Dear Ms. D’Amico:
Commissioner Chester has asked me to respond on his behalf to your recent email regarding the Lynn Public Schools. In your email you say that it is your understanding that it is against Massachusetts law for a public school not to provide all required supplies for free.
As a general rule, Massachusetts public schools and districts may not charge a fee for students to enroll or participate in required or elective courses given for academic credit. The Massachusetts Constitution and the General Laws provide for the support and maintenance of free public schools in the Commonwealth. With respect to textbooks and other school supplies, M.G.L. c. 71, section 48 reads in relevant part as follows:
For purposes of your question, the operative word in M.G.L. c. 71, s. 48 is 'loan'. Textbooks and other instructional materials and supplies that are intended to be used and re-used by various students over a period of years must be purchased at public expense and 'loaned' to students, who must return them at the end of the year. (Arguably, a tool such as a pair of scissors or a graphing calculator would fall into this category as well.) In contrast, it is unlikely that a court would rule that a public school has exceeded its authority by asking students to come to school prepared with a reasonable amount of consumable supplies such as pencils and pens, crayons, notebooks, binders, tissues. and so on. These kinds of school supplies are not typically "loaned" to students; they are used by the individual student during the course of the school year. Moreover, they are widely available and relatively inexpensive.
Districts do, as you note, receive support through federal and state funding streams. With federal funding, such as Title I funds, there are strict requirements to serve the highest-need schools and students and to analyze data in order to understand and address what appear to be root causes of problems that contribute to those needs. For example, data analysis in some districts may point to class size as an issue, lack of materials as an issue, or other root causes. There is also Chapter 70 funding that the state allocates to districts to expend on meeting the foundational education needs of students. This funding supports teacher salaries, and so forth, and blends with other funding sources, including those raised through local taxes, to become “local funds.”
Level 4 districts such as Lynn, like all others with the exception of Level 5 districts (currently only Lawrence), have a great deal of authority over the decisions they make regarding resource allocation. This authority recognizes that the district’s key decision-makers, the superintendent and school committee, are those best informed about what is needed to serve students. Because educator salaries, facilities maintenance, and foundational supplies and materials are, for the most part, paid through local funds, I encourage you to continue to communicate your concerns to your school committee. The district’s school committee makes and/or approves decisions related to how the budget is built, and how resources from all of the streams noted above are used. Working in collaboration with the superintendent, and overseeing the work of the superintendent’s team (including those involved in financial decisions), the school committee has final approving authority over how money is spent. They are also entrusted with monitoring the impact of the decisions they make to ensure that the expenditures are improving the experiences of students. Feedback from parents such as yourself is an important part of that process.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Wulfson
Deputy Commissioner
You only have to read it once to hear it twice, that's the definition of DOUBLETALK!
UNDETERRED, HERE IS HOW SHE TOOK IT TO HIM!
Mr. Wulfson:
Thank you so much for your response!! I truly appreciate it. My understanding of the law is as you described. However, I would argue that supplies such as binders do in fact fall into the category if the teacher is requiring one and grading the student on having one. I would also argue that purchasing supplies such as these binders, all the accesories for them, notebooks, folders, etc. are not relatively inexpensive when your child has 5 or more teachers requiring them. Nevermind, those parents who have more than one child in the school system who each have several teachers requiring them. Particularly in a poverty stricken city such as Lynn, where I believe 90% or so of the children who attend the schools are low income and can barely afford to house and feed their children.
I understand that one may believe that the superintendent and school committee are those best informed about what is needed to serve students. However, the fact that my child attends a level 3 school in a level 4 district proves that Lynn's superintendent and school committee clearly do not!! As I mentioned, Lynn has classrooms that do not have textbooks or other necessary and required supplies, yet Dr. Latham just received a $25,000 raise. She also gave out over a hundred thousand dollars in raises to selected principals WHICH OUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE DID NOT APPROVE. Therefore, you are mistaken when you say that the school committee has final approval on how money is spent. In many cases in Lynn, the school committee does not have any say or approval in how Dr. Latham spends the funds. If you do not believe me, I urge you to contact some of our committee members, such as Rick Starbard, Donna Copolla or Maria Carrasco. I would be more than happy to provide you with their contact information. You could even go online and watch our school committee meetings (although they seem to have technical difficulties on occassion)
Once again, Lynn is a failing level 4 school district, it has 2 failing schools and about 30% of the schools are under-performing. We have deteriorating and hazardous school buildings, our classrooms are overcrowded and lack necessary and required supplies such as textbooks and nothing is being done about this. I would like to know at what point does the state of Massachusetts take responsibility for the failing schools and school districts it has and take action to improve them? I, and many other parents, are not going to leave this alone and just go away as our superintendent and many others hope. We want answers as to why our children are not getting the education they deserve because they must attend a failing or under-performing school in a failing school district and no one, not even the Dept. of Education is taking responsibility or doing anything to change this.
Commissioner Chester has asked me to respond on his behalf to your recent email regarding the Lynn Public Schools. In your email you say that it is your understanding that it is against Massachusetts law for a public school not to provide all required supplies for free.
As a general rule, Massachusetts public schools and districts may not charge a fee for students to enroll or participate in required or elective courses given for academic credit. The Massachusetts Constitution and the General Laws provide for the support and maintenance of free public schools in the Commonwealth. With respect to textbooks and other school supplies, M.G.L. c. 71, section 48 reads in relevant part as follows:
'The principal at each school, subject to the direction of the superintendent, shall, at the expense of the school district, purchase textbooks and other school supplies, and consistent with the district policy, shall loan them to the pupils attending such school free of charge. If instruction is given in the manual and domestic arts, the principal may so purchase and loan the necessary tools, implements and materials. The principal shall also, at like expense, procure such apparatus, reference books and other means of illustration, as may be needed . . . '
For purposes of your question, the operative word in M.G.L. c. 71, s. 48 is 'loan'. Textbooks and other instructional materials and supplies that are intended to be used and re-used by various students over a period of years must be purchased at public expense and 'loaned' to students, who must return them at the end of the year. (Arguably, a tool such as a pair of scissors or a graphing calculator would fall into this category as well.) In contrast, it is unlikely that a court would rule that a public school has exceeded its authority by asking students to come to school prepared with a reasonable amount of consumable supplies such as pencils and pens, crayons, notebooks, binders, tissues. and so on. These kinds of school supplies are not typically "loaned" to students; they are used by the individual student during the course of the school year. Moreover, they are widely available and relatively inexpensive.
Districts do, as you note, receive support through federal and state funding streams. With federal funding, such as Title I funds, there are strict requirements to serve the highest-need schools and students and to analyze data in order to understand and address what appear to be root causes of problems that contribute to those needs. For example, data analysis in some districts may point to class size as an issue, lack of materials as an issue, or other root causes. There is also Chapter 70 funding that the state allocates to districts to expend on meeting the foundational education needs of students. This funding supports teacher salaries, and so forth, and blends with other funding sources, including those raised through local taxes, to become “local funds.”
Level 4 districts such as Lynn, like all others with the exception of Level 5 districts (currently only Lawrence), have a great deal of authority over the decisions they make regarding resource allocation. This authority recognizes that the district’s key decision-makers, the superintendent and school committee, are those best informed about what is needed to serve students. Because educator salaries, facilities maintenance, and foundational supplies and materials are, for the most part, paid through local funds, I encourage you to continue to communicate your concerns to your school committee. The district’s school committee makes and/or approves decisions related to how the budget is built, and how resources from all of the streams noted above are used. Working in collaboration with the superintendent, and overseeing the work of the superintendent’s team (including those involved in financial decisions), the school committee has final approving authority over how money is spent. They are also entrusted with monitoring the impact of the decisions they make to ensure that the expenditures are improving the experiences of students. Feedback from parents such as yourself is an important part of that process.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Wulfson
Deputy Commissioner
You only have to read it once to hear it twice, that's the definition of DOUBLETALK!
UNDETERRED, HERE IS HOW SHE TOOK IT TO HIM!
Mr. Wulfson:
Thank you so much for your response!! I truly appreciate it. My understanding of the law is as you described. However, I would argue that supplies such as binders do in fact fall into the category if the teacher is requiring one and grading the student on having one. I would also argue that purchasing supplies such as these binders, all the accesories for them, notebooks, folders, etc. are not relatively inexpensive when your child has 5 or more teachers requiring them. Nevermind, those parents who have more than one child in the school system who each have several teachers requiring them. Particularly in a poverty stricken city such as Lynn, where I believe 90% or so of the children who attend the schools are low income and can barely afford to house and feed their children.
I understand that one may believe that the superintendent and school committee are those best informed about what is needed to serve students. However, the fact that my child attends a level 3 school in a level 4 district proves that Lynn's superintendent and school committee clearly do not!! As I mentioned, Lynn has classrooms that do not have textbooks or other necessary and required supplies, yet Dr. Latham just received a $25,000 raise. She also gave out over a hundred thousand dollars in raises to selected principals WHICH OUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE DID NOT APPROVE. Therefore, you are mistaken when you say that the school committee has final approval on how money is spent. In many cases in Lynn, the school committee does not have any say or approval in how Dr. Latham spends the funds. If you do not believe me, I urge you to contact some of our committee members, such as Rick Starbard, Donna Copolla or Maria Carrasco. I would be more than happy to provide you with their contact information. You could even go online and watch our school committee meetings (although they seem to have technical difficulties on occassion)
Once again, Lynn is a failing level 4 school district, it has 2 failing schools and about 30% of the schools are under-performing. We have deteriorating and hazardous school buildings, our classrooms are overcrowded and lack necessary and required supplies such as textbooks and nothing is being done about this. I would like to know at what point does the state of Massachusetts take responsibility for the failing schools and school districts it has and take action to improve them? I, and many other parents, are not going to leave this alone and just go away as our superintendent and many others hope. We want answers as to why our children are not getting the education they deserve because they must attend a failing or under-performing school in a failing school district and no one, not even the Dept. of Education is taking responsibility or doing anything to change this.
We are plannng to reach out to the media with the facts about our schools and district and our concerns in hopes of making positive changes for our children, schools and district!!
Once again, I thank you and appreciate you taking the time to respond to my email.
Lori D'Amico
GLAD SHE IS ON OUR SIDE!
Congratulations Lori ! You succeeded in getting the attention of someone outside of the the City ! I also have spoken to the DESE liaison to Lynn and have gotten nowhere with her. I applaud your efforts. Tricia
ReplyDeleteWho is the DESE liason to Lynn? Is her name Donna something? If so, I contacted her last year regarding the required supplies issue and she told me that if a teacher is requiring a student to have it, then the school must provide it. I mentioned as an example how many teachers in middle and high school require the student to have a binder and the students are graded on this binder and its contents. She told me I could file a formal complaint against LPS for violating this and sent me the complaint paperwork. However, as you can see from the deputy commissioner's response to my email, the law, like many things, is open for interpretation and is arguable.
DeleteIt was Donna Feinburg. I also spoke to someone in the legal dept whose name I don't remember. Most of what I spoke about was the deseg policy but I also did talk about the poor conditions ( academically and structurally ) of our overall school system. Tricia
ReplyDeleteAs expected, I have not received any further response from Mr. Wulfson or anyone else from the Dept of Education. This happens all the time with some members of our school committee, the mayor's office, Dr. Latham's office, and now the DOE...they stop responding when they are challenged and the questions get too difficult to answer.
Delete