The Wrecking Ball of Ed Reform
Montague Finance Committte member and Boston College professor Jeff Singleton has a rare combination of hands-on experience with school budgets and a historian's long view of governmental policy and budgets. I just today came across his two-part series "Ed Reform Creates a Wrecking Ball for Local Government" which ran in the Montague Reporter last month. It's a thoughtful take on state aid, Prop 2 1/2 override votes, and school budgets. Here's a key paragraph:Our legislators often seem to wonder why poorer school districts that received the most money under Education Reform are now complaining the loudest. But it is precisely because the poorer districts are the ones that received the most aid under Education Reform that they are now the most dependent on state aid, and thus are hurt the most when state aid increases do not match their fixed cost increases. They also tend to be the school districts in localities least likely to pick up the deficit by raising property taxes via overrides. The resulting perennial budget battles and school closings cause many parents to pull their kids out and send them to more affluent districts. Resulting school choice and charter school losses exacerbate fiscal problems, and lead to lower MCAS scores. This dynamic creates a downward spiral affecting the poorest districts the most.