Commissioner's Update
December 6, 2006

Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have 2 announcements and 3 items recently posted at www.doe.mass.edu for your review.

Update

District Expenditures Per Pupil

Our School Finance office has developed a new statistical series for reporting district per pupil expenditures. This new series has several major advantages over the old "day program" per pupil expenditure statistics that we have used for many years: it includes all operational expenditures, regardless of funding source; it includes spending on students in out-of-district placements; and it uses the same functional categories that are now used in the foundation budget. It presents a complete picture of district spending that should be extremely useful to district staff, state policymakers, and researchers.

We have published on our website http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/statistics/function05_note.html a complete explanation of the new series; the calculations for each district for FY05; and a comparison to the FY05 day program statistics. FY06 data will be published as we complete our review of your end of year reports.

Please note that for most districts, your per pupil expenditure will be higher (16.8%, on average) than it was using the old metric. If you need help in explaining this change to the number crunchers in your towns, contact Jeff Wulfson or Roger Hatch in our School Finance office.

The Princeton Prize in Race Relations

In order to recognize, support, and encourage young people who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the cause of relations among the races, Princeton University is sponsoring an awards program for high school students - the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Applications postmarked by January 31, 2007, will be eligible for prizes - including cash awards up to $1,000 for particularly noteworthy work - that will be presented in the spring of 2007. If you know of a high school student who is helping to improve race relations, please encourage him or her to apply. Any student currently enrolled in grades 9-12 in the Greater Boston area is eligible. The student must have been actively involved in a volunteer activity http://www.princeton.edu/PrincetonPrize/faq/ in the last 12 months that has had a significant, positive impact on race relations - broadly defined - in his or her school or community. Details at http://www.princeton.edu/PrincetonPrize/.

Postings at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. Microsoft Statewide Donation
   
2. Spring 2006 MCAS ELA Student Compositions
   
3. MEPA District Reports
   

Sincerely,

David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education