Budget forces painful decision

The chart displayed in the office of Superintendent of Schools Paul Dakin shows yearly increases in the number of Revere students scoring in the advanced or proficient levels on the MCAS test, and decreases in failing scores.

But Dakin is discouraged. He believes that trend won't last.

Despite a $5 million increase in the school department's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a rise in fixed costs such as health insurance has forced Dakin, senior administrators, and the School Committee to choose between continuing three successful remediation programs or decreasing class sizes and continuing to offer full-day kindergarten.

After much debate, administrators dropped the ax on the remediation programs.

"It's discouraging," Dakin said. "We knew kids would improve with the remediation programs in place. With those programs not in place, we know they're not going to improve as much."

The department's total budget for the fiscal year starting in July is $56.9 million, up from $51.9 million last year. The "budget-breakers" are special education, which, not including out-of-district tuition, increased by $300,000 ; teacher payroll, which increased by $2.2 million ; health and dental insurance, up by $800,000 ; and utilities, up by $400,000, Dakin said. Additionally, the state is no longer offering academic support funding as it did five to six years ago, he said.

In an effort to improve academic performance and meet progress goals, Dakin initiated several innovative remediation programs. Two years ago, he began a mandatory program that added an extra 20 days of school for first- through third-graders reading below grade level. The district also featured a summer credit-recovery program for middle and high school students with failing grades so that they wouldn't have to repeat a grade. Students in need of improving their MCAS test scores could take preparatory courses on Saturdays during the school year, or in the summer. Last year, the district launched its first full-day kindergar ten program.

All but the kindergarten program are history.

Annie Deukmejian was told this year that her 7-year-old son, Christian, a second-grader at the Abraham Lincoln School, qualified for the summer reading comprehension program. Now, she said she is scrambling to find Christian a private tutor.

"I'm very disappointed," Deukmejian said. "Reading is the base for all the subjects. If you can't read, you can't comprehend."

Deukmejian said that, while she understands the school department struggled with the decision, she does not think it was the right one.

"Students who need extra help are not going to be getting it," she said. "My son is going to struggle."

About $400,000, or at the very least $350,000, is required to run the remediation programs, said Dakin, who a couple of weeks ago appealed to the state Department of Education for the added funds. A department official told Dakin someone would get back to him. To date, no one has, and Dakin doubts anyone will.

What this means, Dakin said, is that Revere High School students failing a course probably will have to attend school for a fifth year, third-graders reading below grade level will be taking the MCAS test as fourth-graders at a disadvantage, and students struggling with their MCAS test scores won't have the extra help they need.

A Revere High School introductory physics teacher, Jessica Quinn, said the effects of this will trickle down to teachers, who rely on the programs for supplemental income, and students who depend on the programs to relieve their packed schedules. Most students work jobs after school and in summer, and others have to care for siblings or their own children, Quinn said. Now, if they fail a course or need MCAS help, they'll have to cram it into the regular school day. Statistically, the more classes students have in a school day, the more likely they are to drop out, Quinn said.

"Our classes are getting smaller for the wrong reasons," she said. "There's concern for the students. To make up credits, they'll have to overload their schedules."

School Committee member and former Revere superintendent Carol Tye blames education reform standards that demand more from school districts but don't fork over the funds to help them do it.

"No Child Left Behind leaves behind a lot of children and a lot of programs. Given enough money, you can do more things; it's as simple as that," Tye said. "Do you run the programs or hire more teachers to reduce class size? We decided it would be more productive to hire teachers. It was an agonizing decision."

Dakin said the department will hire about eight new teachers in all grade levels to reduce class sizes. While some of that money will come from what was used to fund the remediation programs, Dakin said some teachers will be hired to replace retirees.

Since 1998, when MCAS testing began, Revere High students have steadily improved their performances. In math, for instance, 13 percent of students scored in the advanced or proficient levels in 1998; last year, it was 59 percent. The failure rate declined from 63 percent in 1998 to 15 percent last year.

"If there is any saving grace," Dakin said, it is that full-day kindergarten is getting "tremendous" reviews from teachers and parents.

Catching the students early might reduce the number of kids who need to be in remediation programs, he said, but it would be idealistic to say that urban school districts don't need those programs to close the achievement gap.

"Hopefully, it will be a one-year sting," Dakin said. "Hopefully, we can reinstate these programs when we look at the [budget] numbers a year from now. I hope this dazes us rather than knocks us out."

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.