FYI from BSF, 07.29.22

Summer Reading

As we shared in our analysis a few weeks ago, chronic absenteeism is up in schools in Boston and across Massachusetts. Read here for some more data visualizations and the perspective of educators working very hard to get kids in school buildings routinely again.

There are outliers. Some schools, like East Boston High School, actually improved attendance over the past few years, both in general and specifically for chronically absent students.

How? As usual, there is no magic solution: it takes time, systems, and staff. Here is an example from a network of community schools in California. Ties to and habits of schooling were dramatically disrupted; it is requiring years of effort by educators to reestablish them.

Early child education in Boston is going to get a funding boost, thanks to an updated formula that will require certain developments to pay for on site or offsite child care. Mayor Wu signed the executive order on Tuesday.

This brings funding, but does it raise enrollment? A lawsuit in New York City has temporarily halted budget cuts caused by enrollment decline.

In Boston, the decline in the child population may not result in less funding, but it may result in less schools. “I do think it’s going to be harder to maintain some of our smaller schools,” said Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang. “If the district wants to make sure there’s a quality guarantee for every school — a minimum amount of staffing to make sure all students have access to the same classes and opportunities — they will be looking for ways to do that more efficiently by consolidating or merging more schools.”