"Report finds state vastly underfunds schools" (Worcester: section 8, 2015)

[massnative71]

Report finds state vastly underfunds schools - News - telegram.com - Worcester, MA

Considering the state's wealth and high level of taxation, I find this a disgrace. For the state; the main priorities need to be education, roads and local public safety (the essential bread and butter services). Over the years, Massachusetts has shifted away from those and towards entitlement programs and increasing administrative staff. The divide grew especially worse during the Patrick administration, and I believe he was our worst governor in modern history. Baker seems to be on the right track, but it will take years to turn the state around again.

What do you think? Agree, disagree...?

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Report finds state vastly underfunds schools - News - telegram.com - Worcester, MA

Considering the state's wealth and high level of taxation, I find this a disgrace. For the state; the main priorities need to be education, roads and local public safety (the essential bread and butter services). Over the years, Massachusetts has shifted away from those and towards entitlement programs and increasing administrative staff. The divide grew especially worse during the Patrick administration, and I believe he was our worst governor in modern history. Baker seems to be on the right track, but it will take years to turn the state around again.

What do you think? Agree, disagree...?

Agree! I believe Massachusetts is not living up to its reputation right now. Most people from other states who move to Massachusetts aren't aware of the reality and furthermore I assert that there are school districts in other states that are as good as the much ballyhooed Massachusetts reputation.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Considering the state's wealth and high level of taxation

Massachusetts has a reputation for a high level of taxation, but the Commonwealth is not even in the first quintile.

Originally Posted by massnative71

For the state; the main priorities need to be education, roads and local public safety (the essential bread and butter services).

Those are all really high priorities, but we raise things like education and roads up as high priorities because the higher priorities are so high that they seem to not need to be voiced, but yet they still represent cost. Education and transportation, at least, are actually secondary priorities, which stand on a firm foundation in the lives of residents of the Commonwealth built by the primary priorities, safety, shelter, health, nutrition, clothing.

Administrative costs surely need to be scrutinized closely and consistently. Each one needs to be justified. Elements of enforcement need to be justified based on the costs that would likely be incurred by transgression in the absence of enforcement. Elements of accountability need to be justified based on the costs that would likely be incurred by corruption or inefficiency in the absence of accountability. And so on.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by bUU

Massachusetts has a reputation for a high level of taxation, but the Commonwealth is not even in the first quintile.

Yep. Massachusetts is more or less 25th out of the 50 states for tax burden. Other than New Hampshire, Massachusetts is the low tax state of the northeast and you have to go as far as Deleware to find a lower one. The state constitution requires a flat income tax. When you have a tax everybody must pay, there is enormous backlash if you raise it.

The article referenced unfunded special education mandates. This is what is tearing apart public schools in Massachusetts. A relatively small minority of students is chewing up the majority of the money. If you have a finite pool of money, it kind of makes sense to make sure you carve out a good chunk of it for the part of the population that will most benefit society by receiving a strong education. You should spend as much on the top half as the bottom half. In our "every child receives a trophy" culture, this doesn't happen.

I think there needs to be a completely different pool of money independent of all this to address failed school systems in high poverty rate places. Those schools really need a 48 week school year and 8+ hour school day. They need the children who want to learn separated from those who don't; probably in different buildings. The only way we're going to break the cycle of a permanent underclass is to properly educate the children born to it. I hate to cite the French but they start pre-school at age 3 for their problem population. I'd much rather spend my tax money breaking the cycle than propping up people later when they're adults with no meaningful education and no 21st century job skills. Public school targeted at fixing the problem is much cheaper than jails, Medicaid, EBT cards, Section 8 housing, TANF, .....

[GeoffD]

I'd also point out that health care consumes almost half the Massachusetts state budget. Medicaid is about 1/3 of the budget. It's tough to do much about schools and infrastructure when you have that 800 pound gorilla kicking around.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. Massachusetts is more or less 25th out of the 50 states for tax burden. Other than New Hampshire, Massachusetts is the low tax state of the northeast and you have to go as far as Deleware to find a lower one. The state constitution requires a flat income tax. When you have a tax everybody must pay, there is enormous backlash if you raise it.

The article referenced unfunded special education mandates. This is what is tearing apart public schools in Massachusetts. A relatively small minority of students is chewing up the majority of the money. If you have a finite pool of money, it kind of makes sense to make sure you carve out a good chunk of it for the part of the population that will most benefit society by receiving a strong education. You should spend as much on the top half as the bottom half. In our "every child receives a trophy" culture, this doesn't happen.

I think there needs to be a completely different pool of money independent of all this to address failed school systems in high poverty rate places. Those schools really need a 48 week school year and 8+ hour school day. They need the children who want to learn separated from those who don't; probably in different buildings. The only way we're going to break the cycle of a permanent underclass is to properly educate the children born to it. I hate to cite the French but they start pre-school at age 3 for their problem population. I'd much rather spend my tax money breaking the cycle than propping up people later when they're adults with no meaningful education and no 21st century job skills. Public school targeted at fixing the problem is much cheaper than jails, Medicaid, EBT cards, Section 8 housing, TANF, .....

Great post

[Cape Cod Todd]

Deval Patrick was the public assistance scammers best friend. Mass had scandal after scandal of EBT fraud and he refused to do anything about it. Something as simple as putting a persons photo on the EBT card to verify that the person using it was the person it was issued to was shot down by him citing that there is no need to shame the bearer anymore than she already is. ?? The trouble is there are many people who sell their cards for drugs and others have more than one card and all this fraud sucks on the system and takes money from other programs.

On the flip side I have 2 relatives that work in the school systems and they report huge waste. The admins get huge salaries and demand expensive things for the schools citing "it is for the children". One works in a near brand new school built for millions and the kids and parents are being hard on it but the people in charge won't put their foot down and stop the abuses. It is like they are afraid to discipline the kids.

Another favorite thing in this area is the practise of tearing down older schools and building huge ones. One town had a vote 3 times and each time the public shot down the new school plan. If they took care of what they had they wouldn't need to replace it.

Another problem is that teachers are becoming more like baby sitters. There are so many kids with learning problems like ADD that the teacher needs to cater to them. Also poverty is a big problem and the schools are picking up the cost of feeding these kids, in some cases 2 or even 3 meals a day.

When will it all end?

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

Another favorite thing in this area is the practise of tearing down older schools and building huge ones. One town had a vote 3 times and each time the public shot down the new school plan. If they took care of what they had they wouldn't need to replace it.

This just isn't true. There are needs for IT and other infrastructure that just weren't needed decades ago, and it is very often cheaper to build a new building than complete retrofits of existing structures.

[johngolf]

During my years in MA I believed the school system was very good in handling children that were top level bright and those that had disabilities but that came at the expense of those in between the two.

[miu]

The cost of public education is rising everywhere. We need to trim the fat in the school budgets and make the systems more efficient. More money thrown at our schools is not the answer. I also think that parents need to participate more in the learning process. Every parent should either volunteer a few hours a month at their children's schools per child enrolled. Too many families are treating schools like free childcare.