LYNN — Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler is holding two community budget sessions this month, which will allow families to weigh in on how an anticipated increase in state funding should be spent in the Lynn Public Schools next year.
The first meeting will be held on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Thurgood Marshall Middle School library. A second session will be on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at the Lynn Classical High School library.
“It’s an opportunity for me to interface with members of the community about budget priorities,” said Tutwiler. “We don’t want to do our thinking and our planning behind closed doors. We really want to make sure that we’re bringing to bear on this budget planning effort the voices of the community.”
In addition, Tutwiler has directed the district’s 25 school principals to hold school-site council meetings to solicit input for how additional funding should be allocated in their respective fiscal year 2021 budgets. Those meetings are underway and are required to be completed by Friday, Feb. 14, Tutwiler said.
At both the superintendent and school council budget sessions, plans for how to direct the funding will be based on how to support the furthering of the core values laid out in the district’s five-year strategic plan. The ambitious document was approved over the fall and is focused on developing an inclusive learning environment that allows each student to meet their full potential.
The expected increase in state aid to the city’s public schools next year is due to the landmark Student Opportunity Act that was passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker in November. The act significantly helps districts that serve high percentages of low-income students.
The legislation includes a revamp of the state’s foundation budget formula, which is meant to provide more support for school districts to meet the rising cost of healthcare and special education costs, as well as educating English language learners (ELLs) and low-income students.
Lynn lawmakers said the legislation’s $1.5 billion investment in public education translates to $100 million to Lynn schools over seven years.
“On a high level, this act corrects decades-long funding shortcomings for school districts like ours in profound ways,” said Tutwiler. “We do not know specifically what the increase in state funding will be, but it will be substantive.”
The governor is expected to release projected state aid figures at the end of this month, Tutwiler said. But the additional funding comes with “strings attached,” he said, noting that there would be certain expectations for the district.
At a recent School Committee meeting, the superintendent shared some of those requirements from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The district is required to develop a plan, in collaboration with the public, on how to close student opportunity gaps. For instance, there’s a large achievement gap in Lynn schools between special education students and their regular education counterparts, and ELLs and native English speakers, he said.
“There’s an expectation that we’re leveraging the additional state funding to leverage that opportunity gap and I have every intention to do that,” said Tutwiler. “The additional funding is really designed to make up lost ground with particular groups of students and in particular areas that have struggled for 25 years.”
Although Tutwiler notes the district wants feedback for budget spending and does not intend for the sessions to be “disingenuous,” he said those expectations are driving some of the funding priorities.
Similarly, he said the additional $18 million in state funding Lynn Public Schools received in FY20 was largely used to increase staffing in the special education and ELL departments, which provide support for the district’s two lowest performing subgroups.
Another district priority is the need for additional social workers and guidance counselors to meet the social and emotional needs of students, he said.
At each of Tutwiler’s budget sessions, attendees will be presented with a framework of the LPS district strategic plan and related budget priorities. Community input will then be solicited.
“We are proceeding with this plan because it reflects our core values of collaborative relationships and shared responsibility, first and foremost, but also because we are genuinely interested in the perspectives and input of the broader community,” said Tutwiler.
