District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

FY 2010 Budget Update: Board's Budget Submission to Secretary of Education

December 11, 2008

Paul Reville, Secretary
Executive Office of Education
One Ashburton Place
14th Floor, Room #1403
Boston, MA 02108

Dear Secretary Reville:

Enclosed are the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Recommendations, adopted by the Board on November 18, 2008. I am transmitting these budget recommendations to you in accordance with Chapter 69, Section 1A, which states: "The commissioner shall propose a budget to the board; said budget shall reflect the goals and objectives of the board and the secretary of education, in this chapter called the secretary. The board shall review and make recommendations regarding the budget to the secretary. The secretary shall then prepare and submit a budget request on behalf of the department to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on education, and the secretary of administration and finance."

The budget worksheet contains the two FY2010 Budget requests (an anticipated maintenance and an expansion budget) that were adopted by the Board at its November 18th meeting. Also included on the chart is a second maintenance budget that reflects our Department's lower maintenance target that we transmitted to you at your request in late November. All three FY2010 budget requests are in blue text and the priority expansion or consolidated programs are in bold text. You will note that none of the budgets include an estimated amount to fully fund the FY2010 Chapter 70 formula. A number of data elements used in the calculation of the Chapter 70 formula are not available at this early date. The Department will work with you, the Governor, and the Legislature to assist with the calculation of the Chapter 70 formula as the data becomes available.

At its November meeting, the Board adopted an anticipated maintenance budget of $568.5 million and an expansion budget of $680.8 million, excluding Chapter 70. A third revised maintenance budget of $547.1 million was transmitted to you subsequent to the Board's November meeting.

The spreadsheet columns identify:

The budget items are presented in four categories on the spreadsheet: 1) grants to school districts and other entities; 2) direct educational services in institutional settings; 3) Department-directed programs; and 4) local aid, including Chapter 70.

The budgets presented on the spreadsheet reflect two principles:(1) the elimination of earmarked funds in favor of Department-implemented initiatives that include the solicitation of non-governmental partners through a competitive bidding process to secure performance-based contracts for services, and (2) the consolidation of similar programs into a combined new account that will allow the Board and Commissioner to target scarce resources in these new accounts to address high priority needs.

Brief descriptions of all the Board's budget expansion items are listed below in the same order as they appear on the attached two-page chart:

• Expansion of the Department's current Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) Program to $42.8 million. The requested increase will allow the Department to increase funding for FDK classrooms in low income / high need districts to $18,000, will allow funding for those high need districts that have not been eligible under the current budget language and will allow for continued "Transition to FDK" grants to achieve the goal of universal FDK.

• $26.0 million for a new consolidated Extended Learning Day Program. This new program consolidates the After-School and Expanded Learning Time Programs into a comprehensive Extended Learning Day Grant Program.

• $2.2 million for a new consolidated Gifted and Talented Grant Program. This new program consolidates the current W.P.I. School of Excellence and Gifted and Talented Programs.

• $10 million for a new consolidated Statewide Reading Program for elementary and middle schools. This new program combines the current Bay State Reading Institute and Early Intervention Tutorial Programs earmarks with the John Silber Early Literacy funds to create a new Statewide Reading Program.

• $5.0 million for a new consolidated Drop-Out Prevention and Recovery Program. This new program consolidates the current matching Citizen Schools and Youthbuild earmarks and Alternative Education Grants to create a new Drop-Out Prevention and Recovery Program.

• $12.0 million for a new Interdisciplinary Human Services Grant and Technical Assistance Program to promote integrated academic, human services and health promotion activities.

• $1.5 million for new 21st Century Challenge Grants to create up to five 21st Century Districts and up to ten 21st Century Schools, which will allow ESE to fund pilot sites consistent with the recommendations of the Board's Task Force on 21st Century Skills.

• $5.0 million for expansion of the Department's current Professional Development for Mathematics Program. The increase is requested to more adequately address the state-wide demand for content based professional development in mathematics and science.

• $1.0 million for a new consolidated Professional Development for Individualized Student Instruction Program. This program expands the current Professional Development for English Language Acquisition (ELA) Program with additional funding to train classroom teachers to address the individual needs of English language learners and students with disabilities within the regular classroom setting.

• $2.0 million of new funds to the Department to develop curriculum resources to assist schools and educators in the improvement of curriculum and to identify and disseminate effective school- and district-based instructional practices.

• $3.6 million to adequately fund the Educational Quality and Accountability Center that was transferred to ESE this past June. The increase of $600K represents the annualized cost of staff salaries and full-year contracts to meet the requirements of the legislation.

• $34.1 million to fund the MCAS contract and the staff associated with implementing this program. The increase of $4.8M will allow the development and piloting of multiple assessment measures, participation in a multi-state Algebra II end-of-course exam, development of an on-line Biology test, and accelerated scoring next year.

• $1.0 million for a new Regionalization Planning and Implementation Grant Program.

• $17.3 million for the Department's Main Administration Account. This represents the minimum funds required in FY2010 to maintain the Department's new offices and administrative staff that are funded in FY2009.

• $65.0 million to fully fund Regional School Transportation, an increase of $3.7 million above the FY2009 GAA.

• $2.2 million to fully fund the Transportation of Non-Resident Students, an increase of $125 thousand above the FY2009 GAA.

• $247.5 million to fully fund the Special Education Circuit Breaker Program at the 75% reimbursement rate, an increase of $17.4 million above the FY2009 GAA.

If you have any questions about these recommendations, I would happy to discuss them with you.

Sincerely,

Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D.
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education

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