The Fight for Fully funded School
There is a grass roots effort by a coalition of community people, parents, teachers, and students to break the half stepping by State legislators regarding fully funded schools. This coalition is having a panel/discussion event on Tues. Nov. 13, 2018, 6 PM at Clark U. Jefferson 218.
In the 1990s Massachusetts schools were entirely dependent on poverty taxes for funding. This meant the poorer school districts would have inequalities based on race, class, handicap students, the needs of the new comers. These students did not get a good education and were at risk for what is now called the school to prison pipeline.
A law was passed, Chapter 70, which allocated to each school district money based on a formula of the cost of resources per each student. Each student today is allocated about $6,000 which is sent to the respective school districts. Each town could allocated additional money as it saw fit.
A special committee of the State legislature found that after 30 some years disparities have systemically become established in the allocations. For example a handicapped child real cost of her education is close to $15,000 which is much more than the $6000 now allocated.
The same systemic under funding can be found for low income students, recent immigrant students.
The underfunded school districts such as Brockton, Worcester, and Pittfield are not only poorer, but have majority minority student populations. These and other cities in Massachusetts are known as Gateway Cities as they are the first stop for many immigrant families.
A new legislative committee studied the issue and have come up with recommendations to remove the inequalities and disparities in school funding especially for the Gateway Cities of Massachusetts. Unfortunately the Democratic Party legislators, who make up about 90% of the lawmakers, have failed to adopt the recommendations.
Whether a grassroots coalition coalition can break the systemic racism and under funding of public school is yet to be seen. I attended a meeting with the chair of the State Representative education committee and I was not encouraged by what he essentially said to us, go slow and wait. The same words were said to us during the civil rights movement. Such words led to unrest and rebellion.
What will it take to get this supposedly Liberal Democratic Party legislation to act?
