School choice funding out of whack

A noted comment: Lucy Kennedy, chair of the Lenox Finance Committee, offered a “well done” salute to The Berkshire Beacon on our school choice editorial, but questioned whose mission it was to correct the problem.

The Berkshire Beacon admits to creating “shock value” in the following statement: “Since more than 60 percent of our real estate tax goes to the school department budget, perhaps we should increase school choice funding by tripling the amount from $5,000 to $15,000, which still is not the full cost of educating a student in Lenox.

“The question is: Why are we educating students from other towns for a fraction of the cost per student?

“According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website, the overall town cost in 2011 was $12,771,128, and the cost per pupil: $15,139.10.”

Ms. Kennedy points out it’s not fixable at the local level but is controlled at the commonwealth level. Agreed.

Now that the information is public and school choice money is low, reimbursement affects many of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. The sum from one community does not off-set the cost of educating a student in another community. There should be a concentrated effort by school committees across Massachusetts to signal their state legislators for a more practical or palatable sum.

We know that William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox), a member of the ways and means committee, is not going to try to pass legislation to meet the total cost per student expense for all communities including Lenox. Rep. Pignatelli might be inclined to seek a phased-in amount over five years that will lessen the cost to local taxpayers.

Perhaps a thousand-dollar increment per year, per student for five years will close the gap? Of course, the cost of education will go up. It won’t level-off in the near future, noting building improvements, faculty and staff pay increases, books, technology and, of course, increased management fees.

Perhaps Sen. Benjamin B. Downing can weigh in and help push the closure on costs from the backs of the taxpayer of one community and on to the taxpayer of the other community, who is reaping the reward of not overtaxing the sponsoring community. There needs to be parity or a more of a shared cost between communities!

If one thinks there is a shock value for Lenox, look at the cost of education for communities that range from a low like Shirley ($9,648) and Melrose ($10,588) to Nantucket ($20,854) and the high of Provincetown ($31,294).

The average cost per student of these communities is $18,096.

Posted by George C. Jordan III on December 20, 2012. Filed under Editorials,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry