hard deadlines

Maryellen Butke cues up issues at Ready meeting.

More than 30 parents, activists, educators, students, and administrators came together last night in the cafeteria of the Park View Middle School in Cranston to discuss a state funding formula for education, and opinions on the proposal from the RI Dept. of Education (RIDE) were definitely mixed. The majority of attendees were from the Providence area, including the superintendent of Woonsocket, a member of the Providence school board, and about ten highly articulate young adults from Young Voices. (And, I have to note, one person representing the East Bay.)

The meeting, organized by the education reform advocacy group Rhode Island is Ready (Facebook page) was a heavily interactive scoring session for the proposals currently circulating, focusing mainly on Rep. Edith Ajello's bill, H7555(pdf), introduced two weeks ago, and the RIDE proposal, yet to be introduced. (Summarily dismissed were bills by Corvese, Raptakis, and O'Neill which all defer immediate action on a formula.)

RIReady organizers Maryellen Butke and Karina Wood facilitated the meeting with attorney Sam Zurier running the session on the legislation. The goal of the evening, said Wood, was to "establish where these proposals match our principles." According to a handout distributed at the meeting, RIReady has five core requirements for any funding formula they would support:

1. Assess what an adequate education per student costs, taking into account each student's needs
2. Provide real, actual, and meaningful funding to those districts that are underfunded, starting at the earliest possible date
3. Provide equitable funding based on each student's needs and the ability of each district to raise local funds, ensuring that districts with the least local resources receive a greater proportion of state support to ensure an adequate education for every child in Rhode Island, regardless of town of residence
4. Provide predictable state funding in a manner that allows school districts to plan their budgets and programs
5. Develop new accountability systems to ensure that increased funds are used efficiently and are focused on student teaching and learning.

It was extremely encouraging to see the commitment to truly adequate funding. RIReady considers the per-pupil number from the 2007 General Assembly Technical Advisory Group to be the right starting point: $10,607. While acknowledging the current fiscal and political realities, Wood said "We should go in as strong as we can."

When scored against this metric, the Ajello proposal did not fare well. Although the group seemed favorably impressed by the approach of adding separate multipliers for English Language Learning (ELL), special education, reduced price, and free lunch compared to RIDE's brute-force 40% multiplier based solely on aggregate free and reduced price lunch, the built-in limit of total aid to last year's number was troubling. "Frankly," said Zurier, "Ajello is 'doing what we can' with an inadequate amount of money."

The group spent a lot of time on the RIDE proposal, and it received high marks for its innovative approach of moving money to underfunding districts quickly while stretching out the time for districts being cut. I proposed to the group that one of RIReady's core principles should be an even stronger statement of "do no harm" when defunding. It's not enough to make the cuts gradually if communities have no mechanism to absorb them, and I reiterated the difficulty for Portsmouth of accepting a yearly $280K cut when we are at cap and operating efficiently with the 3rd-lowest per-pupil in the state. In discussions with the leadership after the meeting, I believe I heard willingness to take this feedback on board, which I think would be critical to generate support from East Bay communities.

The group was clearly not happy with RIDE's "core instruction" number of $8,295, especially given the things that are left out, such as transportation, lunch, utilities, and maintenance. The core instruction number is not sufficient, as one of the participants bluntly put it, "if they want to turn on the lights." And there was suspicion about the special education funding pool, which RIDE promised would be available to help communities absorb extraordinary costs above $58K. How big and secure was that pool, some wondered.

It also did not escape the group that the $8,295 number is hardwired into the proposal and not indexed for inflation. "That means funding is essentially flat over a ten-year period," said Woonsocket Supt. Bob Gerardi. "In five years, this is going to be an 'F' for everybody."

The evening concluded with a review of the RIDE formula specifically for Central Falls, with an exploration of the "stabilization fund" proposed to deal with issues in raising a local share in this "most vulnerable" community.

RIReady is gearing up for a campaign at the general assembly to advocate for their key principles be included in any formula, and they are undeterred by the historic difficulties in getting the legislature to act. "We are judging the political reality at the State House based on years past," said Wood, "But there's never been a year where's there's been a public grassroots movement."

Full disclosure: It did feel a bit strange to be the only representative of the East Bay, but I felt that our perspective was welcomed, and I think there is significant common ground. We all recognize that our state needs a funding formula, and I think that practically speaking, we know that Portsmouth is going to see a decrease. But if we can agree that the state pie needs to be bigger and that there needs to be a transition strategy that doesn't make it impossible for towns to meet their funding obligation, I think this organization is something Portsmouth could support. Anyone want to come to the next meeting with me? April 14, location to be announced.