Tracy O'Connell Novick Profile picture
Sep 18, 2020 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
ok, because the press dutifully replicated the #Worcester City Manager's 'spending as much on schools as five ballparks' line in allll the reporting from yesterday's South tour, a couple of things:
First, could we check the math please? The *city* is spending as five times as much on school construction as ballparks the same way the *city* spends most of its budget on schools: ONLY IF WE JUST MISS THAT MOST OF THE MONEY COMES FROM THE STATE.

Let's not, eh?
Second (and more importantly):

What do we actually NEED, #Worcester?

Do we need a minor league ballpark that by every bit of research out there is going to become a giant money sink?

Or do we need new school buildings?
Hm, well, the $15.5M (and much of THAT is state and federal too, before we get carried away) being spent on HVAC work argues that many of the school buildings need some attention.
If we weren't betting (literally) the city's fiscal future on a minor league ballpark, we could perhaps have taken that "one fifth" of two high schools and spend on...Burncoat, how about?
Or making any sort of a dang plan around our elementary schools, for which we have NONE?
And by doing so, we'd then be investing in the future of our CHILDREN who could use the investment, rather than using municipal resources to further enrich those who are already doing quite well for themselves.
And investing in education, incidentally, usually returns quite nicely for municipalities, too.
Let's not just quote the good lines, here, folks. Let's check their veracity and examine the assumptions on which they are based. #worcpoli #Worcester #WorcSchools

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More from @TracyNovick

Mar 13
I’m sure that sometimes some of you think I am overreacting to the Boston Globe’s education coverage, but you probably couldn’t frame “how is this school funding reform working this year” WORSE than looking at Belmont, Harvard, and Westford.
I could try to invent one, but it’s an incredible manifestation of whom the Globe perceives its audience as AND how poorly it understands the state school funding system.
Read 33 tweets
Feb 26
Hey, #MAEdu advocates, can we have a word?

Please pull up a chair.
You all are my people, and I think the world of you.

I'm concerned about what seems to be how FY25 budget season is being approached.
It's not so much that I think it's missing the forest for the trees, and more that there is no forest; it's actually a prairie.

It's not even the same ballgame.
Read 15 tweets
Dec 13, 2023
So I logged off last night to have dinner with my family and write about how the Globe was wrong about school finance (chapter MMXXIII), and it appears I missed some Discourse on Worcester Public Schools funding.
Y’all were busy!
And so, a thread:
Let me first note that when I teach MA school finance (which is part of what I do for work, for those who might be new), I start in 1647, so there’s some history here.
From a Worcester perspective, let’s sum up by saying that the early colonial law that required towns to have schools once they hit a particular size was violated more than once, resulting in the town being fined.

More than once.
Read 14 tweets
Mar 23, 2023
.@jgoodeHN I think you're just repeating the framing that the city is giving you here, but I think we should clear up a misconception.

School transportation doesn't count towards net school spending in Massachusetts for ANY district. #MAEdu

heraldnews.com/story/news/edu…
The reason for that is pretty straightforward: Chelsea is three square miles; Franklin County Regional Tech is 500 square miles. Both are Massachusetts school districts. As you might imagine, they spend WILDLY differing amounts on transportation.
What is different between Fall River--and, indeed, any municipal district in Massachusetts--and their neighboring regionals, is, that while BOTH have mandated state reimbursed transportation, only one of those reimbursements gets funded.
Read 12 tweets
Mar 21, 2023
finally watching last week's Joint Ways & Means hearing, and appreciate @Jo_Comerford's question on the balance of one time versus sustained funding #MAEdu
she also did a lovely, polite refocus of her question; good chairing!
Cheers also to Sen @AnneGobi for opening her Q to @MassEducation a pointed: "on behalf of the entire Worcester delegation for your thoughtful and spot-on comments regarding the charter school in Worcester. It was extremely appreciated."
Read 5 tweets
Sep 15, 2022
ok, good morning, I have a question (just getting to #MAEdu news from yesterday):

This MEEP claim that gaps have widened over the pandemic is based on...what exactly?

We don't yet have the last year's MCAS data. We don't yet have MA NAEP data.
The report cites 2019 to 2021 third grade reading scores, and then percentage of low income 9th graders passing their classes compared to wealthier peers.
Then enrollment in college, which we know dropped...everywhere?
Read 5 tweets

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