Fund Our Future

07Feb 2019 by Mary Ann Stewart, PDM Leadership Team

Some educator friends of mine asked me to moderate two forums organized in Cambridge and Lexington for the Fund Our Future campaign. Fund Our Future is a campaign to see public education in Massachusetts, from PreK-12 and higher education, funded at appropriate levels. Attendees are asked:

  • What if all public schools and districts had all of the Chapter 70 dollars they deserved?
  • How do we access those dollars?

The growing coalition seeks equity and fairness for every student and to end the systemic underfunding in Massachusetts gateway cities, urban districts, and communities of color.

Forums are being held in communities across the Commonwealth. Each is an opportunity to understand the state of funding public education in Massachusetts and to learn about options for revenue, plus two legislative proposals that attempt to fix the problem: PROMISE and CHERISH Acts.

The coalition is asking Governor Baker and the Legislature to invest, at minimum, $1.5 billion per year for public education, and to phase it in over five years: $1 billion for K-12 (in accordance with the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission, FBRC, 2015) and $500 million for higher education (in accordance with the recommendations of the Higher Education Finance Commission, HEFC, 2014).
Colin Jones, Senior Policy Analyst at MassBudget and Policy Center (MassBudget), focuses on early and K-12 education policy and finance. He presented *the funding problem* at both of the forums I moderated, beginning with the background and history of Chapter 70—how we got where we are today, what the funding gap looks like between some gateway cities compared to wealthier suburbs—and concluding with some of MassBudget’s research on options for progressive revenue. Colin  briefly addressed the Governor’s budget proposal on this matter (which phases in fewer dollars over seven years. Some other relevant links are at the end of this post).
André Greene, member of the Somerville School Committee, shared the impact of underfunding from the school and district level. He stressed the need for equitable funding for all students. With better funding there could be more and better materials in classrooms, as well as smaller classrooms. André also noted the importance of adequate capital investments, including for vocational education, and the need for increased MSBA funding to speed up school replacements and renovations in communities.
Senator Pat Jehlen of Somerville, formerly a member of the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC), noted that language in PROMISE is identical to FBRC’s recommendations. She had us visualize the *three-legged stool* of education reform and how badly out of kilter things are in the 25+ years after enacting those reforms, absent critical Foundation Budget updates (which she has written about HERE). Senator Jehlen stressed urgency in providing the means for every city and town to  offer an adequate education to every child, and that we are not fulfilling our obligation to educate all students as mandated by the Massachusetts Constitution (Chapter V, Section II).
Superintendent of Lexington Public Schools, Dr. Julie Hackett, formerly of Taunton Public Schools, talked about the inequities that follow in classrooms, schools, and districts as a result of underfunding. Taunton is a gateway city with a higher number of students who are economically disadvantaged and/or are not native English speakers. Student needs are higher as a result and funding education via property taxes has real limits for the city’s meeting their Net School Spending level (NSS), as opposed to Lexington which can (and does) contribute well above their NSS level. This comment of hers has stuck with me:

In Taunton, we spent most of our time figuring out how to fund our learning; in Lexington we spend our time learning.

Max Page, MTA Vice President, has been a professor of Architecture since 2001 at UMass/Amherst.  He shared the importance of improved PreK-12 funding, in addition to the legislative proposals, the PROMISE and CHERISH Acts. He explained that our PreK-12 schools lack funding necessary for students to be adequately prepared for their future and the PROMISE Act will help to change that. In higher education, he said the financial burden has shifted from the state to students; infusing the state budget with $574 million gets us to the 2001 level for higher education and that we need our legislators to fund our future with the CHERISH Act.

ABOUT THE PROMISE AND CHERISH ACTS

PROMISE

An Act Providing Rightful Opportunites and Meaningful Investment for Successful and Equitable Education, the PROMISE Act currently S.D.101 (and H.D.434), is a proposal offered by Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. She is also former Senate Chair of the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC, 2014-2015).

By way of brief review, FBRC’s final report recommended changes to the *four pillars* of our outdated financing system (10/30/2015, Senate), specifically, in the areas of:

  • Health Insurance
  • Special Education
  • English Language Learners
  • Low Income Students

The report concluded:

“…the good work begun by the education reform act of 1993, and the educational progress made since, will be at risk so long as our school systems are fiscally strained by the ongoing failure to substantively reconsider the adequacy of the foundation budget…”

PROMISE acronym excellence notwithstanding, I note (again) the Senate has acted on FBRC each year since the report was delivered to the Legislature in October 2015. The House has not acted. (Conference Committee came close before *time ran out* last legislative session…but hey, let’s be honest and recognize THAT decision was a choice by House leadership—and a poor one, too).

It’s more accurate to say that time has run out for a generation’s worth of students. How many children have had to *bide their time* while the Legislature has failed to adequately address Massachusetts’ public education funding system? It’s well past time for the Legislature to act.

CHERISH

Senator Jo Comerford introduced An Act Committing to Higher Education Resources to Insure a Strong and Healthy Higher Education System, currently S.D.740. CHERISH builds on the previous work of the Higher Education Finance Commission (HEFC, 2013-2014), predating FBRC. HEFC report concluded:

“…the Commonwealth must reform antiquated financing systems that promote inequity and inefficiency…”

CONCLUSION

We all have a stake in the solid education of all our people, least of which are countless situations where our personal interests, safety, and well-being depend on others’ competence, empathy, and compassion.

MassBudget reminds us: Anyone who has set foot in a public school, driven on a road or across a bridge, or gone to a public park has been touched by the state budget. What we fund in our state budget reflects our values. Government isn’t some big blob *out there*, government is us! No essential services would be possible without the revenue to pay for it—and it’s important that we consider whether the state is raising revenue adequately and fairly. If the state budget isn’t funding the things we want at the levels necessary to close gaps and prepare students, why not?

Two things to understand about our revenue system: 1). It’s inadequate and 2). It’s unfair. Decisions made beginning twenty years ago have left us with a budget gap of about $4 billion. Every. Year.

The education funding system established in 1993 has never been updated. It’s inadequate. It’s structurally broken. In 2015, FBRC made the necessary recommendations which have only been acted upon by the Senate. Four years later, we may be seeing movement toward taking action in the Legislature and in the Executive Office.

Please ask yourself and others:

  • What if all schools and districts had all of the Chapter 70 dollars they deserve?
  • How do we pay for it?
  • What are one or two insights you have?
  • What’s one action you’re prepared to take?
    • By when?
    • Who will you share it with?

The biggest insight I had after reflecting on the information presented in Cambridge and Lexington is that more education on how to fund public education appropriately is necessary! This post represents then, one of my actions to spread the word to more people. Please share it.

It was pointed out at the Lexington forum: If your elected representative/s has co-sponsored either PROMISE or CHERISH, thank them. Especially in the House, ask your Rep to go further and advocate for the bills to House leadership, as well. It’s not enough for them to co-sponsor these proposals. They will not move ahead without your Rep’s advocacy!

Another thing you can do is to urge local elected School Committee, Select Boards/City Councils, and public college campuses in your region to pass a resolution in support. More details on that HERE.

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Image credit: Image credit by Mary Ann Stewart: Senator Pat Jehlen in front of a MassBudget slide at the Cambridge Forum, Lesley University, January 29, 2019

View past issues of Senator Pat Jehlen’s excellent newsletter and sign up for it HERE.

Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents: Project Equity

Fair Share Amendment: S.D.1709 and H.D.3300 proposes a legislative amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution to provide resources for education and transportation through an additional 4% surtax on incomes in excess of one million dollars.

MassBudget Resources:

By Mary Ann Stewart, PDM Leadership Team