Former City Councilor John Connolly is back in the Boston spotlight, with a new parenting group he says will help cut through an impenetrable BPS system that makes it difficult for parents to figure out why things happen the way they do and help them figure out what to do about it.
SchoolFacts Boston touts that it will have an advisory board made up of parents from numerous Boston neighborhoods, reflecting the racial and ethnic makeup of Boston, and that it will tackle issues spread across BPS, charter, religious and private schools. Its launch today was helped with a grant from the Barr Foundation
The group is not the first group to tackle education in Boston. Quality Education for Every Student has been active since 2012, and is a member of the the Boston Education Justice Alliance, whose members include both parents and educator unions.
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Comments
BPS schools are already largely for under-privileged kids
By Parkwayne
Mon, 03/18/2019 - 4:30pm
The funding mechanism gives more money to kids with learning disabilities, disadvantaged backgrounds, language challenges, etc... Most schools, even in a middle class neighborhood like Roslindale, have more poor students than middle class ones. You won't find many schools outside of the West Roxbury ones that aren't already getting (and needing) additional resources.
tl:dr that 50% cut off is both too arbitrary and likely not the big outlier you might think.
This is rich.
By Anonymous1
Mon, 03/18/2019 - 1:13pm
The charter school crowd is going to fix BPS for parents? How about stop sending your kids to schools that funnel money from the PUBLIC school system. With a grant from the Barr Foundation, no less.
But I guess Connolly's got to find something to do with his free time...
That's all well and good
By MattyC
Mon, 03/18/2019 - 9:33pm
That's all well and good until its your kid who only has slots available in level 3 and 4 schools. Would you send your kid to a school the City deems mediocre? The good schools are only open to those lucky* enough to get access through the lottery. My choice, realistically, is a 1% chance (probably much less) at our preferred school, or private school this year and we'll try again with the lottery next year. To think for a second that I would put my child in a less than excellent school is just absolutely ludicrous and I count myself lucky that I can afford to make that decision. BPS gets my money either way.
*ymmv
Wrong
By Just a Guy
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 8:35am
The Level 3 and 4 things are meaningless. Some of the best schools in the system have those designations. It's based on MCAS scores which don't take into account a lot of things, both intangible and tangible like English-language learners at a school. If there's one thing people can take from this comment thread, it's do not base where you send your child on those at all. Go look at the schools and talk to the parents there now.
Your statement is a gross
By MattyC
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 12:56pm
Your statement is a gross oversimplification. Student growth, skill mastery, community engagement, and a number of other things go into the ranking system. Its there for you to read it. MCAS only feeds a small portion of that. We've toured a number of schools and we selected the one that we found sufficient. I found the rankings to line up with my experiences at the schools, generally speaking.
Still talking about MCAS
By Residente
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 1:39pm
Student growth and skill mastery are determined by MCAS scores. The levels are mostly determined by MCAS scores. Sure there are other factors, but MCAS is most of it.
Careful
By Residente
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 1:00pm
Matty C you seem well intentioned and maybe you just don't know how racially and economically coded those level three and four schools are. You see, when you say you would never send your child to a level three or four school you are also saying you would never send your child to a school that is mostly filled with children of color that live near or below the poverty line. Or maybe your children are children of color and live at or near the poverty line, but you don't want them mixing with those other children at the level three and four schools. Or maybe I've got you totally wrong and I apologize if I do, but the sad thing is (and this is also why things will probably never change, it's been this way forever) that most people agree with you. Most people wouldn't send their kids there either and don't care enough about other people's children to really do anything about it.
By the way, there will always be level 3 and 4 schools, just like there will always be a last place team in baseball. It's based on percentages and only a certain number of schools can be in the top percentages or the 1 or 2 category. They are state-wide categories and so actually level 3 and 4 schools in MA are still some of the best public schools in the country because MA has the best public schools in the country. These schools would be in level 1 or 2 in the nation, but everything is local and relative it is of little comfort to you if you live in Boston. Just remember that the schools with the most children that are learning English, the most students with disabilities, the most students in poverty, and the most students of color (because it is America after all) will always be in the lowest categories unless there is a "tracked" or "selective" school like some charter schools or exam schools (obviously, students in those categories can do well in school and do so all of the time). Anyway, that's enough ranting for now.
Fake news
By Stevil
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 12:55pm
Show me in the budget how charter school funding has funneled money away from BPS. Funneling money away from other things perhaps, but it has actually resulted in exorbitant increases in per capita funding to BPS.
You know better
By Residente
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 2:02pm
You know there is nothing in the budget that says "see this 200 million - it came from our public schools." Budgets are opaque by design. They are never transparent. But the city has at least 200 million less to spend on schooling because the state has not reimbursed the money that charter's have taken away.
Yes, the city continues to spend more on the public schools every year, but it's 200 million less than they could spend if the charters hadn't taken it or if the state reimbursed it. But you don't really care nor can you be convinced otherwise.
More fake news
By Stevil
Tue, 03/19/2019 - 2:45pm
The BPS budget has been determined for at least the past 20 years by a) making next year's budget a little bit bigger than last year's b) provided that it falls between 33% and 35% of the budget (raises the least eyebrows politically). Given that the budget goes up by more than the cost of inflation every year and the school system shrinks by 1-2.5% - there has NEVER been a year where BPS lost funding even after adjusting for inflation, student population or any other factor. BPS currently rivals the most exclusive communities in the state for per capita funding (I believe this is part of why state funding to Boston has been cut - but not an expert on state funding rules)
There is indeed a separate line item - for just shy of $200 million for charter tuitions. Had charters never been invented, you can rest assured that BPS funding would still be around 35% +/- of the budget and per capita funding would be far lower. And that 65% of that $200 million could be spent elsewhere (possibly not wisely or on incremental services). Only about $70 million would have been used to educate the 9000 or so students that migrate back to BPS.
Pretty easy to draw 2 conclusions - charters have not cost BPS a dime (and in fact have allowed them to massively increase per pupil spending) and b) if there were no charters BPS would be far poorer because 65% of the $200 million now spent on charters would have been funneled to other needs - parks (many of which are almost entirely privately funded), technology (as recently as last year I saw city financial employees working on green DOS screens), and infrastructure (lights, roads, recycling and who knows what else).
I don't need to be convinced otherwise. I understand how the process works and I know how to analyze the data.
“Two decades ago, state
By cinnamngrl
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 1:27pm
“Two decades ago, state educational aid covered almost a third of Boston’s school expenses,†writes Globe reporter James Vaznis. Today, “city officials anticipate that in just a few years every penny from the state will instead go toward charter-school costs of Boston students. Boston is slated to receive $220 million in state education aid; about $167 million will cover charter-school tuition for 10,000 students, leaving a little more than $50 million for the 55,000 students in the city school system.â€
https://www.salon.com/2019/02/08/charter-schools-a...
Two decades ago, Boston wasn't a wealthy city
By Stevil
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 11:09pm
Now it's just about the wealthiest city in the country. We can self fund the schools. Send the aid to places that need it a lot more than us - Lynn, Fall River, Springfield, New Bedford and more.
stop reading Vaznis. He gets press releases from the city and reproduces them for publication in the Globe. Offered long ago to speak to him. Phone never rang. He only reports one side, and that side has a financially driven agenda.
solution
By Erin Cashen
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 11:03am
Here's an idea----kids should just be able to go to their neighborhood schools!!!! Have neighborhood friends. Walk to school with them, play with them, call for them.
There is plenty of diversity. Enough with the LOTTERY system!!!! Enough with the busing! Some of these poor kids getting home after 5pm!! How is this helping anyone? Parents and kids up late doing homework and then getting up to get to their buses to trek them across town at 5am!
Parents needs to focus on getting their kids schools in their own neighborhoods back up to par. Work with the city! FIGHT!!!! Join the parent councils, student site councils. Write letters and make phone calls! its hard but as parents, we owe it to our kids to make the schools close by us BETTER.
They shouldn't be on buses for hours, up super early and bed so late because they go to school 3 hours away. Come on, its common sense.
END THE LOTTERY. END BUSING.
Who is spending 3 hours on a bus?
By adamg
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 12:12pm
To get to a school in Boston?
And what do you do about neighborhoods that simply don't have enough classrooms?
And do you realize that BPS is legally obligated to provide busing for non-BPS schools? And for kids with special needs? That sort of busing wouldn't go away.
everything in ALL CAPS is exaggerated beyond reason.
By cinnamngrl
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 12:55pm
Reducing the need for school buses by assigning children to the closest school does have a lot of merit. Transportation is expensive. It seems even more expensive when despite paying for buses with my tax dollars, 90% of K-8 kids are driven to school during my neighborhood into a parking lot every week day morning.
Have you tried to get home
By EEC1023
Thu, 03/21/2019 - 2:38pm
Have you tried to get home from, let's sat East Boston in rush hour? You think it's just 20 minutes? What about the kids in Metco? They get bused to schools in Weston, Needham etc? They get home well past 4pm.
Im not talking about ending school buses---but ending busing. To schools outside of walking distance of the child's home. The lottery system is terrible. Its a nightmare for parents and a crap shoot. Why should I have to pick 3 schools for my kid to get into when he lives 1/4 of a mile from 1 of them? It's ridiculous.
Neighborhoods that don't have enough classrooms? Well then we put our heads together. Look at options. Look at expansions, buildings in the area. What can be utilized as classrooms in the building? What parents are willing to step up to the plate and fight for what their kids need/deserve?
Translation
By anon
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 1:48pm
DON'T MAKE MY KIDS GO TO SCHOOL WITH NONWHITE KIDS!
Translation-You're just an
By EEC1023
Thu, 03/21/2019 - 2:39pm
Translation-You're just an ass
Barr Foundation wants to help BPS parents? Beware!
By Shirleykressel
Wed, 03/20/2019 - 8:36pm
What (rather, who) is the Barr Foundation, and what is this really about? The Barr Foundation is Amos Hostetter, Cablevision mogul and mega-philanthropist/policy-driver for city services. His money has elevated his acolytes and protégés to public "service" (I use that term loosely), and has given him enormous power in the public arena. Talk about a seat at the table! Amos Hostetter IS the table. Boston Magazine published an excellent article about this unelected mayor of Boston at https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2016/01/31/bar...
Amos Barr Hostetter (hiding modestly behind his middle name) is a major charter school supporter.
John Connolly is a well-qualified "smiley face" front for Hostetter's plan to control and privatize public education via charterization. His mayoral campaign was chosen for backing, to the tune of $500,000, by the discredited and traitorous Stand for Children, a parent group that was hijacked and turned into a charter lobby (https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/for-or-...). When that intended contribution became public (https://www.wbur.org/news/2013/08/21/connolly-reje...), he knew enough to vociferously refuse their money. He hoped to bury the political controversy, but the exposé revealed his true colors. Since his electoral defeat, he has been assisting "turnaround" (read: charterized) schools in Lawrence (https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/connoll...) and Salem (https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/06/year-...).
Now, this story indicates, he's got a grant (although he's disguised inconspicuously, on the website, as just one of the board members) to run SchoolFacts Boston (https://schoolfactsboston.org), a new organization purporting to be
"Creating schools and school systems that create opportunity for all of Boston's children"? Not exactly just helping confused parents with the BPS school sign-up process, as adamg's headline implies. More like a shadow School Committee, appointed by a multi-billionaire scheming to replace BPS with BPS, Inc.
The home page says:
But nowhere on the website is there mention of the Barr Foundation, which founded and funds the organization. Of course, that would impede their ability to lure in earnest parents, teachers, and education advocates, who must be groomed as the grass-roots front for the group.
Stevil, rest easy! SchoolFacts Boston is an organization created not to take public money to throw at the problem, but to put private money to use in expanding the charter market in this city (the public money grab comes later, by others).
And you, a vocal advocate of charters, express agreement with that goal:
But it's not a "dropout" rate. It's a "throw-out" rate. The results speak exactly for that: charters throw out (or push or drive or coerce or threaten or intimidate or whatever you want to call it) students who threaten their stellar aggregate test scores, and thus their fat contracts (and the hedge fund investors behind them). That's why they appear to provide a better education -- they can start with a hundred kids (chosen from a group of already screened and self-selected applicants) and every year eject the bottom-scoring layer; then they boast high scores, and high graduation rates for the couple of dozen students who make it till then; the more grades in a charter, the fewer survive the winnowing process. (http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/10/more-abo...)
If the BPS schools could choose their students, they'd look much better-performing, too. As Mayor Tom Menino said, back when he still told the truth about charters (before Obama paid the states to charterize), “In Boston Public Schools, we take every kid. We don’t discriminate. We take special education, we take English-language learners,†he said. “Some other schools? ‘Oh, no. We don’t want those kids.’ They dump those kids into the Boston Public Schools. They want 100 percent graduation rates.†Yes, the "dropout" rates sure are a legit beef.
And even with the advantage of a cherry-picked student body, charters don't do well. Just one example: A charter-advocating Boston Foundation report, "Stand and Deliver: Effects of Boston’s Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice" (http://economics.mit.edu/files/9799) states:
See the website of the National Education Policy Center (https://nepc.colorado.edu) if you really want fact-based information on charter quality nationwide.
And two excellent blogs: https://dianeravitch.net and https://haveyouheardblog.com and
Beware the Trojan Horse called SchoolFacts Boston! It is here to begin the undoing of the popular vote against Question 2, which would have allowed unfettered proliferation of charter schools. (https://www.wbur.org/edify/2016/11/08/charter-scho...)
I'm assuming our excellent Boston public school citizen watchdogs are on it!
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