FYI from BSF, 02.05.21
Some things we have read through recently...
Rocks and Sand
You can’t do everything.
In budgets, plans, and just plain life there are trade-offs.
Imagine you have a glass to fill. In one hand, you have several large rocks. In the other, you hold some sand.
You start with the sand. The sand is the small stuff - going out to eat (or really anywhere, in the before times), sending emails, tasks, little initiatives. Go too far with sand, you suddenly run out of room in the glass. You left no room for the big stuff - buying a house, managing your time, big strategies.
OK, you start with the rocks instead. Big, worthy, audacious goals. But go too far with the rocks, and you have no room for anything else. And you probably break the glass.
Truly great budgets, plans, and lives have room for rocks and sand. They are started by filling the glass with the most important rocks, and then finding the spaces in between to fill with sand. There is room for big things and little things.
Boston Public Schools has a $1.3B glass to consider for next year. The process is long and requires a lot of attention to detail (don’t worry, we summarized it for you if you follow our Medium series). The process officially kicked off at Wednesday’s Boston School Committee meeting, with troves of spreadsheets and decks. There was more at the meeting (as always, check out the Shah Foundation podcast for their summary); the next meeting will feature a new School Committee member.
As we wait and watch for this budget to unfold, before the most consequential school-year of this generation, we want to start with the two biggest rocks of any budget: revenue and expenses.
Revenue
Revenue often doesn’t get a ton of attention in a typical budget year. Sure, there are annual pronouncements of the “largest budget ever,” but for all intents and purposes Boston Public Schools is a city department - the city just gives it money. Typically, a small percentage of BPS dollars come from the state or federal government (last year ~11%).
But not this coming year. The rollout of the Student Opportunity Act and two rounds of federal stimulus in the past 8 months means there are more dollars to consider. The second federal round (“ESSER, Part II”) alone will bring in $123M for BPS. And maybe more to come.
The presentation Wednesday night (pages 13, 19, and 22) describes the use of those federal funds.
What about the other ~$78M?
States and districts have the option of spreading out their dollars into future fiscal years and avoid potential funding "cliffs," and that apparently is the plan here.
These constitute very big choices by BPS. BPS is choosing how much to invest in federal dollars in recovery next year, dollars to confront the academic and socioemotional toll of the pandemic on children, families, and educators.
As currently presented, BPS is choosing to hold back about $40,000 from each of their classrooms next year.
What is the strategy? Is recovery a real priority (“rock”) next year?
Expenses
There are a lot of different ways to first look at the expense side of a school budget, but enrollment is typically where we start; we should want to spend our money on kids. This is particularly true in the case of BPS, as it uses a weighted student formula (WSF) to determine school-based budgets.
But what does weighted student funding actually mean for students? More on that next week.
In the presentation, there was a lot more attention paid to personnel, counselors, and family liaisons in particular (page 3). Worth noting this was planned from last year, long before this capacity was needed for COVID-19 recovery next year.
Aside from that, one of the largest line items called out the budget presentation was “support for schools” at $18.5M. What is support for schools?
Shorter: it is empty seats. Many BPS schools are currently under enrolled.
Let’s imagine an average BPS elementary school classroom of 20 students. Let’s further imagine that the classroom lost a student, equaling a 5% decrease in enrollment (exactly what BPS lost this year). You still have to pay the teacher. You still have to pay utilities. You still need to clean buildings (more now, actually). You still need the same number of buses. Etc. But the classroom has less funding allocated to it. Something has to make up the difference. This creates pressure on programs.
This lengthy memo outlines the tens of millions of dollars it will take just to make schools whole next year. Will that be true just this year?
There is very little wiggle room for error here, and real risks.
Despite a historical enrollment drop and open discussion of this in the school committee meeting, the actual BPS budget projects an increase in enrollment.
The BPS dashboard slows a slight increase in enrollment from October, currently at 51,212 active students. The BPS budget assumes 51,642.
Because the budget does not account for actual enrollment (it is based off of an older, higher projection), BPS is stating a decrease and increase at the same time. Yes, read that again, this budget is reporting a decrease and an increase at the same time.
What the fall will bring is up for debate. Getting this wrong could break the glass.
Reopening in Boston, MA, and Beyond
More high-need students returned to BPS on Thursday (slightly delayed due to snow), with more students potentially coming back soon.
There are still building issues being raised.
Despite all these efforts, it is unclear whether high school students will be happy about it - a recent Gallup poll has many interesting findings, including high schoolers’ distaste for hybrid instruction. Also unclear how equitable school building returns will be, given national and local trends amongst Black families.
With Mayor Walsh completing yesterday's confirmation hearing, all signs point to reopening and other education issues will be left to others to solve.
The state reported 894 school-related COVID-19 cases, slightly down from previous weeks. If you want more information directly from the source, you can always sign up for the state's weekly newsletter.
Early signals in higher education yielded another equity emergency - Black and Latino enrollment in MA community colleges dropped by one-third.
If anything, vaccination has made the political debate around schools more complicated. While Biden-appointed experts are advocating for schools to reopen, some teachers are requesting vaccines earlier. It is even more contentious in places in Chicago and San Francisco. Even in the White House briefing room. Not as much in Revere.
In any case, Biden’s 100-day promise suddenly seems to be on less sure footing.
Other Matters
There are many places to learn and celebrate during Black History Month — or year-round — and this PBS hub offers a robust place to start for adults and kids.
Public meeting enthusiasts can watch the entire confirmation hearing for nominated Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona here or settle for a summary.
