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Health & Fitness

BOE Chairman: Why This Year's BOE Budget is Different

This is the first in a series of posts on Manchester's Education Funding Issues.

It is vitally important for us to have a public dialogue on education funding in Manchester, so that we can properly prioritize requested funding increases in the context of our community’s willingness and ability to fund those needs.  

For the last three years, Manchester’s education budget on average has increased just 1.5% per year (a rate half that of inflation during the same period).  Not only is that unsustainable long term, but when coupled with escalating costs of magnet school tuition and transportation, healthcare and insurance (that outpace inflation) and increased student need, our community is faced with having to make some tough decisions. 

Recently the Interim Superintendent outlined a series of potential reductions that would be required if the Board of Directors funded the school district at the level the General Manager proposes.  (For a list see the proposed reductions to the 2013-14 school budget attached to this blog). 

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These reductions are drastic and unacceptable.  They would come at a time when our student needs have increased.  When we should be investing in education, we're seemingly doing the opposite. 

By way of background, the average Manchester student today is far more likely to come from poverty and speak a different language – two indicators of low student achievement.  Right at the time we needed to increase funding to support these children, the economy led us to belt tighten to keep costs low. For some historical context, in 2000, about one quarter of Manchester students were identified as economically disadvantaged (by qualifying for free or reduced lunch) – today, that number has more than doubled, growing from 36% in 2008 to more than 50% in 2012.  Today the majority of students in Manchester’s public schools now come from economically disadvantaged households.  Similarly, the number of English language learners has increased, from 3.7% of students in 2008 to more than 5% today.

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This is an alarming trend, and one that underscores the dilemma we now face.  Add to that, the pressure of increased magnet school choices.  Magnet schools are a great alternative for a small minority of families who can send their children, but that choice comes with a cost.  Each year, Manchester must allocate a greater share of its education budget to magnet school tuition and transportation. In 2008, Manchester spent approximately $1 million on students attending out-of-district magnet schools; and last year we spent $2.1 million – and that number continues to climb.  The difference between in-district savings in per pupil expenditures (approximately $200 per student) versus the tuition for a magnet school (as much as $5,000 per student) has placed an undue burden on public school budgets across the state.  In Manchester, every dollar that goes to magnet school tuition is one less dollar we can spend on students who remain in the district.

I can appreciate that members of our community don’t want taxes to increase.  If that’s the case, then we need to fully understand our priorities as a community, and invest those scarce dollars in the most effective way possible.

Note: The opinions expressed in this blog are that of Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini and do not reflect the views of the entire Manchester Board of Education. 

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