Baltimore City Schools are facing an epic budget shortfall and, without intervention, the impact will be severe and harmful to students across the city.
What teachers have heard is that Dr. Santelises is focused on long-term fixes for our system's budget crisis, not the Band-Aid approaches she says have been part of the budget-fixing before. To cover the $130 million budget shortfall, $10-12 million will come from cuts at North Avenue; $30-40 million will come from furlough days and salary freezes; and $80-90 million will come from school level cuts in salary and programs. This means that more than 1000 salaries will be cut at the school level.
Teachers are bracing for a heavy storm, and today we heard some of the details: massive cuts for our school and, from what we can tell, it's all around the system.
It shouldn't be like this.
Most teachers that I know are overwhelmed with the class sizes and student load already, so the task of helping all of our students succeed with huge cuts to staff and programs feels unfathomable.
How did we get here and who is to blame?
From all that I have read and have investigated, it turns out it's a little bit of everyone:
--- Baltimore City, which grants TIFs to big businesses to attract them to the city. These tax breaks increase our city's wealth but decrease our tax base, which, because of the state's funding formula, adversely impacts Baltimore City's funding. Baltimore City's wealth has increased faster than the rest of the state, but it's only wealth on paper; it's not wealth for our students or for the tax base, because of all these tax breaks. This is one reason why the current Under Armour deal has been met with such controversy and scrutiny -- because the current formula for state funding of schools is based upon tax base, so Baltimore City Schools are unfairly harmed since it's only artificial wealth, not actual wealth (and this is clearly a multidimensional issue, as TIFs helped big employers, like Amazon and Target, come into the city, and those employers help keep people in the city... but this absolutely CANNOT be on the backs of the kids, and clearly we cannot trust the formula-makers to adjust accordingly);
-- Larry Hogan, who knows about this unfair formula yet does not account for it in his flat funding of Baltimore City Schools. He's done something, though with no urgency: he's asked University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan to head a commission -- "The Kirwan Commission" -- to "re-examine the education aid formula crafted by the Thornton Commission from 1999-2002." The report is expected to be published in Dec. 2017, and, presumably, would recognize the difference between actual wealth and wealth-on-paper, and account for the huge pockets of desperate poverty that so many of our students have to survive. However, Hogan should be accounting for the common sense problems of the current funding formula and closing the budget gap through state funds;
-- Baltimore City, which charges taxes at a rate double the surrounding counties, so that citizens move away, which causes a shrinking enrollment of Baltimore City Public Schools. Baltimore City has lost 1900 students, students that remained on roll until investigations discovered them -- that, of course, is the fault of Baltimore City Public Schools, which has suffered poor record-keeping and a lack of oversight over the years (often, over the years, the Education Reporters for The Baltimore Sun have discussed the school system not following laws of transparency... it does seem as if the current administration has shifted this policy, however);
-- Mayor Catherine Pugh, who has the power to shift budgetary numbers from last year's budget (Police: $481 million; City Schools: $265 million; Fire: $250 million; Employee Retirement Contribution: $208 million; Transportation: $200 million; Health: $137 million; Debt services: $105 million) but so far has remained silent on this issue, which could find the system laying off over 1000 teachers in her city. Her silence, as mayor during this crisis, has been deafening and disappointing thus far, but there's still time;
-- Maryland, which not only has an unfair formula for funding schools, but has not adjusted for inflation between 2012 and 2016, which would have provided $150 million more in revenue (and an elimination of the deficit).
There are a more factors, too -- the promise of "casino revenue," which misled many voters into approving with the promise of additional school funding, but about which the legislators wrote bad law that actually didn't guarantee any additional school funding, for example -- but all of it created a perfect storm to decimate BCPSS's budget. It's maddening because there is no silver bullet, no quick fix. I think Dr. Santelises knows this, and she certainly inherited a mess.
Teachers have had an unhappy new year. Amidst national news of the Betsy DeVos confirmation, the articles in the Sun about the budget shortfall have been coupled with somber faculty meetings where we are hear more specific details about the massive cuts -- a significant reduction in staff. The impact on students will be heavy and harmful - in programs and classes, in class sizes and in the wealth of talent, expertise, and experience that our students will be robbed of.
I've been a teacher for 16 years in the Baltimore City Public Schools, and, sadly, this isn't new for me. During my 3rd year of teaching, in 2003-2004, some good friends of mine were laid off the week before Christmas in sweeping layoffs of nearly 1000 employees. Myself, and many early-career teachers, lived in fear for months that we would receive a pink slip instead of a paycheck. During that crisis, the teachers voted against giving themselves an 8-day furlough, effectively calling the bluff of the state and city. The move catalyzed then-mayor Martin O'Malley swooping in with a rainy-day fund for schools, and our jobs were saved. A decade later, we had another huge budget crunch. Cue more fear of layoffs, and some of my friends getting a pink slip -- although some were rehired after money and attrition opened up their slots again.
Just like then, Baltimore City should be outraged. We need to unite and fight for our city's youth.
Baltimore City Public Schools shouldn't have to be fighting over crumbs. Our students shouldn't have to survive on whatever bad politicians and mishandlers of budgets leave behind. They deserve a quality education; they deserve a fully-staffed school and the types of arts, sports, advanced studies, individual attention, and services as anyone other student.
So what do we do now?
(1) Attend the Community Budget Forum for your school;
(2) On Feb. 23, attend the massive action in Annapolis, as community members, students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders will gather on the Lawyers Mall in front of the State House to protest the cuts and plead for more funding;
(3) Stay informed. Talk about it. I hope there is action towards Mayor Pugh, who has been silent so far and who has power; O'Malley came in to save us in 2004, and we might need the same from our mayor this time through.
This news should make make everyone irate -- the disparity that it reveals, the manifestation of how bad policy and mismanagement is set to be corrected on the backs of Baltimore City's kids. Now is the time to fight. Baltimore, we need to be in this together, and politicians need to do their job.
Most teachers that I know are overwhelmed with the class sizes and student load already, so the task of helping all of our students succeed with huge cuts to staff and programs feels unfathomable.
How did we get here and who is to blame?
From all that I have read and have investigated, it turns out it's a little bit of everyone:
--- Baltimore City, which grants TIFs to big businesses to attract them to the city. These tax breaks increase our city's wealth but decrease our tax base, which, because of the state's funding formula, adversely impacts Baltimore City's funding. Baltimore City's wealth has increased faster than the rest of the state, but it's only wealth on paper; it's not wealth for our students or for the tax base, because of all these tax breaks. This is one reason why the current Under Armour deal has been met with such controversy and scrutiny -- because the current formula for state funding of schools is based upon tax base, so Baltimore City Schools are unfairly harmed since it's only artificial wealth, not actual wealth (and this is clearly a multidimensional issue, as TIFs helped big employers, like Amazon and Target, come into the city, and those employers help keep people in the city... but this absolutely CANNOT be on the backs of the kids, and clearly we cannot trust the formula-makers to adjust accordingly);
-- Larry Hogan, who knows about this unfair formula yet does not account for it in his flat funding of Baltimore City Schools. He's done something, though with no urgency: he's asked University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan to head a commission -- "The Kirwan Commission" -- to "re-examine the education aid formula crafted by the Thornton Commission from 1999-2002." The report is expected to be published in Dec. 2017, and, presumably, would recognize the difference between actual wealth and wealth-on-paper, and account for the huge pockets of desperate poverty that so many of our students have to survive. However, Hogan should be accounting for the common sense problems of the current funding formula and closing the budget gap through state funds;
-- Baltimore City, which charges taxes at a rate double the surrounding counties, so that citizens move away, which causes a shrinking enrollment of Baltimore City Public Schools. Baltimore City has lost 1900 students, students that remained on roll until investigations discovered them -- that, of course, is the fault of Baltimore City Public Schools, which has suffered poor record-keeping and a lack of oversight over the years (often, over the years, the Education Reporters for The Baltimore Sun have discussed the school system not following laws of transparency... it does seem as if the current administration has shifted this policy, however);
-- Mayor Catherine Pugh, who has the power to shift budgetary numbers from last year's budget (Police: $481 million; City Schools: $265 million; Fire: $250 million; Employee Retirement Contribution: $208 million; Transportation: $200 million; Health: $137 million; Debt services: $105 million) but so far has remained silent on this issue, which could find the system laying off over 1000 teachers in her city. Her silence, as mayor during this crisis, has been deafening and disappointing thus far, but there's still time;
-- Maryland, which not only has an unfair formula for funding schools, but has not adjusted for inflation between 2012 and 2016, which would have provided $150 million more in revenue (and an elimination of the deficit).
There are a more factors, too -- the promise of "casino revenue," which misled many voters into approving with the promise of additional school funding, but about which the legislators wrote bad law that actually didn't guarantee any additional school funding, for example -- but all of it created a perfect storm to decimate BCPSS's budget. It's maddening because there is no silver bullet, no quick fix. I think Dr. Santelises knows this, and she certainly inherited a mess.
Teachers have had an unhappy new year. Amidst national news of the Betsy DeVos confirmation, the articles in the Sun about the budget shortfall have been coupled with somber faculty meetings where we are hear more specific details about the massive cuts -- a significant reduction in staff. The impact on students will be heavy and harmful - in programs and classes, in class sizes and in the wealth of talent, expertise, and experience that our students will be robbed of.
I've been a teacher for 16 years in the Baltimore City Public Schools, and, sadly, this isn't new for me. During my 3rd year of teaching, in 2003-2004, some good friends of mine were laid off the week before Christmas in sweeping layoffs of nearly 1000 employees. Myself, and many early-career teachers, lived in fear for months that we would receive a pink slip instead of a paycheck. During that crisis, the teachers voted against giving themselves an 8-day furlough, effectively calling the bluff of the state and city. The move catalyzed then-mayor Martin O'Malley swooping in with a rainy-day fund for schools, and our jobs were saved. A decade later, we had another huge budget crunch. Cue more fear of layoffs, and some of my friends getting a pink slip -- although some were rehired after money and attrition opened up their slots again.
Just like then, Baltimore City should be outraged. We need to unite and fight for our city's youth.
Baltimore City Public Schools shouldn't have to be fighting over crumbs. Our students shouldn't have to survive on whatever bad politicians and mishandlers of budgets leave behind. They deserve a quality education; they deserve a fully-staffed school and the types of arts, sports, advanced studies, individual attention, and services as anyone other student.
So what do we do now?
(1) Attend the Community Budget Forum for your school;
(2) On Feb. 23, attend the massive action in Annapolis, as community members, students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders will gather on the Lawyers Mall in front of the State House to protest the cuts and plead for more funding;
(3) Stay informed. Talk about it. I hope there is action towards Mayor Pugh, who has been silent so far and who has power; O'Malley came in to save us in 2004, and we might need the same from our mayor this time through.
This news should make make everyone irate -- the disparity that it reveals, the manifestation of how bad policy and mismanagement is set to be corrected on the backs of Baltimore City's kids. Now is the time to fight. Baltimore, we need to be in this together, and politicians need to do their job.
from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2klgENJ Baltimore City Schools Has a Huge Deficit, There Will Be Massive Layoffs and Disservice to Our Kids; and We Should All Be Outraged - Entrepreneur Generations
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