Mayor Marty Walsh will give his state of the city speech tomorrow at Symphony Hall, and parents plan to protest the schools’ $50 million budget deficit.
The parents are taking aim at another year of multimillion-dollar budget cuts proposed by his administration. They say the proposed measures would trim teachers, librarians, and language courses such as Japanese. It would also crush some schools’ accreditation prospects and hurt programs targeting students with autism or suffering from emotional trauma, they contend….
Walsh will….address public education, an issue that was a significant focus of his election campaign and made a key focus during his first State of the City address last year. On Tuesday, the mayor plans to urge Bostonians to join him in a conversation on how to best serve students and create a stronger school system.
But as the mayor delivers his speech, several parents are planning to protest his proposed budget deficit of up to $50 million in the School Department.
Chang had said that while expenses have increased, federal and state funding to the School Department has been declining.
‘Parents are feeling very upset that [the mayor] is not supportive of the school system he’s obliged to be looking out for.’
The superintendent promised that no schools would close as a result of the shortfall, the Globe reported, but he said that $20 million will be cut from the central office budget, and $10 million to $12 million more will be saved by trimming the per-student funding formula, affecting the budgets of individual schools.
Some of those schools have had declining enrollment, officials said.
The mayor said the potential budget gap does not yet identify all possible efficiencies and takes into account new investments prioritized by the department. Chang said the central office and school leaders are vigorously working on strategic budget decisions.
“The reality is that rising expenses are outpacing current revenue sources,” Chang said in a statement. “Despite this, I am confident that Boston Public Schools will continue investing in key strategic initiatives to close achievement gaps and ensure equity throughout the system.”
The parents planning to protest said that during Walsh’s first two years in office, public schools have seen about $140 million in budget cuts. The cuts, they said, would devastate the high schools and special education services.
Superintendent Chang, who was a deputy to John Deasy in Los Angeles, is a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. Before he joined the L.A. administration, he ran a Green Dot charter school. He has brought a number of other Broadies to join him in Boston.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They took $50 million from the schools and gave $60 million, plus $120 million from the state, to lure GE away from Connecticut. No billionaire left behind, right?
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That was my first reaction.
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I wonder if anyone knows how many Broad-trained administrators there are. I noted that someone was tracking these via Broad academy press releases but the press releases are no longer issued. It is time for some serious investigation of the damage done by these administrators, with stats on the duration of employment ( many seem to resign and move on to another district), salaries, major “accomplishments”and damage done. The service would be comparable to that of FairTest.
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Their new Superintendent is a Broad Academy grad and was a part of the Deasy band of Broadies who particpated in the iPad/Pearson, and the MiSiS, fiascos at LAUSD.
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How much of the budget is going to fund charter schools? Somehow, there always seems to be money for another connected charter school. Chicago has TIF to take money from communities and fund the mayor’s pet projects., like a stadium for a private university. I won’t get into the corporate giveaways associated with these tax payer funded gifts.
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Mayor Marty Walsh is doing this in tandem with
new Supe Tommy Chang.
Boston parents are not pleased, as, among other things,
these cuts will cause traditional public schools to
lose accreditation — due to no more librarians,
no more foreign language classes, no more
credentialed math teachers, etc., and they will be
unable to fund the legally-mandated services and
accommodations for Special Ed. kids.
But he’s still expanding those charters, doncha know?
Oh, and here’s another video protesting the
Broad attempted hostile takeover of LAUSD
… and the same issues of charters not taking
Special Ed. kids and kicking them out:
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4:30 at the intersection of Westland Ave and Mass Ave under BOS sign. Email me at lewispierce @ gmail dot com.
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Symphony Hall
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they do not have a “school board”. They are far too sophisticated for that. They have a school “committee”, APPOINTED, not elected. How unusual for a place with charter schools and “reforms” favored by appointers and appointees. Number one rule……disenfranchise the parents. Do not let them vote for the “committee”. The Boston Committee had an honorable creation and existence…….but take away democracy and boards tend to morph into whatever those appointing them want them to be.
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So that explains their hire of Tommy Chang who is a charter school supporter, and a Broadie.
Boston Globe reporter interviewed me by phone some months ago, but never used the info about Chang at LAUSD…as assistant to John Deasy, his Broadie boss who left under a dark cloud and is being investigated by the FBI and the SEC.
Could not understand their decision to hire him, but his explains it.
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We haven’t had an elected School Committee in Boston since 1992, long before the current rage for charters. The seven member board is appointed by the mayor, and during the 20 year term of Mayor Menino voted in favor of every proposal presented to them 98% of the time, often unanimously. Menino signed the original Boston Compact in 2011, but apparently he didn’t want to relinquish the decision making power to the Gates folks, so the Compact went dormant.
Menino early on declared that he wanted to be judged on the schools, but his strategy included making big cuts to the school budget and closing schools as charters began insinuating themselves across the city. Boston was the recipient of the Broad Prize in 2006, and it seemed that Superintendent Johnson was perhaps brought in to do what she had begun in Memphis – follow the Broad playbook. Her tenure was marked by incompetence and a rotating cast of characters at the school department, any number of whom have gone on to fame and glory running Gates programs, heading up reformy school systems and attending the Broad Book Club.
Our current mayor’s opponent was an outspoken charter cheerleader, which was a good part of the reason he lost the race. Mayor Walsh was on the board of a local charter (not a chain), but did not declare a undying love for charters in general during the election. The Compact was resurrected shortly after he announced he wanted to run for re-election. One supposes one needs $$ to do so. DFER has deep pockets.
What are Boston parents calling the mayor? One term Mahty.
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One word: DISGUSTING!
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Hoid for the parents.
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Meant GOOD for the parents!
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Why is there a budget deficit? There seem to be budget deficits in all major cities in times of a surging economy. Could it possibly be because huge tax breaks have been given to powerful corporations?
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The mayor has to set the stage for negotiations of the new BTU contract, and
the economy is not nearly as robust as the Washington (Wall Street) would
like you to believe.
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Yep and the plutocracy is busy sucking up any money the government has. Let private business run things and just like they did in 2008, they’ll suck everything dry while they get rich. In education, the deformers like Tommy Chang wil sap all the money out of public schools to give to his private business buddies to create and run their charter schools. Dual school system expenditures coming from the same pot your tax dollars
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It;s just so disheartening because we’re told constantly that Massachusetts has the best public schools- high standards, gap-closing- the whole works. It doesn’t matter. They cut their funding anyway.
What happened to the whole “incentives for good work” theory in ed reform? Doesn’t apply to public schools?
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What did they expect. We told them when he was picked that he would cut public schools. He’s probably planning new charters from the budget cuts of public schools. Get him out now or you will be sorry. They will next start to work over your teachers and other staff while adding more and more administrative overhead. He’s a Broadie and does not support public education. You’ll see.
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Here’s a primer on Broad, his Broad Academy, and those who “graduated.” (The curriculum is kept secret … like the Skull ‘n Bones society or something):
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/
from the conclusion:
“Eli Broad is a wealthy individual, accountable to no one but himself, who wields vast power over our public schools. Parents and community members should be aware of the extent to which the he and his foundation influence educational policies in districts throughout the country, through Broad-funded advocacy groups, Broad-sponsored experiments and reports, and the placement of Broad-trained school leaders, administrators and superintendents.
“Parents Across America considers Broad’s influence to be inherently undemocratic, as it disenfranchises parents and other stakeholders in an effort to privatize our public schools and imposes corporate-style policies without our consent. We strongly oppose allowing our nation’s education policy to be driven by billionaires who have no education expertise, who do not send their own children to public schools, and whose particular biases and policy preferences are damaging our children’s ability to receive a quality education.”
– See more at: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/#sthash.NSjwKpv0.dpuf
Here’s another one on “The Broad Virus” and it’s “Cure”:
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/how-to-tell-if-your-school-district-is-infected-by-the-broad-virus/
It’s a long list, I know.
——————–
How to Tell If Your School District is Infected by the Broad Virus –
— Schools in your district are suddenly closed.
— Even top-performing schools, alternative schools, schools for the gifted, are inexplicably and suddenly targeted for closure or mergers.
— Repetition of the phrases “the achievement gap” and “closing the achievement gap” in district documents and public statements.
— Repeated use of the terms “excellence” and “best practices” and “data-driven decisions.” (Coupled with a noted absence of any of the above.)
— The production of “data” that is false or cherry-picked, and then used to justify reforms.
— Power is centralized.
— Decision-making is top down.
— Local autonomy of schools is taken away.
— Principals are treated like pawns by the superintendent, relocated, rewarded and punished at will.
— Culture of fear of reprisal develops in which teachers, principals, staff, even parents feel afraid to speak up against the policies of the district or the superintendent.
— Ballooning of the central office at the same time superintendent makes painful cuts to schools and classrooms.
— Sudden increase in number of paid outside consultants.
— Increase in the number of public schools turned into privately-run charters.
— Weak math text adopted (most likely Everyday Math). Possibly weak language arts too, or Writer’s Workshop. District pushes to standard the curriculum.
— Superintendent attempts to sidestep labor laws and union contracts.
— Teachers are no longer referred to as people, educators, colleagues, staff, or even “human resources,” but as “human capital.”
— A (self-anointed, politically connected) group called NCTQ comes to town a few months before your teachers’ contract is up for negotiation and writes a Mad Libs evaluation of your districts’ teachers (for about $14,000) that reaches the predetermined conclusion that teachers are lazy and need merit pay. [“The (NAME OF CITY) School District has too many (NEGATIVE ADJ) teachers. Therefore they need a new (POSITIVE ADJ.) data-based evaluation system tied to test scores…”]
— The district leadership declares that the single most significant problem in the district is suddenly: teachers!
— Teachers are no longer expected to be creative, passionate, inspired, but merely “effective.”
— Superintendent lays off teachers for questionable reasons.
— Excessive amounts of testing introduced and imposed on your kids.
— Teach for America, Inc., novices are suddenly brought into the district, despite no shortage of fully qualified teachers.
— The district hires a number of “Broad Residents” at about $90,000 apiece, also trained by the Broad Foundation, who are placed in strategically important positions like overseeing the test that is used to evaluate teachers or school report cards. They in turn provide — or fabricate — data that support the superintendent’s ed reform agenda (factual accuracy not required).
— Strange data appears that seems to contradict what you know (gut level) to be true about your own district.
— There is a strange sense of sabotage going on.
— You start to feel you are trapped in the nightmarish Book Five of the Harry Potter series and the evilly vindictive Dolores Umbridge is running your school district. (See above photo; Dolores Umbridge , Broad class of ?)
— Seek centaurs and Forbidden Forest immediately!
— Superintendent behaves as if s/he is beyond reproach.
— Superintendent reads Blackberry (Goodloe-Johnson, also see comments ) or sends texts (Brizard, see comments) while parents and teachers are giving public testimony at school board meetings, blatantly ignoring public input.
— A rash of Astroturf groups appear claiming to represent “the community” or “parents” and all advocate for the exact same corporate ed reforms that your superintendent supports — merit pay, standardized testing, charter schools, alternative credentialing for teachers. Of course, none of these are genuine grassroots community organizations.
Or,
— existing groups suddenly become fervidly in favor of teacher bashing, merit pay or charter schools. Don’t be surprised to find that these groups may have received grant money from the corporate ed reform foundations like Gates or Broad.
— The superintendent receives the highest salary ever paid to a superintendent in your town’s history (plus benefits and car allowance) – possibly more than your mayor or governor — and the community is told “that is the national, competitive rate for a city of this size.”
— Your school board starts to show signs of Stockholm Syndrome. They vote in lockstep with the superintendent. Apparently lobotomized by periodic “school board retreat/Broad training” sessions headed by someone from Broad, your school board stops listening to parents and starts to treat them as the enemy. (If you still have a school board, that is — Broad ideally prefers no pesky democratically elected representatives to get in the way of their supts and agendas.)
— Superintendent bypasses school board entirely and keeps them out of the loop on significant or all issues.
— School board candidates receive unprecedented amounts of campaign money from business interests.
— Annual superintendent evaluation is overseen by a fellow name Tom Payzant.
— Stand for Children appears in towns and claims to be grassroots. (It is actually based in Portland, Ore., and is funded by the Gates Foundation.) It may invite superintendent to be keynote speaker at a political fundraising event. It will likely lobby your state government for corporate ed reform laws.
— Grants appear from the Broad and Gates foundations in support of the superintendent, and her/his “Strategic Plan.”
— The Gates Foundation gives your district grants for technical things related to STEM and/or teacher “effectiveness” or studies on charter schools.
— Local newspaper fails to report on much of this.
Local newspaper never mentions the words “Broad Foundation.”
— Broad and Gates Foundations give money to local public radio stations which in turn become strangely silent about the presence and influence of the Broad and Gates Foundation in your school district.
THE CURE for Broad Virus:
— Parents.
— Blogs.
— Sharing information.
— Vote your school board out of office.
— Vote your mayor out of office if s/he is complicit.
— Boycott or opt out of tests.
— Go national and join Parents Across America.
— Follow the money.
— Question the data – especially if it produced by someone affiliated with the Broad or Gates Foundations or their favored consultants (McKinsey, Strategies 360, NCTQ, or their own strategically placed Broad Residents).
— Alert the media again and again (they will ignore you at first).
— Protest, stage rallies, circulate petitions.
— Connect and daylight the dots.
– See more at: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/how-to-tell-if-your-school-district-is-infected-by-the-broad-virus/#sthash.zcSgqAWt.dpuf
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And that is how its done. Starve the schools because toucan’t cut the police or fire budgets, but honeys public eduction that works!
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I wonder how we can make this standard recipe obsolete: in a given city or state, political leaders announce, there’s no money, so they have to cut the education budget. Then they start introducing new measures in education which end up weakening teachers and benefit private companies.
Perhaps a massive, countrywide investigation in the style of Louisiana’s Schneider could put an end to this: in each state a volunteer group would look into their state’s budget, and would find out how the idea of the cut for education came up, and how the state spent money on other projects.
At my university, we had a $20 million budget cut, while the state invested undisclosed amounts into “modernizing” the university’s budget system, athletics, new buildings, and, at the same time, they found money to strengthen community colleges at the expense of 4 year colleges.
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