School Aid Called Uneven (MA)
September 3, 2010
While some local school officials are welcoming a pair of recent federal funding awards, several are contending that their districts were shortchanged.
The state announced funding allocations from the $250 million that Massachusetts is receiving as one of 10 grant recipients in the second round of the federal Race to the Top competition. The local grants will go to communities that agreed to participate in the program and to spend the funds on school reforms.
Separately, the state announced funding from $204 million Massachusetts was allotted through a new $10 billion federal Education Jobs Fund program, created through last month’s $26 billion jobs bill with the aim of keeping teachers and other school employees on the job.
Vocational and charter schools also received funding from both streams.
The state is using $54.6 million of the Education Jobs money it received to replace a portion of the federal stimulus funds previously allotted to supplement local school aid this fiscal year, which began July 1.
Another $143.6 million is being used to offset the 4 percent cut in most districts’ state aid.
“It certainly will be helpful,’’ said Lynn Superintendent Catherine Latham, whose district is receiving awards from both programs.
Latham said the city will receive a net of $3.9 million in new aid from the Education Jobs award, money that “will help us put some teachers back to work and allow us to reduce class sizes at the elementary levels.’’
She said the district plans a cautious approach in spending the money, however, since it hopes to use some of it to retain teachers who are currently being paid with federal stimulus funds that expire next year.
If districts have unspen t Education Jobs money at the end of this fiscal year, they can request to have those funds carried over into fiscal 2012 or the first quarter of fiscal 2013, according to state officials.
Latham said the $4.6 million the district will receive in Race to the Top money has to be spent over four years and in four specific areas, targeted at system reform and innovative approaches to teaching.
Every school district statewide will get a minimum aid increase of $25 per pupil over last fiscal year, taking into account its regular Chapter 70 aid, the federal Education Jobs allotment, and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, according to the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website.
Most districts will receive more fiscal 2011 state funding than was projected on June 30, and none will receive less, the state agency said, while 11 districts — including Everett, Revere, and Salem — would see no change because they already had been awarded sizeable increases in Chapter 70 aid that exceeded the $25 per pupil minimum for all districts.
While Revere received $1.7 million in Race to the Top funding, Superintendent Paul Dakin said his district and the other 10 were effectively not benefiting from the Education Jobs program since they were awarded only enough Education Jobs funding to replace the stabilization money they are losing.
Dakin said the 11 districts, all of which have a relatively high percentage of students from poor families, received the additional Chapter 70 money to bring them up to their minimum level of state spending. But in effect, “Three hundred other communities got a little shot in the arm and we got nothing,’’ he said.
Everett Superintendent Fred Foresteire said his district had hoped to rec eive another $600,000 to $800,000 in federal aid to restore jobs cut this year. Everett did receive $846,190 from Race to the Top.
J.C. Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the 11 communities did not receive more Education Jobs funding because “they received considerable increases in their Chapter 70 from last year.
“The majority of them are getting a $25 per pupil increase from the last fiscal year and there are some districts that are exceeding that,’’ including Everett, Revere, and Salem, he said.
Salem Superintendent William J. Cameron said he was “befuddled’’ that Salem “and some of the other communities were left out of the funding mix.’’ He said he thought the funding was to be allocated “following some established formula, not a judgment on who had gotten enough.’’
Salem was awarded $825,517 in Race to the Top funding.
Malden Superintendent Sidney Smith said he is pleased by his city’s allotment of Education Jobs money, which will mean a net of $1.8 million in new aid.
“We are tight in a couple of areas,’’ he said.
Malden also received $1.05 million in Race to the Top funds.
Beverly Superintendent Marie Galinski welcomed the $390,000 in net new aid her district will receive from the Education Jobs program.
“It will give us a little bit of a cushion, but certainly won’t replace what we are losing,’’ she said.
Galinski said the $360,000 the city is receiving from the Race to the Top program will likely be used to improve math instruction at the middle school.