The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Recommended FY20 Budget Priorities

To:

Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

From:

Katherine Craven, Chair, Board Budget Committee

Date:

October 30, 2018

The Board Budget Committee met twice over the past two months to discuss priority areas of focus for the Board's FY20 state budget request. This discussion recognized the fiscal reality that all executive branch agencies face in working to produce a budget plan for the next fiscal year. As such, the Committee focused its attention on a few key areas to close achievement gaps and further the advancement of all students in our public education system.

In FY19, 13.3 percent of the total annual state operating budget is allocated for elementary and secondary education. Almost all of that is local education aid that flows to cities, towns, and regional school districts. In fact, within ESE's annual state fund allocation, 98.8 percent of our funding is either district entitlement or reimbursement or a grant program. As in the past, the Committee recognizes the need to advocate for levels of local education aid needed to promote and sustain high quality public schools.

Education Aid Accounts

The Committee recommends the Department's education aid accounts be funded at the highest level possible based on available revenues for FY20. The major focus for increase should be the Chapter 70 — Education Aid and Special Education Circuit Breaker and Charter School Reimbursement accounts.

The Committee recommends that any additional funding made available in Chapter70 after the state's contribution to foundation aid is met, be directed to districts with identified achievement gaps in student learning to support reforms that have evidence of narrowing achievement gaps. The Committee recommends the Commissioner work with the Secretary to review other Chapter 70 increase factors including formula equity reform, minimum aid, and recommendations from the Foundation Budget Review Commission. The formula should address ways to help Holyoke and other districts that are close to the net school spending requirements on an annual basis.

The Committee also recommends that funding for the Special Education Circuit Breaker account be at a level to fund as close to the maximum 75% reimbursement level as state revenue permits. This increase would acknowledge the increasing pressure of high-cost special education services that are funded in our districts.

Targeted Assistance — Achievement Gap Mitigation Account

The Committee recommends that the Board thank the Governor and Legislature for the $5 million supplemental budget added to the 7061-9408 Targeted Assistance account and request another $5 million increase in FY20, given the Governor's original request of $10 million per year for 3 years. The account would be used to support best practices that promote student growth and achievement in districts that are lagging and where investment can be leveraged with local and third party resources to close achievement gaps.

The account would focus on targeted assistance to improve student learning, though initiatives that include:

Early Literacy Programming;
Curriculum & Instruction Initiatives, including arts, humanities, history & social studies;
Time & Learning Initiatives, including summer, extended day, and afterschool instructional time.

Next-Generation Assessment

The Committee recommends that the third school year of the Commonwealth's new assessment program be funded at a level to support the direction approved by the Board in November 2015, including the $1 million expansion for Curriculum & Instruction implementation and assessment, for History & Social Studies. Funding would include the continued development of the English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science assessments in grades 3-8, as well as the development of the new grade 10 test to be first delivered to the class of 2021 in the spring of 2019.

The Committee also recommends new grant funding in FY20 for academic support. The grants would be awarded to districts to support students in the classes of 2023 and beyond who have performed below the competency determination standard in the MCAS subjects required for graduation.

Civics Education

The Committee recommends that the Board express its appreciation for the $7.5 million funding support by the Governor and Legislature for implementation of Civics Education and the LOOK Act, and recommend the continuation of funding in FY20.

Interagency Resource Coordination

The Committee recommends that the Department work with the Secretary's office and other MA executive branch agencies, through interagency agreements and intergovernmental service fund transfers, to address students' non-academic educational needs. The increased coordination of the Education secretariat with Health & Human Services and Housing secretariats could identify additional resources that could be coordinated to assist students and families with services designed to improve a student's ability to be successful in the classroom on a daily basis. For example, resources within Executive Office of Health & Human Services agencies could provide critical social, emotional, and health supports to improve students' learning ability.

STEM Learning Initiative

The Committee supports the Department in requesting $1.4 million of new funding that would support STEM ambassadors in school districts. The Department has been relying on Title I and other federal dollars to support the state's STEM initiatives. Because federal funding is subject to budget cuts, the Department needs a dedicated state funding stream to support STEM education.

Educator Licensure

The Committee is in support of the Department's request to raise educator license fees for the first time since 1998. The additional revenue will be used to improve customer service in the Licensure Office, improve the ELAR system, and strengthen the Office of Professional Practice Investigations to conduct more timely investigation and protect students from educator malfeasance. If the fee increase is approved, the Committee recommends that the Department's Retained Revenue account be increased to include the additional revenue.

The Committee looks forward to discussing these recommended priorities with the Board at the October 30 meeting.