New Metric Fails to Capture Large Number of Lynn's Low Income Student Population

Starting in 2011-12, the US Department of Agriculture piloted a program called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) which allowed districts or schools with at least 40% of students qualifying to offer free lunch and breakfast to all students without collecting eligibility paperwork. The benefits of CEP were reported as reducing the burden of reporting on families as well as on schools for collecting and accounting for lunch fees. Additionally, it would reportedly reduce the stigma of participating in school lunch programs because all students would be eligible. In Massachusetts, because many districts' low income population were based on participation in free and reduced lunch, however, there was a need to redefine low income in a way that was accurate and consistent between districts/schools that did and did not participate in CEP.  The state recently instituted a new 'economically disadvantaged' metric which categorized students as ED based on the following criteria:

• Students whose families participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Students whose families receive Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC)
• Students in Foster Care
• Students with MassHealth

The previous low income measure was based on eligibility for free or reduced price lunch, receiving Transitional Aid to Families benefits, or being eligible for food stamps (SNAP). The change is metric from low income to economically disadvantaged has resulted in a considerable drop in the number of students categorized as 'poor.' Compared to school year 2013-14, Lynn saw a 42.4% drop in lower income students when the new metric was used in 2014-15; Revere's low income population was halved using the new metric. 

	2012-13 LI	2013-14 LI	2014-15 ED	2015-16 ED
Brockton	12,803	13,722	7,892	8,033
Chelsea	5,236	5,105	3,032	3,129
Lynn	11,684	11,933	6,870	7,101
Revere	5,038	5,315	2,629	2,702
Springfield	22,127	22,556	17,330	17,108
Worcester	18,082	17,923	12,478	13,150

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has noted some keys reasons that fewer students are being identified as low income. Most notably, not all low income families enroll in public assistance programs. This is particularly true of undocumented families or parents but many other low income families as well who may simply refuse apply for assistance. More significantly, the state is not matching all of the students with the relevant public programs listed as criteria for being ED. For example, MassHealth Limited, which covers 16,000 children, was not a part of the initial matching process in the fall of  2015. Further, there are other unresolved technical problems in matching assistance programs with school enrollment data such that students enrolled in the relevant programs are not being matched and therefore left out of the 'economically disadvantaged' count.

School districts, particularly those with significant low income populations, are in disagreement with the change. In February, the Lynn School Committee passed a resolution against the accounting  change stating that the "under-counting of low-income students is harmful and unfair to districts like Lynn that are committed to serving all students and have come to rely on the extra funding for low income students provided through Chapter 70." Three quarters of Lynn's foundation budget is derived from state Chapter 70 funding. The Revere Public Schools' Superintendent Dr. Dianne Kelly is of a similar sentiment writing "this change is devastating the budgets of small and mid-sized urban districts... The fact is the state has chosen to not count thousands of poor kids when determining school funding." Chelsea's Superintendent, Mary Borque, went one step further saying "The integrity of the Chapter 70 formula...is now compromised." 

The new low income metric does indeed have major implications for districts' Chapter 70 funding allocations. To mitigate the effect of fewer classified low income students, however, the foundation budgets in fiscal year 2017 were adjusted in that the rates applied  to a district's ED population were based on the concentration of low income students. The base increment for ED students was $3,775 (Decile 1) with increases up to $4,135 (Decile 10) for districts with the highest concentration of ED students.  Lynn is in Economically Disadvantaged Decile 10 and received an additional $4,135 per ED student. Despite the increased aid for ED students compared to the FY16 rate of $3,142,  Lynn's overall foundation budget per pupil actually decreased in FY17 compared to FY16 even though the student population increased by 427. In fact, Lynn's foundation budget per pupil is just $11 more than it was in FY14 when the school population had 1,538 fewer students. It should also be noted that the English Language Learner, Vocational, Special Education In-District and Special Education Out of District student population and their subsequent increments all increased from FY16 to FY17.




The change in Lynn's foundation budget is largely due to the fact that Lynn is receiving increased low income student aid for a smaller population. In FY17, Lynn will see an increment of $37.5 million for its ED population of 9,078 (55.2%) of the student population. This is compared to low income student aid of $41.7 million in FY16. Using the low income numbers from FY16, Lynn would have seen nearly an additional $16 million if the FY17 rate of $4,135 per pupil was applied. This and the fact that the gap between the FY16 and FY17 foundation budgets is only $222,566 indicates that there is an issue in capturing all of districts' needy students and subsequently providing the aid that is necessary to adequately educate them. Consideration of the specific recommendations made in regard to low income students in the Foundation Budget Review Commission report should be made particularly as they relate to providing any and all relevant programming and supports for this population of students. It is evident that the new economically disadvantaged metric is missing a substantial proportion of Lynn's student population and as a result the district is missing out on much needed aid.


Data Taken from: www.doe.mass.edu 

MA Schools with the Lowest Dropout Rates Enroll High Percentages of Low Income, Blakc & Hispanic/Latino Students

An article recently appearing in the The Atlantic titled Segregation Now discussed how 60 years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, separate but equal schooling is reappearing in the Tuscaloosa, AL public school system. In the article, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes:

"High-poverty, segregated black and Latino schools account for the majority of the roughly 1,400 high schools nationwide labeled “dropout factories”—meaning fewer than 60 percent of the students graduate. School officials often blame poor performance on the poverty these kids grow up in. But most studies conclude that it’s the concentration of poor students in the same school that hurts them the most."

In Massachusetts, there are 42 schools that currently could be considered 'dropout factories' based on the criteria of having a graduation rate of less than 60%

School	City	2013 4 yr. Grad Rate	% Low Income
East Boston High	Boston	58.0%	76.0%
Jeremiah E. Burke	Boston	56.8%	79.7%
City on a Hill Charter	Boston	53.4%	86.7%
Wareham Cooperative	Wareham	52.7%	53.8%
Fitchburg Alt. Ed	Fitchburg	51.6%	61.5%
The English High	Boston	51.5%	87.2%
International High	Lawrence	48.5%	92.7%
Gateway to College	Ralph C Mahar	48.0%	4.7%
Boston International	Boston	45.5%	77.4%
High School Science-Tech	Springfield	45.0%	81.8%
Charlestown High	Boston	42.2%	87.5%
Edison Academy	Brockton	39.7%	84.9%
Dean Vocational Tech	Holyoke	39.3%	92.2%
Boston Adult Academy	Boston	36.6%	76.9%
Dorchester Adult Academy	Boston	36.5%	82.7%
High School of Commerce	Springfield	35.8%	80.6%
Resiliency Prep	Fall River	34.7%	91.3%
Gtr. Egleston Community	Boston	33.7%	91.4%
Horace Mann - Schl Deaf	Boston	33.3%	91.9%
Liberty Prep	Springfield	33.3%	81.2%
Springfield High School	Springfield	31.7%	81.5%
Goddard Alternative	Brockton	30.8%	96.2%
School for Exceptional Studies	Lawrence	30.0%	94.3%
Gardner Academy	Gardner	27.8%	70.3%
Trinity Day Academy	New Bedford	27.3%	70.7%
Springfield Public Day	Springfield	26.8%	87.4%
Seacoast Day	Revere	24.7%	89.4%
Whaling City Jr/Sr	New Bedford	24.2%	84.8%
Community Academy	Boston	23.1%	82.1%
Gateway to College	Springfield	21.7%	77.1%
High School Learning Ctr	Lawrence	20.5%	81.4%
Fecteau-Leary Jr/Sr	Lynn	20.0%	89.9%
Full Circle	Somerville	20.0%	91.1%
William McKinley	Boston	18.6%	94.0%
Phoenix Charter Academy	Chelsea	18.3%	87.6%
Boston Day & Evening Charter	Boston	16.7%	84.8%
BB Russell Alt	Brockton	15.8%	92.2%
Salem Community Charter	Salem	15.4%	97.7%
Brockton Champion	Brockton	15.3%	70.1%
Haverhill Alternative	Haverhill	12.5%	95.9%
Lowell Middlesex Charter	Lowell	10.4%	79.8%
Chicopee Academy	Chicopee	7.3%	94.3%

The average low income rate at these schools based on the 2013-14 enrollment data is 82.3%; the range was 4.7% to 97.7% with Gateway to College School in Ralph C Mahar being the major outlier. At the district level, there are three public school systems that fall into this category as well (Holyoke, 53.8%; Springfield, 54.9%; and New Bedford, 59%) in addition to the charter schools listed above which the state also categorizes as single-school districts.


Looking at the enrollment of black and Hispanic/Latino students, these students make up a high percentage of the populations at the schools on this list.

School	2013 4 yr.  Grad Rate	% African Amer./Black	% Hispanic/ Latino
East Boston High	58.0%	66.4%	13.2%
Jeremiah E. Burke	56.8%	75.9%	20.1%
City on a Hill Charter	53.4%	65.0%	30.4%
Wareham Cooperative	52.7%	6.7%	3.8%
Fitchburg Alt. Ed	51.6%	3.4%	42.5%
The English High	51.5%	41.8%	51.0%
International High	48.5%	0.2%	98.5%
Gateway to College	48.0%	4.7%	7.8%
Boston International	45.5%	46.7%	47.2%
High School Science-Tech	45.0%	18.7%	69.4%
Charlestown High	42.2%	41.9%	30.4%
Edison Academy	39.7%	71.0%	9.2%
Dean Vocational Tech	39.3%	1.5%	91.1%
Boston Adult Academy	36.6%	64.6%	28.3%
Dorchester Adult Academy	36.5%	68.8%	20.4%
High School of Commerce	35.8%	24.4%	65.7%
Resiliency Prep	34.7%	10.4%	26.8%
Gtr. Egleston Community	33.7%	37.7%	52.6%
Horace Mann - Schl Deaf	33.3%	36.0%	41.4%
Liberty Prep	33.3%	12.5%	65.6%
Springfield High School	31.7%	26.2%	60.0%
Goddard Alternative	30.8%	45.3%	13.2%
School for Exceptional Studies	30.0%	4.6%	82.5%
Gardner Academy	27.8%	0.0%	2.2%
Trinity Day Academy	27.3%	9.8%	24.4%
Springfield Public Day	26.8%	36.2%	51.1%
Seacoast Day	24.7%	6.2%	52.1%
Whaling City Jr/Sr	24.2%	20.2%	37.4%
Community Academy	23.1%	77.2%	16.0%
Gateway to College (Springfield)	21.7%	22.9%	601.0%
High School Learning Ctr	20.5%	1.8%	94.0%
Fecteau-Leary Jr/Sr	20.0%	19.7%	43.3%
Full Circle	20.0%	21.4%	35.7%
William McKinley	18.6%	49.1%	35.0%
Phoenix Charter Academy	18.3%	25.9%	64.8%
Boston Day & Evening Charter	16.7%	48.6%	35.3%
BB Russell Alt	15.8%	70.3%	14.1%
Salem Community Charter	15.4%	7.0%	46.5%
Brockton Champion	15.3%	41.2%	19.6%
Haverhill Alternative	12.5%	10.2%	38.8%
Lowell Middlesex Charter	10.4%	2.0%	38.4%
Chicopee Academy	7.3%	6.6%	55.7%

The average percent of black and Hispanic/Latino students combined at these schools is 71.1% based on the most recent data (the average for black students is 29.8% and 54.2% for Hispanic/Latino students).

All data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu