FYI from BSF, 05.21. 21
Give a child a book, or teach her to read?
Sounds philosophical, even biblical, but this question was at the center of an editorial this past week on the use of Boston’s +$400M in new federal funding for schools.
School leaders and communities have a big tension to unravel as they plan to use this one-time windfall. How much to invest to create value after the money is gone, versus how much to spend now to address the urgent needs of unfinished learning.
This tension is clear in two ideas in the editorial: building in-school libraries (offered by Superintendent Cassellius) and tutoring.
For a similar cost, you get two very different things.
Capital costs for libraries are pretty clear – you have to buy books, and you need to outfit a room with shelves, furniture, tracking systems, etc. Let’s call it $500,000.
The operating costs are significant. There is the obvious need for a librarian, with an average salary of over $100,000 and about $30,000 for benefits. But you also have to account for the loss of a classroom – in a typical BPS elementary school, that means 20 fewer students at about $6,000 per pupil passed along by the district. Altogether, it costs the school about a quarter of million dollars to run the library every year.
In an average BPS elementary school, you would have at least 12 classes; many have more. With a standard school day, that means about two library periods per week for each class.
So, what do you get? For about $1.25M over the next three years, each kid gets to visit a library for about 70 hours per year (and you keep paying for it after).
Now let’s take the case of tutoring, using the same elementary school example. An Americorps tutor costs a school or school district about $18,000. Throw in a coordinator or non-profit to help ($100,000/year), perhaps invest in training the tutors in reading remediation (like Orton-Gillingham) for about $3,000 each tutor.
So, what do you get? For about $1.25M over the next three years, a school could provide about 1,500 hours of reading tutoring per year (but it goes away after that).
Which is more valuable?
There can be arguments on both sides of this, but there shouldn’t be an argument about who should decide: principals, teachers, families, and students. This is not a policy position, it’s a practical solution. The people with the most information will make the best decisions. They know what their buildings, educators, and kids need.
It was encouraging that during the public commission meeting last week, BPS committed to at least 50% of the federal dollars being allocated to schools and school-based planning. It was confusing that the documents released publicly after the meeting were different, including the removal of the graph indicating this commitment to schools (see slide 8).
There is no shortage of good ideas on how to spend this once-in-a-generation funding opportunity.
But this money will only meet its intended purpose if those good ideas are centered in schools.
Reopening in Boston, MA, and Beyond
Monday morning’s official reopening of high school buildings in Boston and across Massachusetts was overshadowed by the news of significant rollbacks on COVID-19 restrictions. What does it mean for schools? Maskless sports and hangouts in quads, and some real outdoor graduations may be on the way.
A Chelsea high school girl’s story brings the challenges of the last 14 months into sober relief. Despite these struggles, an extra year for students doesn’t seem to be in the cards as school districts are reluctant to retain students; in Boston, grades - the only academic data reported this year for the district - won’t determine whether students are promoted or not. Further curious since grades are the lone metric used this year for Boston exam school admission, and continuation of that policy is up for debate.
Despite the interruption in data, the Boston Opportunity Agenda did release its annual report card.
Massachusetts school-reported cases of COVID-19 dropped again this week, even with almost a 10% increase in in-person attendance. Many schools are doing their part by serving as pop-up vaccination sites.
State budget and policy have an eye towards next year. More districts are considering virtual schools. Early education is getting a funding boost. Vocational education is seen as having a role in recovery. Schools with promising past trends, like New Bedford High School, look to get back on track.
Other Matters
With all of our partner schools with officially open buildings, we are excited to help them to recenter on what matters - the learning and growth of the children and educators.
After months of work with national experts, we have created a first-of-its-kind guide to give schools exactly what they need now: easy tools and resources they can put to use immediately for reopening and recovery. We are sharing it with some of our school partners today.
More to come next week...