The Strains on Schools a Worry Statewide (MA)
October 19, 2010
When work crews went to inspect the city’s schools this summer, they knew years of neglect had taken a toll. But the damage still took them aback.
Roofs were leaking, ceiling tiles had collapsed, mold had infected three classrooms, and 100 toilet seats were broken. Trees and brush blocked emergency exits. The inspections, the first since the city took over maintenance this year, set off a scramble for repairs by fall.
The situation in Gloucester’s schools reflects in grim detail the financial pressures squeezing school systems across Massachusetts after three years of economic turmoil. It also previews one of the most important issues that will face the winner of the race for governor.
In Gloucester, where the local fishing industry and high-end home values have stumbled and struggling households have been socked with steep water and sewer fees, those pressures are writ large. And, like in some other communities, the arrival of a new charter school, born of discontent with the city schools, has raised fears that the system is beset from all sides, even from within.
Across the seaside community, from the retirees chatting outside the St. Peter’s Club to the young mothers who push their strolle rs along the water, there is concern and mounting frustration that school finances have reached a breaking point.
Unless something dramatic changes, many parents and school officials say, looming budget cuts could quickly reverse years of hard-won gains, and weaken a district where a growing number of families are already defecting.
“We’ve been like the little engine that could,’’ said Valerie Gilman, chairwoman of the school board. “But we just don’t have the revenue coming into the city, and things are looking bleak. We’re doing everything we can. But something has to change.’’
Some residents in Gloucester, where many families are struggling and loath to pay higher taxes, blame Governor Deval Patrick’s administration for asking more of schools while not providing extra resources, and pushing for new charter schools at the expense of the existing systems.
“You can’t keep cutting back and cutting back while still giving us mandates,’’ said Joseph Ciolino, a city councilor who runs a gift shop on Main Street. “If the state gives us our fair share, then we’d have the money to have better buildings and build up the programs the kids need. There’s such a long to-do list with the schools.’’
Earlier this year, Patrick signed a sweeping education bill that he called the biggest advance for the state’s public schools in two decades. The legislation gave superintendents greater authority to overhaul failing schools, and sharply raised the cap on charter schools in districts with the lowest test scores, in keeping with President Obama’s agenda. Those and other changes helped Massachusetts win $250 million in federal “Race to the Top’’ funds for improving underperforming schools.
But many Gloucester residents say the reform effort h olds little promise for their city schools, whose test scores are below average but far above the state’s worst. The Patrick administration’s push for charter schools, many say, will undercut support for traditional public schools already on shaky financial footing by peeling away a portion of their state funding.
Whatever the case, students have been choosing to leave Gloucester schools for years. Last year, 210 students chose to attend another town’s public school — such as in Rockport and Ipswich — up from 129 a decade ago and among the highest levels in the state.
Another sizeable group of local students attend private schools, residents say, and about 70 have jumped to Gloucester Community Arts Charter School, which opened last month amid intense controversy. Last year, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester endorsed the school at the urging of the Patrick administration, which was seeking to win political support among charter school supporters. The inspector general’s office later found that the approval was improper.
Despite the questions surrounding the school, even its opponents say it signals a clear unhappiness with the status quo.
Scott Barraclough, for example, enrolled his sixth-grader in a Catholic school this fall after two years at his neighborhood elementary school. For grades one through three, his son thrived at a Montessori private school, where he learned at his own pace and interacted with older children. But after his wife lost her job, they put him in the city schools, where his progress slowed.
“The work was mostly a repeat,’’ Barraclough said. “He was bored.’’
In the latest round of MCAS scores at one grade school, less than 10 percent of fourth- and fifth-graders scored proficient in math.< ;br />
A number of the new charter school’s supporters see Gloucester as a microcosm of public schools’ shortcomings in general, particularly for students who struggle in traditional classrooms.
“For some people, they just aren’t working,’’ said Amy Ballin, a charter school board member. “Public schools have been one size fits all, and they aren’t changing. The achievement gap has been with us for years.’’
Kate McAloon, whose seventh-grader attends the charter school, said the number of parents eager for an alternative rose out of discontent with the public schools.
“They drove me, and a lot of other parents, out,’’ she said. “I think this should be a wake-up call for the public schools.’’
McAloon, whose son attended private school before the charter school opened, said she was thrilled to have a local option.
But many parents see the charter school as doing little more than draining resources from the strapped public schools, and are furious that the state sanctioned it. A group of parents sued the state for approving the charter, and a judge has allowed the suit to go forward after concluding the state’s approval was politically motivated.
Charter schools, which are publicly funded but run independently of local school systems, receive a subsidy for each student they enroll, money that is deducted from the district’s allotment of state aid. If the Gloucester charter school reaches full enrollment, the district will ultimately lose $2.4 million a year, more than one-third of its current state aid, officials say. That prospect has school officials and town leaders delivering dire warnings.
“As it is, we don’t have adequate revenue to keep pace with our needs,’’ said Joseph Connelly, the interim superintendent of schools. “And I mean basic needs.’’
The dispute over the school has grown divisive, playing out in tense meetings and angry letters to the local newspaper. The school opened despite opposition from the state’s education commissioner, who said he no longer believed it was viable. The school is now on probation, and its status will be reviewed in December.
Its uncertain fate has many residents — and town officials — on edge. Mayor Carolyn Kirk, who has strictly controlled spending to close a gaping budget deficit over the past two years, said the district has managed to avoid layoffs that have plagued schools across the state. But unless the city receives more outside help, schools will be forced to scale back spending.
Kirk has earned a reputation as a fiscal watchdog, even cutting spending on bullets for the police department by $6,000, and avoided teacher layoffs by trimming spending in anticipation of state cutbacks. She and school leaders say students are receiving a strong education, but acknowledge that financial constraints have limited the schools’ aspirations. MCAS scores, while solid at the high school level, are generally lower than in neighboring towns.
“Is average good enough?’’ Gilman, of the school board, asked. “God no. We want to be above average. But we’re not given any breaks.’’
Jane Cunningham, a mother of three who used to teach English at the high school, said the district has steadily lost teachers and programs over the past decade, prompting concerned parents to raise money themselves.
Yet Cunningham, who volunteers at a school library because the librarian was let go, said she believes her children are learning what they ne ed to.
But many wonder how much more the schools can take. Athletic fees at the high school have soared to $380 for many major sports, prompting some students to leave their teams.
“Is it hurtful? Yeah,’’ said Kim Patience, the athletic director. “It’s stopping that middle-of-the-road player who wants to play just for the fun of it.’’
Patience has cut back where she can, like allotting the hockey team half as many pucks as before, and has let some families pay the fees a little at a time. And residents are raising money privately to help offset the cost.
“More people are understanding that what you put into the schools is what you’re going to get,’’ said Judy Desmarais, 60. “But people came here for a reason, and they don’t want that to change. The challenge is to revitalize the city without changing it.’’