MTA Today - Fall 2013

of the legislation submitted written testimony urging that the bills be voted out of committee.

Luc Schuster, deputy director of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, displayed slides showing that costs in some areas, such as special education and health insurance, have grown far faster than had been estimated when the funding formula was initiated. While wealthier districts have been able to shift or add to Chapter 70 funding, lower-income districts have often not had the resources to do so. This, Schuster said, ultimately leads to huge disparities between non-wealthy districts and wealthier ones.

Schuster said that while the state initially “made an important commitment” to the Foundation Budget, inflation, lower tax revenues and other factors over the last 20 years have eroded that commitment.

David Verdolino, assistant
superintendent for operations in
Medway and a member of the
Massachusetts Association of School
Business Officials, said technology,
energy and health insurance costs have
risen far faster than the average rate of
inflation. He called the current formula
“outdated and illogical” and reiterated
that financially struggling cities
and towns are “spending at exactly
foundation levels,” while wealthier
districts routinely spend 115 percent
to 120 percent above their foundation
budgets.

Titus DosRemedios, director of research and policy for Strategies for Children, testified that the review commission is vitally needed to deal with the state’s persistent achievement gap.

“We will not close this gap until we target more resources to early learning,” he said.

“We all want the same thing
for the Commonwealth that we do
for our own children — a bright
and prosperous future,” he said. But
he cited results of Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System
tests that showed that 43 percent of
Massachusetts third-graders scored
below “proficient” in reading this year.

He said that 68 percent of third-graders in Boston, 73 percent in Brockton and 87 percent in Holyoke don’t meet standards for reading.

Schuster cited gains in neuroscience research that point to the need for more emphasis on early childhood education. Despite these gains, he said, the Chapter 70 Foundation Budget “is virtually silent on how to fund and adequately address learning from preschool through grade three.” “We need to go where research tells us has the most impact — high-quality early education,” he said.

Neil Clarke, a Legislative and
Political Action Team Senate district
coordinator for the MTA and a retired
teacher from Lee, reminded the
committee how quickly the pace of
change has accelerated since education
reform put the funding formula into
effect. Today’s “top 10 in-demand jobs
didn’t exist in 2004,” Clarke said. “If
Facebook were a country, it would
be the third largest, behind China and
India,” he added.

Clarke said it took “38 years for radio to reach 350 million people, 13 years for television, and four for the Web.” And yet the Foundation Budget formula remains the same.

“We need to be resilient — not resistant to change,” he said, noting that Charles Darwin proved it’s “not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but those that are the most adaptable” to change.

Clarke then posed this question: “Isn’t it time now, after 20 years, to revive the Foundation Budget Review Commission and explore what changes

Updates will be posted on the MTA website, www.massteacher.org.

David Verdolino, assistant superintendent for operations in Medway and a member of the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, called the current formula “outdated and illogical.”

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