Teachers Unions: MA Budget for Education Falls Short
Lily Bohlke – Commonwealth News Service
BOSTON — Educators and labor leaders in Massachusetts say the level of funding for education in Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed state budget falls short.
The Student Opportunity Act was passed in 2019 to allocate more state funding over seven years to school systems with many low-income students and English-language learners, but the Baker administration delayed the first year of implementation because of the pandemic.
Sondra Longo, a high school English teacher for Lawrence Public Schools, said the state should fully fund the first two years in fiscal year 2022 and that there’s no time to catch up, especially with all the support students are going to need after more than a year of online learning.
“We’re going to have to personalize the education because everyone’s been through the same trauma, but they’ve been through it in a different way,” Longo explained. “So I feel like the resources to do that, they’re absolutely essential.”
Longo argued low-income districts such as Lawrence have been dealing with the shortcomings of their budget for years, and leveling the playing field is long overdue.
Baker’s proposal also would reduce funding for community colleges, state universities and state scholarship aid.
If passed, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan would bring in federal dollars that Massachusetts could use to help fully fund the Student Opportunity Act.
Daniel Hernandez, instructional paraprofessional at Boland Elementary, and a parent in the Springfield Public Schools, another district with a large proportion of low-income households, said they desperately need funding from both the state and federal levels.
“As an educator, the division between the wealthy and underprivileged needs to end,” Hernandez asserted. “These children don’t get to pick and choose what community they live in; what their economic status is.”
Groups such as the American Federation of Teachers urged swift passage of the relief package, and asked residents to contact their legislators in support of fully funding the education needs of Massachusetts’ children.