Lynn School Committee Member Gallo's Letter Re: Colleague's 'Dereliction of Duty'

In last week's, the Daily Item published a story regarding concerns Lynn School Committee member Charlie Gallo had regarding the attendance of colleague Donna Coppola at Negotiation sub-committee meetings and his request for removal from Coppola's sub-committee memberships by Mayor Kennedy. While the article touched upon some of the issues raised, the complete letter was not published. See below for the full letter written by Charlie Gallo.

Lynn Public School District Demographics 2014-15

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently published the 2014-15 demographic reports for public school districts in the state. Per the DESE data, there are 14,871 students enrolled in the Lynn Public School district (which does not include those enrolled in charter school) as of October 1, 2014. This is an increase of 493 from October 1, 2013. In terms of the race/ethnicity, the breakdown is as follows (the numbers in parentheses represent the percent change from school year 2013-14):

• African American/Black: 10.7% (-0.3)
• Asian: 9.2% (-0.6)
• Hispanic/Latino: 56.4% (+1.9)
• Native American: 0.3% (0)
• White: 19.6% (-1.3)
• Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic: 3.7% (0)

In terms of special populations, LPS is comprised of a significant number of students who speak English as a second language as well as low income students.

• First Language not English: 54.1% (+0.1)
• English Language Learner: 18.8% (+1)
• Special Education: 15.4% (-0.4)

Additionally, the Lynn Public School district's student population is 53% male and 47% female.

Below is a breakdown of the special populations listed above by individual school. The plus or minus numbers in the 'Total Enrollment' column is the change from 2013-14.

Key
FLnE = First Language not English
ELL = English Language Learner

	FLnE*	ELL*	Special Education	Total Enrollment
Aborn	25.2%	6.6%	7%	258 (+10)
Brickett	42.6%	13.7%	5.5%	291 (-11)
Callahan	36.3%	9.7%	17.3%	496 (+5)
Cobbet	69.9%	38.5%	10.9%	595 (+1)
Connery	72.2%	32.8%	6.5%	611 (+29)
Drewicz	64%	30.9%	12.1%	511  (+53)
Early Childhood Ctr	44.4%	29.7%	15.7%	286 (0)
Fallon	25%	2.5%	97.5%	40 (-8)
Ford	64.1%	27.6%	5.7%	526 (+19)
Harrington	65.1%	32.3%	12.7%	656 (+33)
Hood	46%	18.1%	7.3%	454 (+15)
Ingalls	58.1%	30.1%	10.3%	738 (+5)
Lincoln-Thomson	33.6%	13%	6.2%	292 (+26)
Lynn Woods	6%	0.5%	17.9%	168 (-7)
Sewell Anderson	31%	12.5%	20.9%	297 (+8)
Shoemaker	19.1%	2.7%	28.5%	298 (+3)
Sisson	26.4%	6.4%	13%	454 (+2)
Tracy	67%	34.7%	4.5%	403 (+11)
Washington	57.6%	28.7%	10.7%	450 (+93)
Breed	61.1%	10.4%	18.7%	1,197 (-23)
Marshall	64.6%	16.6%	18.5%	1,001 (+44)
Pickering	33.4%	1.5%	20.1%	647 (+1)
Lynn Classical	58.5%	15.9%	14.7%	1,611 (+113)
Lynn English	58.2%	18.1%	12.4%	1,616 (+5)
Lynn Tech	61.4%	14.3%	27%	855 (+105)
Fecteau-Leary	40.3%	0.8%	41.2%	119 (-38)

 


All Data Taken from: www.doe.mass.edu

Lynn School Finance FY15

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently released preliminary fiscal year 2015 (FY15) school finance information. Lynn's information is as follows for FY15: 

 

The difference between the city's foundation budget and required net school spending amounts was discussed here. As of this most recent report, public education in Lynn is underfunded by $11,264,249 (required net school spending minus budgeted amount); this figure is 1.2% over the state's threshold for the incurring penalties which include the loss of state (Chapter 70) aid. In order to at least meet the 95% figure which would allow the city to avoid financial penalties, the city would have to add an additional $1,741,612.80  to the school budget based on these most recent figures.

You may also be interested in: 

• Lynn School Finance FY13 & FY14
• Lynn School Finance Comparison FY13 & FY14 
• UPDATED: Lynn School Finance FY13 & FY14
• Thoughts on the Lynn City Council Net School Spending Vote

Source: Chapter 70 District Profiles; http://www.doe.mass.edu/finance/chapter70/