Senate approves GCEI cuts
The state Senate today approved cutting the geographic cost of education index -- or GCEI, the component of Thornton that gives more money to school districts where the cost of educating students is higher. The governor's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as the version of the budget passed by the House of Delegates, funds GCEI at 100 percent. The Senate's version funds it at only 60 percent, with the remaining 40 percent going to plug a hole in school construction funding. For Baltimore, it would mean an $8.7 million loss. Montgomery, Prince George's, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties would also take significant hits.
The Senate is now debating further cuts to education for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 by continuing the cap on inflation that was supposed to lift next year and reducing something known as the "supplemental grant." These cuts would leave the city schools with annual shortfalls of at least $50 million for each of those years. Since the central office has already been slashed for this academic year and next, schools would see the impact directly. Why is it necessary to cut for future years now? Could it be that legislators want to avoid cutting schools next year, in an election year, so they're doing it now as a pre-emptive move?
It's worth noting again that these changes, as well as the GCEI funding reduction, were introduced late Friday night by the Senate's budget and tax committee when no one was watching. The two senators from Baltimore on the budget and tax committee, Nathaniel McFadden (chair of the city delegation and a school system employee) and Verna Jones, voted for the proposal. The reason no one was watching was because it was assumed that the committee would adopt its subcommittee's recommendations on education, but it did not.
Once the Senate's vote is complete, the budget will go to a conference committee with the House.
I just spoke with Dr. Alonso about the Senate's GCEI cut. "These are dollars that were intended to be used in recognition of the difficulty of certain districts in serving the children," he said. "It's part of Thornton, and it's wrong to take away from certain districts... It's wrong to take away from needy children."
Alonso said an $8.7 million loss would limit his plans to expand vocational education and reduce the scope of planned expansion of pre-kindergarten. "In a district where so many things need to be done, that is a tragedy and a missed opportunity," he said.
While legislators are saying that schools will make up the funding loss with stimulus money, the stimulus dollars come with strings attached. Alonso said he talked with U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan and "the stimulus dollars are meant to be used to change the character of education in this country. They're not meant to absolve local governments of their responsibility to adequately fund education." In addition, the biggest cut under the Senate proposal would come in fiscal year 2012, the year the stimulus money runs out.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
Once again Baltimores weak representatives fail to stand up for the children of this city. I hope AAA downsizes McFadden and he will for once see the results of his neglect.
Posted by: OverTheTop | April 1, 2009 7:48 PM
All of this political gaming makes me want to stand up, beat my chest and scream!!!!!! How many letters can we write? How many protests? How many meetings can we attend? And all while we are testing kids, teaching, doing tutoring and mentoring. coaching, writing lesson plans at midnight, grading papers at 3:00AM,attending unpaid PD after school hours,attending parent engagement meetings at night,attending school events at night, and going to grad school ourselves.Never mind our own families.Every voter needs to look closely at the voting patterns of their reps.Is the name of the game to wear us down at school and hope we do not have the energy to react to yet another political situation? Sara, many schools are suffering indefensible budget cuts. Have you explored that yet? This was even before today.Our most vulnerable people, the children of Baltimore City once again get shafted. Teachers have traditionally made up the difference. I can't afford to do that anymore.
Posted by: wise educator | April 1, 2009 9:08 PM
Sarah,
Thank you for following these important details. The major cuts proposed to the Thornton formula for the two years beyond this budget year are going to have a huge impact on schools across the state. The shift in GCEI funds to the capital budget does not fund any new school construction projects- it just allows them to fund more non-school projects. Advocates should contact their legislators to ask that budget conference committee members support the House version of the budget!
Posted by: Bebe Verdery | April 1, 2009 9:47 PM
This is so frustrating! I don't think anyone should prioritize funding school construction over directly funding the neediest schools' budgets so they can hire teachers and teach kids. Is it because construction companies are always so generous with their campaign contributions?
Posted by: Adam C | April 1, 2009 10:10 PM
Bebe, What is defined as a non-school project? How can we contact you directly? You are at the ACLU, correct? Sara,please post legislator emails, please.
Posted by: wise educator | April 1, 2009 11:07 PM
this post isn't directed only at you, sara. however, your blog is one of the few sun blogs i read so i'm posting it here.
the sun blog system isn't living up to its potential. i'd better sara's blog is one of the ones that has a relatively higher number of viewers. furthermore, this is a topic that has relevance for people across the state. however, the sun drew in only a handful of comments. if you look at the more controversial articles (e.g. a cop beating someone up), the sun doesn't allow comments at all.
the blog/ posting system should be opened up. assume people aren't going to say anything that will really be a problem if it's posted (e.g. adverts, threats). you'd get more replies & more readers. stroll on over to the WP as a model. they use their blog system to draw in new readers and make them regulars.
Posted by: jim | April 2, 2009 12:56 AM
I sent a rather terse and angry letter to my State Senator (Senator Nathaniel McFadden) last night. I'll share his response, which I find fairly weak:
I am very sorry you are upset about the budget cuts to Baltimore City. However, if I may just let you know Baltimore City is going to receive federal funding from President Obama. We are working to try to ensure that the students and teachers in Baltimore are taken care of. I am and always will be an advocate for our schools.
No admission (or worse perhaps no understanding) of the limitations of the spending stimulus money. I'm getting more depressed by the moment.
Posted by: a parent | April 2, 2009 10:12 AM
Is McFadden stuck on stupid?.. has he attended any of the Budget briefings where AAA made it clear that even with the Re-Investment funding, the system was facing cuts.
And what exactly does he do for BCPSS????
Posted by: OverTheTop | April 2, 2009 10:38 AM
To look up your legislator use this website: http://mdelect.net/. To email your legislators regarding getting the House version of the budget passed i.e. no cuts to education in 2011, 2012 copy and paste this ACLU link into your Web browser: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1433.
Posted by: Sue Fothergill | April 2, 2009 10:46 AM
Wise: I think that Bebe (who is from the ACLU) just meant that, by sending some of the GCEI money to school construction, the state would have more money for things that are not related to education. Correct me if I'm wrong, Bebe.
Posted by: Sara Neufeld | April 2, 2009 10:54 AM
Yet another angry email sent to Sen. McFadden (this one not so terse):
I hope you are aware of the many limitations on the stimulus spending for education. Although I would love to see construction spending on the City Schools keeping class sizes from growing, having teachers for the arts, gym, libraries etc, is essential to keep our test scores moving in the right direction. Our teachers need support and mentors - this cannot be funded by stimulus money. The cuts to funding of non-public placements for special ed students will drastically hurt some of the most vulnerable kids that are in City Schools. I am especially concerned about the GECI (geographic cost of education index) cuts. This basically says that the promises of Thorton, trying to bring some equity in a state school system with such diverse county wealth levels, are being thrown out. I appreciate that you care about City Schools and that you support them, but this budget that the Senate has passed is a disaster for our schools. The impact will be felt for many years and it's being done right after so many people have been praising the rising test scores that our students and teachers have achieved. Why are we cutting the funding out from under them as we're starting to turn things around?
Posted by: a parent | April 2, 2009 10:59 AM
In case the link to the ACLU email generator isn't working for you (it didn't for me), I put an html hyperlink here. If you click on the blue word "here" it will take you to a page where you fill out information. Then it figures out who your representatives are and lets you send a form letter (that you can personalize). I think we can flood them if everybody does this.
Posted by: a parent | April 2, 2009 12:46 PM