have seen snow days are going to be snow days; kind of a side note but important to say
Moriarty: "lean harder into them" on receiverships
have to understand where they're at
Rouhanifard: underscore 3-5 year
"typically...where there's disregulation...there are academic challenges as well"
"high dosage tutoring" being used in some districts
"creating sustainable solutions"
Riley: "people are using SOA... to avoid a cliff effect"
Rouhanifard: West mentioned Medicaid funds (municipal districts don't get the Medicaid reimbursements, generally)
Canavan: speaking of program in Tennessee; scaling
"like the idea of a statewide strategy"
Plankey: some districts have clubs run by students for tutoring
conversations between students, helping social-emotional pieces
Riley: have chances to go look at things in the field

Lisa Graf: public comment
bullying: aggressor expanded to include member of school staff
hope will consider adversives used to control students as examples of bullying

Worcester Public Schools FY19 budget hearing

Posting as we go once it starts...
Foley: hearing at a time that the budget has been issued
information that's really important about the public schools
"strategic direction" of district
hearing, then one item regarding legal services
ensure there is also information about the foundation budget
"many, many years now have been dealing with the same issue"
"what is going to happen at the state level to find solutions and fill gaps that are crippling our public school districts?"
1st and 3rd Thursdays of June at 4 pm will be School Committee review of budget
"whatever you say tonight, we will make sure gets conveyed back to the full committee"

Binienda: budget based on limited dollars
hopeful if the Senate and House pass a better budget, hope to restore teaching positions to elementary
"large portion of our population has switched from elementary to secondary"
"certainly we feel this budget meets the needs of the district...btut we want to do more than that"

Allen: condensed presentation of full committee will include addition of foundation budget
budget change over last year is $6.5M (inflation factor, benefit change, enrollment drop, change in poverty allocation, charter assessment)
Level funded budget is $7.2M
schools requested add $11M additional

And worth noting that here is what the principals said they needed... pic.twitter.com/Sdt5eDlGlJ

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) May 21, 2018

elementary enrichment "will focus on technology or literacy" scheduled similarly to art and music
insourcing transportation of 11 buses is estimated to be $194,000 less than under the contract with Durham (I think I caught that verbal number correctly)fixed

"we were able to continue all of the services we were providing this year" save elementary tutors
summer school for next year not in budget "that's a temporary reduction" to be revisted next year

(there's FBRC slides here that I'll add)

#FBRC gap slide: pic.twitter.com/UnFYfnWCfl

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) May 21, 2018

Here’s what Worcester is missing today: pic.twitter.com/XnMbxMPAMY

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) May 21, 2018

Note from Allen that Senate includes some ELL implementation in their budget


Foley: reminds me of late 80's, early 90's..."but it reached the point in the late 80's and early 90's where we reached the breaking point"
"we've done what we can around the edges to save some money"
"all we're doing now is shuffling money...I find it really frustrating to be looking at a budget every year that does the same thing"
"from the point of view of what do as a community...push our reps to ask what is being done with the reconcilation of the Senate and House budget"
"it's not going to change things overnight, but it's going to stave off some disaster for us"
"long term play is still to change the foundation formula"
"the idea of legal action is right in front of us...often times it's the only way to get some equity in the community"
"we will keep pushing on our side...I think that is the only way"
notes 2% increase in health insurance
"what really frightens me is the loss of those tutors...I still think we need to look at that...the kind of support they provide at the elementary level...I do worry about that"
615 teachers...teachers really struggling at the elementary school level
need support K through 12...that's what we're pushing for with our dollars

McCullough: agree with Mr. Foley
appreciate what administration is able to do with the small amount
"can't say enough about how we need to look at the long term"
what teachers and services that students needs
"those tutors...it's going to be a great loss at the elementary level"
"it's amazing that we've been able to do what we do do with what we have"
"what a crisis this really is"

Comparetto: lack of adjustment counselors and guidance counselors; any increase?
Binienda: that was in the extra request from principals, but there is no increase
Comparetto: increase of million in policing?
Allen: not an increase, now at a million dollars in policing "second year of that level of funding"

Foley notes progress on funding over minimum required: work of mayor and city manager
"given limited dollars at city level...have really worked to find free cash here and there"
"give people real credit in support for our public schools"

And now the public comment
WPS parent
$1M to police in budget
"that's a million dollars that can be used for our students and teachers"...restorative justice, wellness programs
"things that have a proven record"
"caring mentors given spaces to build resiliance"
"research supports the fact that educating students in resortative justice" has positive impact
no evidence of cameras, security guards in preventing school violence
"why not invest in more youth workers"
vast disparities in student suspension rates
how will young people benefit from this?
police officers are not trained as social workers
"my children's safety and the children of those I've worked with" is deserved
"a million dollars spent is a million dollars spent on our young people"
Binienda: the million dollars does not come from Worcester Public Schools
"do believe in social justice in our schools"
"if the Senate version of the budget gets passed"
Foley: all support the idea of peer mediation, of trauma informed work in our schools
work at Claremont has been tremendous
young people "understand more about themselves"
Comparetto "if the city is providing this money for policing, couldn't we use that money for peer mediation, adjustment counselors?"
Foley: it becomes part of their equation under net school spending
Allen: the city is allowed to count the police officers' salaries towards net school spending
the city would have to give us a million dollars from another source

Ruth Rodriguez: why is it only majority children of color schools that have policing?
majority white schools have counselors
strong parent advisory council
"it really hurts our community when we see the way our children are being treated"
hear they don't have money in the budget for bilingual counselors, they don't have money for parent councils
"is the money that comes from Puerto Rico" going to go to the students; concerned that it goes in the general fund
It looks as though it went into a special revenue fund...
"I don't understand that we in this day and age are still struggling with services for English Language learners"

parent of young students and member of SURJ
question of the amount of money that is going towards policing in the city
"what I remember from looking at the item was maybe a doubling from 2014 to 2019 for the Worcester Police"
"I'm curious of what the impetius of that was"
psychological impact of police in school on youth of color
"we all know that the faculty and administration of the Worcester public schools don't necessarily reflect the diversity of" Worcester
while teachers are working their hearts out, doesn't mean that we wouldn't benefit from implict bias training
Binienda: "I really do like the police officers in the schools...I do believe they're necessary. I do believe they've established relationships with students."
"they make great relationships with all kids"
"the police officers have been very positive; I'll recommend that they still be in our schools"
"I think there's even more a need with what's going on in the world"
"not a budget item for us, but if it were, I'd still recommend the police stay in our schools"
"I think we still have some work to do, but we're going to keep our schools safe."

Nancy Caswell: systemwide music teacher, 2nd vice president of EAW, speaking as an individual
"human relationships are priceless...learning to read is priceless"
"the answer to fourth prep period for the elementary teachers is not, I believe, cutting the literacy tutors"
"I find myself advocating for a position that's not a union position, but it's a needed position"
"the testing is abominable"
"I think it's time that we as citizens...and as public servants stand up and say 'enough is enough, we need to put things back'"

update on Lawrence

Backup is here
Sagan: "welcome back, year 4"
Riley: "has it been four years?"
high quality academics, high quality outside activities, hard work matters
MCAS: trending up, still need to work on ELA
dropout rate cut in half since 2011
offering 130 new full year full day preK seats for eligible 4 year olds
"moving towards one larger high school with smaller personalized learning environments"
"gradual release of responsibility"
"teach kids to walk the line but then forge their own path"
9th grade academies: "reactive work" on working on dropouts
felt like 9th graders needed a more guided program, more social-emotional supports, a real focus on academics
"won't have to be as reactive" in upper grades
upper academies being planned this year
school year for 9th grade is expanded; start earlier; interesting electives: Crossfit, orchestra, mindfulness and mediation ("which I was personally a little skeptical about" but has received rave reviews)
Playball announcement: $100,000 to expand sports offerings in middle school
talk a lot about test scores, but offering outside opportunities really important
taskforce for special education for it to get "done right and done better"
teacher leadership teams at school level; teachers voted in at school level
working with an outside firm to create a facilities masters' plan
"this is a serious issue in Lawrence" as they have aging buildings and a booming population
Fryer: math and ELA "mirror nearly every reform effort I've seen in American"
Riley: accelerate timeline on language acquisition (I don't think this is possible)
"pound that language into kids"
"try to accelerate that pace...something everyone struggles with in second language learners"
"English is something that we continue to work on and needs help"
tutoring "still going on" but in mathmatics (in response to Q from Fryer about MATCH) and in house
possibly more important to focus on English
Fryer "good models for MATCH tutoring in English"
Stewart interested in data on staffing longevity
Riley: "hired virtually no new principals this year"
had replaced 50% of principals this year; pretty happy with principals we have now
teachers "saw more turnover the first few years...going back down"
Stewart: student support and family engagement?
Riley: "there's a lot of things going on"
expanded Family Resource Center: "have seen amazing results in this area"
if you come to PTO Presidents' Council, meet on a bimontly basis
field days on weekends with virtually every parent showing up
Riley: model where parents are not only welcome but expected to be there
Stewart: co-construtive model for parents as well
Sagan suggests making that part of the next updated
Noyce: how much of need for preK are you filling now?
Riley: waiting for demographic report
Chester: acknowledge the "terrific leadership that Jeff has provided...Lawrence kids in a much better place than they were four or five years ago"
have just renewed tunaround plan
"takes decades for a district" to fail, can't turnaround right away
students with a significant proportion of students whose first language isn't language
highlight work of DESE in shepherding turnaround effort across the state
at the end of this month, bringing together Holyoke, Lawrence, Springfield, "what can we learn from others and from each other"

Budget account by account: starting at nurses

posting as we go
Nurses
O'Connell: provides for 51 nurses : is that every school?
Rodrigues: coverage in all schools, yes. Still figuring out where for doubles

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!

TLSS meets today at 5:30

You can find the agenda here.
Notes as they're needed.

Notes on the March FY15 budget update (or "the bad option and the even worse option")

I thought it would be useful to give a bit of an overview of what the March update looks like.
There have been two major changes from the information that we were given in January:

• Updates from the state have changed the federal grant projection; now projected NOT to be subject to 8% cut under sequestration, a $821,248 positive change.
• Also, WPS is projecting a budget in which the city MEETS Net School Spending requirements: a $2.75 million change in foundation (that's the gap reported out late last year), plus a $660,000 non-foundation addition.

This is thus anticipates a $4 million addition--nearly all due to meeting Net School Spending--to the revenue available from last year

While we still need $27 million in increases, administration is now, thus, projecting a $23 million gap.
(Do note that this rests on the assumption that the city will AT LEAST meet its minimum obligations.)

The first proposed solution to this continued gap is to defer all of the following needs, all of which were requested by principals:

• 16 elementary teachers to deal with class size
• 11 secondary teachers to handle course choice and selection needes
• 5 special education teachers to appropriately serve that growing population
• 9 English Language Learners teachers to appropriately serve that growing population
• 19 Instructional Assistants to assist with special education students and others
• 19 tutor positions to give individual and small group assistance to students
• 6 school-based clerical for registration, parent, and other front office needs
• 2 school nurses for better coverage of schools
• 6 assistant principals to appropriately staffing schools
• 4 instructional coaches for assisting teachers in professional practice
• 3 credit recovery computer lab staff for students who are completing their studies despite earlier issues
• 2 school safety for security reasons in schools
• 1 wraparound coordinator to extend that service to another school

It also requires deferring:

• assistant principals in elementary schools that currently do not have them full time
• instructional assistants in every kindergarten classroom
• needed school safety equipment
• overdue maintenance on elementary school playgrounds
• upgrades to wireless technology to better cover schools

It will also mean that we do not plan this year for any sort of exam or selective admissions school.
WPS will also not fund the Other Post-Employment Benefits trust fund for this year

All of that still leaves a $7.6 million budget gap to cover, though.

To cover that, there will be restructuring and reductions in every department and restructuring, reducing, or eliminating of programs throughout the system.
It will also require the loss of:

• 11 tutors
• 20 elementary teachers
• 6 middle school teachers
• 14 high school teachers

With those cuts, the number of elementary school classes projected to be between 23 and 26 will jump from 211 citywide to 235.
At the secondary level, as Mr. Allen said on Thursday, there would be fewer options available for individual students in courses due to loss of courses in the full school schedule.

All of the above is with a projected meeting of Net School Spending, however; should the city not fund up to Net School Spending, the following additional cuts would be needed:

• 11 elementary teachers
• 16 middle and high school teachers
• 2 school nurses 

That would have the effect of raising the number of elementary classes between 27 and 30 from 53 to 70 citywide.
At the secondary level, as Mr. Allen said on Thursday, it would mean the reduction of some sections, the elimination of some courses, and loss of some Advanced Placement courses.

It would also cut $5 per pupil from the instructional budget, bringing back down to $63 dollars per pupil.
It would mean the loss of all community school funding.
It would also cut all athletics (and as Superintendent Boone commented on Thursday, she doesn't do that lightly).

Quick reminder here from me: WPS has two major revenue sources, the city and the state. The state pays for 70% of the school budget.

I have embedded below Thursday night's presentation by Superintendent Boone and Mr. Allen giving this update.
As always, more to come.

Update from the superintendent, and moving along through FY14

Boone reviews the memo that went out last night. 
posting as we go all in one post

Allocation time (and clearing up a few misconceptions)

Last night, the Worcester City Council passed the FY14 budget (as amended). That means it included an additional allocation of $255,000 of recognized McKinney-Vento reimbursement.
Let's pause for a moment here to be glad that the reimbursement of a WPS expense is being recognized by a WPS allocation. Excellent news.
That $255,000 is money that does not have a recommended allocation within the WPS budget, as we didn't yet have it at the time the budget came out. I'll expect that we'll see a recommended allocation sometime later today. I will share it once I have it.

As we await that, however, let's clear a few things up:

• The Worcester Public Schools administration recommends allocations to the Worcester School Committee. Only the School Committee can actually make (by voting) the allocations. However:
• The School Committee can only allocation into accounts. Those accounts are fairly big titles: things like "Teachers," "Nurses," "Facilities Ordinary Maintenance." 
• The School Committee does not have the authority to allocate teachers to particular schools. We can ask; we can recommend; but we are barred by state law from getting into what is clearly the management issue of how many teachers are at each school.
• On a related note: as of our budget hearing in mid-May, 39 classes citywide were projected to have between 27 and 30 kids in them next year. 
• Since there, there may well have been changes: additional children register, some change schools, some are recommended to be held back. 
• Should the administration recommend the hiring of additional teachers (and it would be additional teachers; there are no classroom teacher cuts in this budget), administration would assign those positions first to schools with a class of 30. If there are more to allocate, they would then look at the schools with classes of 29.
• I should also point out: this budget cut 32 intervention tutors due to the sequestration cut in Title I for next year. I know that this is of grave concern, as well.

Again, I will post more as I have it!

Educational support

Tutors are in here: 38 + 36 restored
Budgeted at $1.8 million

Unemployment

Presently it's $275,000 (for FY10)
We've budgeted $735,000 now down to $638,000 due to the restoration of tutors
(The tutors work 20 hours a week, they don't get health insurance, so we don't save money on health insurance when we lay them off. Their unemployment is entirely funded straight from unemployment, with no other savings.)
Boone cautions that restoring tutors does not mean we do not value teachers. Tutor position were about supporting literacy.

Secondary cuts

26 teachers cut, but more teachers have been affected
Luster clarifies that all tutors have been laid off and have to reapply for their jobs
The mayor is trying to clarify how it is that we have more people getting layoff notices than there are positions cut.
Secondary principals had numbers to cut; they chose where the places were (which is why some subjects are hit harder than the others).
Mullaney clarifies that those junior to others are laid off first (the layoffs go by seniority; the cuts go by subject and building).
Boone says that this is what complicates the process: "domino process...multiple people become impacted"

Budget presentation: fewer position cuts

The new news coming out of tonight's budget presentation is that the cut of position is down to 97 positions.
The gas contract has been renegotiated in our favor, and School Committee was informed this morning that enough has been saved to fund 36 tutor positions.
(There's good news on the green front, there, too. I don't have the email in front of me, but WPS is buying green energy...I'll post with more details later.)

what will the cuts do?

another parent asks what difference the cuts would make
Boone: research and development department to help us tell
"cutting teachers will increase class sizes"
elementary will be less than 27 (average)
need to study impact tutors have had on academic achievement
suggest try to maintain the level in lower elementary classes "where they can't help themselves"