Patrick's support for more Metco funds cheered
Towns could receive $500 more per pupil
For the first time in more than a decade, state lawmakers might boost the budget for the program that sends inner-city youngsters to the suburbs for schooling - a prospect that has local education officials beaming.
The state money is a lifeline to the 37 school districts across the Commonwealth, including seven in this area, that have had to dig deeper into their own pockets over the past few years to keep alive the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity Inc. program, known as Metco. Governor Deval L. Patrick is requesting a $1.5 million increase for the agency's budget, raising it to $22.1 million.
"I certainly do believe that Metco is in need of additional funding to support the wonderful programs and opportunities, not only for our Metco young people, but also for our students who benefit from the Metco program," said Brenda Finn, superintendent of the Concord and Concord-Carlisle Regional school districts.
Concord and Concord-Carlisle are among the seven systems northwest of Boston that receive $4,000 per pupil from Metco to help educate students in the program, but spend much more than that on every pupil. Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Lexington, and Reading also participate in the program, which serves a total of 2,274 students.
The proposed $1.5 million hike could raise the per-pupil allotment to about $4,500, according to the agency's spokeswoman, Catherine Tang. The exact amount would depend on increases in the cost of pupil transportation, which Metco also subsidizes, Tang said.
In these trying financial times, when many communities have had to pass tax-limit overrides to support education budgets and charge fees for basic services, more reimbursement from Metco is critical, local school officials said.
In Concord and Concord-Carlisle, for example, the reimbursement for Metco students is far less than a third of the amount the districts spend for their education.
Metco sends 104 students to the Concord public elementary and middle schools and 74 to Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, according to Diana Rigby, assistant superintendent for both districts.
The spending on all pupils was $15,514 in the Concord schools, and $16,331 in Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, according to state Department of Education statistics for the 2006-2007 school year, the latest figures available.
Rigby said any extra money approved by the Legislature would go to narrow the gap between what is spent by the districts and Metco's share.
"Funding for education is never enough," Rigby said. "Any increase would be appreciated."
Kimberly Bovell, the local Metco director, said the program deserves greater support.
A Metco graduate herself, Bovell said she traveled from Dorchester for kindergarten through high school in the Needham public schools. She then attended Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, one of several historic African-American colleges started after the Civil War. She said her professors there were surprised to find she had attended public - and not private - schools, because of the quality of her classroom work.
She attributes that to Metco.
Perhaps even more important, Bovell said, are the program's "life lessons" about class and race - "the different things the students see when they cross Route 2."
Started in 1966, Metco today, with a statewide budget of $20.6 million, has 2,274 students living in Boston and Springfield and enrolled in suburban schools, Tang said.
In Lexington, the state's third-largest Metco community, with 264 students in the program, the district's per-pupil expenditure was $12,768 last year, according to state figures.
Cheryl Prescott-Walden, Lexington's Metco director, said the program has "suffered through 13 years of level funding. We're playing catch-up now to get to equity."
State Representative Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat who has pushed for a Metco funding hike for years, said he is "cautiously optimistic" the Legislature will approve it for next year.
Kaufman, who also represents parts of Arlington, said he has tried to get more money for Metco since 1995, when he was first elected. However, he said, it has not been until the last couple of years that he has seen an appetite for it on Beacon Hill.
Kaufman credits Patrick with requesting the $1.5 million increase. "This is the first time in anyone's memory a governor has stood fully tall behind the program," he said.
Jesenia Castro, the Metco director in Reading, said she hopes the Legislature will boost funding not only this year, but also in the future.
Castro, who attended school under the program in Weston, said Reading, with 62 Metco students, needs more funding to expand its participation.
Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com. 