How Gloucester is hurt by the State Funding Formula

If you want more information about how Gloucester is affected by state funding formula's, you might find the following message from Carolyn Kirk of the Gloucester School Committee informative . . .

"I have compiled a few examples which illustrate just how fairly Gloucester is being treated in the state distribution formula. Please pass along.

Hope to see you all on Weds. [at the "polite protest" for school funding reform during the Governor's visit at 2:15pm at the Cruiseport, Elliot's Wharf]. . .

Carolyn Kirk

• Gloucester has not been brought back to previous funding levels. We are still reeling from the 2002 cut in local aid. We do not understand how new spending can be justified when Gloucester is still making cuts in education with no hope in sight of bringing back what’s been lost such as funding for athletics, k – 8 librarians, and reasonable class sizes.

• There is a house for sale in Gloucester for $8 million dollars. Our largest elementary school has 52% of its students on free and reduced lunch. Because of the weight given to property value in the formula, Gloucester is treated as a wealthy suburb. We are not. We cannot provide adequate resources to our most needy children such as tutoring services, after school programs, reasonable class size.

• The education foundation budget assumes that we have about 3.8% of our students in need of Special Education services. In reality, we have over 20% in need of special education. There are almost 500 special education children unaccounted for in the foundation budget. That translates into a short fall of almost $3.9 million dollars.

• Gloucester spends money on the Massachusetts State Lottery like the working class city that it is. Last year we spent over $20million on the Lottery. We received back about 10% which is far below the average that other communities get back. The average sent back to cities and towns is 20% of their Lottery spending.

• The foundation budget suggests that we spend $172,000 dollars on nurses and health services. In reality we spend $450,000 dollars. At the middle school, the nurses office is run like a medical clinic while at the same time we try to get hundreds of uninsured children on MassHealth each year.

• The ruling in the Hancock case said that education funding is adequate. The ruling also admitted that the funding is inequitable but the judge said it was up to the legislature to make it right. They have not made it right for Gloucester. Last year’s legislative reform on Chapter 70 was to bring the state’s contribution to foundation budget up to 17% over the next five years. Gloucester is at 16%. Wealthy communities such as Weston and Wellesley saw big jumps in their Chapter 70 money because they were further below the 17%.

• Communities with greater access to wealth through their incomes receive extraordinarily greater amounts of Chapter 70 money: Franklin receives 52% of its foundation budget from the state, Dracut receives 48%. Dracut is a town about the size of Gloucester, has about the same number of children in its school system, and has a higher median income. Their Free and Reduced lunch population is 10% whereas Gloucester’s is 26%. Dracut receives $15million in education aid from the state. Gloucester receives less than $6million. How is that fair?

• Gloucester is and was an old, built-out city back when Prop 2 1/2 was enacted. Communities such as Marlborough which was farm land and located around Route 495 have been able to prosper. They have almost $30million more in their tax base to draw from. Gloucester yields $1.2 million off the tax levy. Health insurance alone and just for the school employees is rising $1million this year. This along with other increases skyrocketing on fixed costs means drastic cuts in services, school closures and high class size.

• Because of our proximity to wealthy suburbs such as Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Hamilton / Wenham, we experience one of the highest losses of students to school choice in the state. This is a trend experienced by other working class cities that are situated near wealthier towns such as Holyoke, Fitchburg, and Greenfield. This year we lost $1.2 million in school choice. Every year at budget time when our appropriation is less than the increase in our expenses, we make cuts to programs and services and we scare more families away."