Like most people these days, Malden High School teacher Jessica Gold Boots needed a little good news. That came with the Baker administration's proposal Wednesday to fund a landmark education spending law that expands state funding and redirects more money to low-income school districts.
"Now more than ever, it's incredibly important," Boots said.
After last year's essentially flat education budget — and a pandemic — many educators can instantly think of several ways to spend a cash infusion, from hiring more teachers and counselors to the creating enrichment and summer programs to address learning loss.
Last year, the state delayed its promise to begin a seven-year process of investing $1.4 billion into public schools. Known as the Student Opportunity Act, the 2019 law recalibrated the state's K-12 public school funding formula. Under the new rules, low-income school districts would receive a larger proportion of state education dollars, as would districts with greater numbers of English language learners and special education students.
Gov. Charlie Baker's proposed state budget, unveiled Wednesday, included an additonal $198 million in aid to school districts under the new formula. Baker also proposed allowing cities and towns to count $114 million in federal dollars toward their local contribution under the law, adding that the proposed increase honors his commitment to fully-fund the law. Teachers unions dispute that interpretation, saying that because he effectively promised the money last year, this year's funding should be bigger if not double.
The new budget plan now goes to the Legislature.
Many teachers said they would have desperately welcomed extra funds before the pandemic.
Lea Serena, a second-grade teacher in Boston, called the boost long overdue. At Mather Elementary, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, where she teaches, the roof leaks, as it has for decades. She knows because she was once a student there.
The pandemic has created other new and urgent problems for her and her students. She said some students in her remote learning classes have become withdrawn. One will not attend online classes unless she teaches one-on-one. Another who used to hug her on the playground cannot be coaxed out of silence during online classes.
"And then just some students who are not talking as much as I know that they will talk if we were in person," Serena said.
Additional English language teachers and multilingual counselors who are trained to help students experiencing trauma would help, she said.
Boots, the Malden High teacher, said her students are also in need of emotional support. Many students are considering leaving school to work because their parents have lost restaurant jobs. Some want to help their families pay the rent.
Additional funding couldn't fix a student's housing situation, she said. But it could help the school hire support and "wraparound" staff who might prevent a student from dropping out.
Boots also said increased funding has been needed for years prior to the pandemic to hire librarians — or reopen libraries to pay for after school and summer school enrichment programs or hire teachers for Advanced Placement and honors courses.
"Sometimes people will say, 'You can't just throw money at the problem,'" Boots said. "And while that's a great soundbite, money actually does matter in public education."
