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Our Students Deserve an Inclusive Curriculum
Monday, September 13, 2021
Chairman Lewis, Chairwoman Peisch, and Members of the Joint Committee on Education:
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to a more equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable vision for Massachusetts.
We urge you to give a favorable report to S.365/H.584: An Act relative to anti-racism, equity and justice in education (Lewis – Elugardo / Uyterhoeven).
The events of the past year and a half have put a spotlight on the racial inequities in US society: the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing attention to police brutality since the George Floyd murder, and the rise of anti-Asian racism—not to mention how the January 6th attack on the US Capitol manifested the dark legacy of racism and white supremacy in our country’s past and present.
Our schools need to be equipping students with the tools and knowledge to understand the totality of our country’s history, to critically engage with current events, and to be agents of change in their communities. And we need to ensure that all students can see the contributions that people who look like them made to our nation’s history by teaching history in its fullest.
These bills would do so by creating a Commission for Anti-Racism and Equity in Education, with members chosen from advocacy groups, teacher and superintendent unions and associations, and parent groups, to develop curriculum materials with a social justice perspective and to ensure that ethnic studies and racial justice are taught at all grade levels using an analytical and age-appropriate approach. The Commission would also be tasked with advising the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on how best to support and retain teachers and school counselors of color and with ensuring that teachers and counselors have access to professional development that fosters an equitable and inclusive pedagogy.
Thank you for your work on this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Chair, Issues Committee
Progressive Mass
“It is far past time for us to stop shortchanging our students.” (Redux)
The following testimony was originally submitted to the Joint Committee on Higher Education on April 30, 2019. Since neither bill passed the Legislature in the 2019-2020 session, the testimony was updated for new bill numbers and resubmitted on May 18, 2021.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Chairwoman Gobi, Chairman Rogers, and Members of the Joint Committee on Higher Education,
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide multi-issue grassroots organization committed to fighting for social justice and progressive policy. Since our founding, treating education as a public good and funding it as such has been central to our mission.
As such, we strongly support S.829 / H.1339, An Act to guarantee debt-free public higher education, and S.824 / H.1325, An Act committing to higher education the resources to Insure a strong and healthy public higher education system (or CHERISH), and urge you to report them out favorably.
Since 2001, Massachusetts has cut funding for public higher education by 14 percent. However, at the same time that our state was retrenching from investing in our future, enrollment was going up. As a result, per student funding has fallen by 32 percent, almost a third.
When the state pulls back, the cost burden falls onto students. Massachusetts saw some of the highest tuition and fee increases in the country from 2001 to 2016, particularly during the recession. The share of costs borne by students and their families doubled, putting a degree out of reach for more and more students, especially those of disadvantaged backgrounds.
Today, the average graduate from our state universities and the UMass system leaves with over $30,000 in student debt—the tenth highest in the country. The average debt for graduates of public, four-year postsecondary schools grew faster in Massachusetts than in all but one other state from 2004 to 2016.
A postsecondary degree provides a proven premium in lifetime wages for graduates and countless other opportunities. Cost should not be a barrier. By preventing young people from living independently, buying a home, or pursuing their career of choice, college debt is a drag on our economy. Even when students drop out due to cost, they can be saddled with debt for years after.
It is far past time for us to stop shortchanging our students. Investing more in public higher education, as the CHERISH Act would require, and making public higher education debt-free would benefit not only students. When financial concerns are no longer a hindrance for people seeking to realize their full potential, we all benefit.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Chair, Issues Committee
Progressive Massachusetts
MassLive: MA’s Struggling Higher Ed Sector
PM Issues Committee chair Jonathan Cohn was quoted in MassLive‘s Shira Schoenberg’s write-up of a bill passed by Beacon Hill to keep a closer eye on the financial conditions of the state’s colleges and universities in light of a spate of recent closures:
While the bill passed unanimously with no debate, the liberal advocacy group Progressive Massachusetts criticized lawmakers for not going far enough. Jonathan Cohn, chair of the issues committee for Progressive Massachusetts, said in a statement, “Making sure that students and the state are aware of a college’s imminent closure or tenuous financial status is great, but it doesn’t do anything to make higher education more affordable for Massachusetts families.”
The Student Opportunity Act is a Win. Let’s Make it Better.
Four years ago this very month, the Foundation Budget Review Commission highlighted how the state has been shortchanging public schools due to an outdated funding formula.
Because of the advocacy of teachers, students, parents, community members, and YOU, that formula will finally get fixed.
The Student Opportunity Act will provide $1.5 billion per year in new school funding to help the students who need it the most.
Tomorrow, when the MA Senate votes on the bill, we have an opportunity to strengthen it so that this once-in-a-generation bill is as strong as possible.
For that to happen, your senator needs to hear from you–to hear that you support the bill’s passage and support the following amendments:
- #17 (Targeted Improvement Plans), which increases community and educator involvement in school districts’ plans to reduce disparities — and requires charter schools to create such plans as well
- #19 (Charter Cap Reimbursement), which caps the number of charter schools and charter school seats for any year in which the state fails to fully fund the charter school mitigation account.
- #27 (Analyze Impact of Proposition 2 1/2), which requires a study of the impact on this regressive tax law on municipalities’ ability to provide a high-quality education to all students
- #53 (Ensuring Proportional Phase-In), which makes sure that all of the updates get phased in at the same pace so that low-income students don’t get left behind
- #61 (Charter School Reimbursement Accountability), which requires the Commonwealth to draw funding from charter schools to ensure full reimbursement to public schools
- #63 (Following Through On Our Commitments), which makes sure that the Legislature fully funds charter reimbursements.
Find your senator’s email and phone number here. And then tell them to support the Student Opportunity Act as well as amendments #17, #19, #27, #53, #61, and #63 so that we can deliver on our promise to all students.
Are Your Legislators Keeping It 💯 for Our Students?
In the 1980s, steep cuts in property taxes strained school budgets across the state, creating gaping inequalities between the richest and poorest communities.
In response to that, parents from Brockton sued the state, claiming that it was failing to meet its constitutional obligation to “cherish” education for all students. This language written goes all the way back to John Adams.
In June of 1993, the Legislature responded to this lawsuit — and the underlying funding crisis — by passing the Education Reform Act, which has shaped the course of public education in Massachusetts since.
One core part of ensuring that every student got a quality public education was the Chapter 70 formula.
Here’s how it worked:
(1) Calculate a “foundation budget“: A district ‘s foundation budget is determined by multiplying the number of students at each grade level and demographic group (e.g., low-income students and English Language Learners) by a set of education spending categories (e.g., teacher compensation, building maintenance) and totaling those numbers up.
(2) Calculate a required local contribution: This is done by looking at incomes and property values. In other words, how much can a city or town contribute based on the resources that it has?
(3) Fill the gap with state aid. And if districts can and want to, they can choose to spend more than their required contribution.
And this worked! Well, at first.
Some things from 1993 last forever.
But most haven’t. And the assumptions built into this formula are now out of date.
The Legislature knows this, too.
In 2015, a commission created by the Legislature (the Foundation Budget Review Commission) found that we are underfunding state aid to public school districts by up to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the cost of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
That’s a lot of money!
And as a result, we have one of the most unequal public education systems in the country. All students lose out due to our outdated funding formula, especially the students who need extra help the most.
Wow, we really need to see action on this. What can I do?
The Legislature has been debating various proposals this year. Some, like the PROMISE Act (part of our Legislative Agenda), provide a comprehensive solution. Others are less far-reaching or have some provisions that could make inequities even worse.
It’s important that when legislators take action this fall, they get it right.
That means providing 100% additional funding for the poorest students so that all students, regardless of income, have the opportunity to succeed.
For that to happen, your legislators need to hear from YOU, their constituents. They have to vote well for you to continue to vote for them to represent you. It’s that simple.
Are we a state that believes in high-quality public education for all students, or are we not?
So here’s what you can do:
(1) Look up your legislators’ phone numbers and email addresses here. (Put the numbers in speed dial!)
(2) Explain that you need them to commit to 100% additional funding for the poorest students. They need to be communicating this to House Leadership. (If they send a letter, ask them to send you a copy).
Here’s a sample script:
Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent from [YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD/CITY/TOWN].
It’s been almost four years since a commission created by the legislature showed that we are underfunding our public schools by up to $2 billion a year due to an outdated funding formula from 1993. It’s far past time for the Legislature to update this formula, and we have to do it right.
A good bill will do right by all our students, especially the most vulnerable. And that means providing 100% additional funding for the poorest students.
I urge you to only support a bill that delivers on this promise of quality public education for all and to communicate this to Speaker Bob DeLeo and Education Chairwoman Alice Peisch.
Can I count on you to send a letter to them outlining your demands for an education funding bill?
[If time, personalize the issue by referencing the needs of your own school district or speak about your own experience as a student/teacher/parent/community member.]
(3) Let us know how the call went.
(4) Set yourself a calendar reminder for one week to call again.
(5) Ask five of your friends to do the same.
Take Action: Here’s How to Keep it 💯, Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, people shouldn’t have to sue to make progressive change happen, but too often, that’s been the case. Two and a half decades ago, parents sued the state for failing to guarantee a high-quality education for all children, and they’re doing so again today. Similarly, lawsuits have been necessary to force the state to take the bold action on climate change that’s required for a resilient and sustainable future.
It shouldn’t have to be this way. If our elected officials were bold enough, they would be proactively passing the bills to move us forward, not waiting until they’re forced to.
That’s where you come in.
Keeping It 💯 on Education
Four years ago, the Massachusetts Legislature created a commission to figure out how to update the state’s funding formula for local aid to schools, which hasn’t been updated since 1993.
The commission made clear that the state is short-changing schools due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
The Legislature knows exactly what they need to do. They just need to do it.
The PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) is the only bill before the Legislature that follows through with those recommendations.
But House Leadership has been intransigent. In particular, House Leadership isn’t interested in funding education fully for low-income students, those who need that extra funding the most. And that’s not acceptable.
Any good education funding bill — like the PROMISE Act — would raise the low-income rate up to 100% for the 10th decile. In lay terms, this means spending twice as much as the average per pupil amount per low-income student in a high-poverty district. If we want to close achievement gaps, we need to be spending extra money on the students that need it most in the communities that can’t make up the difference in funding themselves.
Keeping It 💯 on Climate
As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.
Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our fuel from dirty energy, particularly natural gas. That needs to change.
The 100% Renewable Energy Act (S.1958/H.2836) will help make that happen.
This bill would accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure that Massachusetts stays on track to achieve 100% renewable energy, while ensuring that the displaced workers, low-income communities, and communities of color that have been most impacted by fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.
How can you make that bill into a law?
- Testify — or simply show up: The hearing for the bill is just around the corner: next Tuesday (July 23) at 1 pm at the State House (Room B2). If you can go, please do to show your support.
- Make your voice heard: But whether you can or cannot go in person, you can still make your support known to your legislators.
Can you call your legislators to urge them to support the 100% Renewable Energy Act?
Click the links above — and again here — to find out if your legislators are already supportive (and to find their contact info if you don’t already have it). Whether or not they are already supporters, they need to hear from you. Your calls, emails, and visits matter.
We Can’t Keep Shortchanging Our Future
Yesterday, US News & World Report ranked Massachusetts #1 in the country in education. That’s all well and good, but that hides more than it reveals.
That’s because we have one of the most unequal education systems in the country: the children in Lawrence and Brockton are not getting the same quality of education as students in Dover and Weston.
The question is not whether we are doing more than other states but whether we are doing as much as we need to–and as much as our students deserve.
The answer there is a clear no. Four years ago, the Foundation Budget Review Commission found that Massachusetts is shortchanging local aid to public schools by up to $2 billion a year because of outdated calculations of the cost of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
The picture isn’t any better when it comes to higher education. Due to misguided tax cuts from almost twenty years ago, we’ve been disinvesting from our public colleges and universities, leading to deeper cuts, higher tuition, and spiraling student debt.
We can do better. And we will demand that our legislators do better.
That’s why we’re proud to join the Fund Our Future coalition today for a rally in support of the PROMISE Act and the CHERISH Act today at 5pm at the State House. There will be actions starting at 1 pm, so if you can make it earlier, even better.
Will we see you there?
And If You Can’t Make It…
If you can’t make it in person, then you can still call your legislators in support of the PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) and the CHERISH Act (S.741/H.1214).
- The PROMISE Act would fix our outdated school funding formula to more accurately and equitably distribute resources – giving all schools the funding they need to deliver high-quality education.
- The CHERISH Act would commit the Commonwealth to funding public higher education at 2001 levels, adjusted for inflation.
You can check if your legislators are already co-sponsors of the PROMISE Act here.
But Wait…There’s More…
The Senate is voting on its budget next week. And your senator has the opportunity to support raising new revenue and investing more in our students.
Let your senator know that you support these amendments:
- Statutory Charter Tuition Reimbursement (Chang-Diaz, #323): Would invest an additional $90 million in struggling school districts that are losing money due to charter school growth by closing corporate tax loopholes
- Funding Low-Income Student Undercount (Chang-Diaz, #320): Would add more money for struggling school districts that have been shortchanged due to a flawed methodology for counting the low-income student population
- Corporate Tax Rate Restoration (Rausch, #53): Would raise the corporate income tax back up to 9.5%, raising $375 million in additional revenue
- Aircraft Prats (Eldridge, #46): Would close an absurd tax exemption for sales of luxury planes, raising $21 million in additional revenue
- Single Sales Factor (Eldridge, #37): Would close a corporate tax loophole that lets corporations get away with not paying taxes on property and payroll, raising $143 million in additional revenue
“It is far past time for us to stop shortchanging our students.”
The following testimony was submitted to the Joint Committee on Higher Education.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Chairwoman Gobi, Chairman Roy, and Members of the Joint Higher Education Committee,
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide multi-issue grassroots organization committed to fighting for social justice and progressive policy. Since our founding, treating education as a public good and funding it as such has been central to our mission.
As such, we strongly support S.744 / H.1221, An Act to guarantee debt-free public higher education, and S.741, An Act committing to higher education the resources to Insure a strong and healthy public higher education system (or CHERISH), and urge you to report them out favorably.
Since 2001, Massachusetts has cut funding for public higher education by 14 percent. However, at the same time that our state was retrenching from investing in our future, enrollment was going up. As a result, per student funding has fallen by 32 percent, almost a third.
When the state pulls back, the cost burden falls onto students. Massachusetts saw some of the highest tuition and fee increases in the country from 2001 to 2016, particularly during the recession. The share of costs borne by students and their families doubled, putting a degree out of reach for more and more students, especially those of disadvantaged backgrounds.
Today, the average graduate from our state universities and the UMass system leaves with over $30,000 in student debt—the tenth highest in the country. The average debt for graduates of public, four-year postsecondary schools grew faster in Massachusetts than in all but one other state from 2004 to 2016.
A postsecondary degree provides a proven premium in lifetime wages for graduates and countless other opportunities. Cost should not be a barrier. By preventing young people from living independently, buying a home, or pursuing their career of choice, college debt is a drag on our economy. Even when students drop out due to cost, they can be saddled with debt for years after.
It is far past time for us to stop shortchanging our students. Investing more in public higher education, as the CHERISH Act would require, and making public higher education debt-free would benefit not only students. When financial concerns are no longer a hindrance for people seeking to realize their full potential, we all benefit.
“All It Took Was a Look at the Playground”
The following testimony was delivered to the Joint Committee on Education on Friday, March 22, 2019.
We are writing in support of the Promise Act. As retired special educators who also consulted with districts and families, we strongly support an end to the tiered educational system that exists in Massachusetts.
During five years of consulting to and in approximately 60 school districts, we found that all it took was a look at the playground to know what the educational quality would exist inside the school. Districts with fewer funds consistently needed to serve a wider range of student needs: for instance, higher rates of poverty and larger numbers of immigrants, which results in a greater number of traumatized students and a greater number of languages spoken. These districts are footing the bill for higher-income cities and towns that are unaffordable to immigrants and low income families. A culture of “not in my backyard“ has resulted in increasingly large educational gaps between the haves and have not‘s in Massachusetts.
The affluent cities and towns in our state, such as Needham, are able to raise additional funds through the educational foundation’s that have developed. This private funding is able to enrich the curriculum, provide playgrounds, and add back non-mandated services that may be lost by any reductions in state funds.
It is critical that more affluent communities acknowledge the burden taken on by other cities and towns that allow them more privilege and educational quality. It is time to level the playing field.
Thank you for consideration of our views.
Robert Vecchi, M.Ed.
Andrea Wizer, M.Ed.
Needham, MA