Growing schools seek state boost

Malone said that’s why he and the Brockton School Committee have launched a petition drive to Governor Deval Patrick for millions of dollars in emergency relief to help the city keep up with the cost of serving its fast-growing enrollment.

Massachusetts is a year behind in its reimbursement numbers, which are calculated annually on Oct. 1. That has become a crisis for the sprawling city district of 15,700 students that has increased by 400 children in the last two years, Malone said, including 128 refugees from Haiti following that nation’s devastating earthquake.

The 22-school district’s financial forecast is dire as officials explore nearly $10 million in cuts to make up for the projected shortfall in state funding, the superintendent said.

Among remedies school officials have identified or are considering are closing Raymond school; eliminating programs such as two-way foreign language and drama; laying off as many as 430 employees who received pink slips last week; increasing some class sizes to as many as 40 students; and the petition they hope will get the attention of state officials.

The state’s Chapter 70 school funding formula “doesn’t work,’’ said Malone, who took over the district this school year. “It needs to come into the 21st century so we can find a way to fund the students we have now. Even though we have more kids, we’re receiving less reimbursement.’’

Roger Hatch, the school finance administrator for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said reimbursements actually have been a year behind the actual numbers since the 1990s.

And while Brockton’s concern about its shortfall is “valid,’’ Hatch said the district and others have also probably misinterpreted a twist in Patrick’s budget proposal that said no district would receive less funding than it did last year.

“People make assumptions that enrollment drives the formula, and it does,’’ Hatch said. “But also on the list are things like inflation and wage factors.’’

Malone said Brockton officials used conservative numbers to assemble the $200 million fiscal year 2011 budget, based on past growth and expected level funding. But a 2.2 percent impact due to inflation — and what they see as state underfunding — effectively put them in a $3 million hole, he said, the amount he hopes the state will now send.

Last week, Malone and the Brockton School Committee began circulating a petition that accused the state of using 2008 reimbursement numbers to fund the fiscal year 2011 budget. It called for the state to come up to the Oct. 1, 2009, level with an additional $4 million in aid.

But upon learning from Hatch that the information was incorrect, officials quickly removed it from the city’s website and, according to Malone, will move forward with a new petition aimed at reimbursement for the new Haitian students and others.

Robert Bliss, a spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, said the governor doesn’t have the ability to make that happen. “Such an expenditure would require a supplemental appropriation approved by the Legislature,’’ he said in an e-mail.

Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said it’s no secret that the reimbursement formula needs to be reconfigured. But it’s not only to compensate for current enrollment, he said; it’s also for additional funds for students from severely needy families.

“Brockton is probably the poster child for this,’’ said Scott. “It has come up with a significant slate of cuts. But lots of other districts are going through the same process.’’

Take Abington, he said, which had class sizes of 35 students last year and has already eliminated 54 positions in the middle of this year.

In fact, Scott said, a recent statewide survey of districts shows that approximately 2,500 teaching positions are set to be eliminated next year, the most since an all-time high of 7,000 teachers in 2000.

Nationally, Scott said, more than 275,000 teaching jobs are on the chopping block. The conundrum, he said, “is that expectations are not declining with the resources.’’

(During a keynote speech at Lesley University’s commencement ceremony on Wednesday, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said as many as 300,000 teachers nationwide — including 4,000 in Massachusetts — could lose their jobs if Congress doesn’t provide additional money to help struggling states and municipalities.)

In Brockton, Mayor Linda Balzotti said her community is struggling to do what’s right for students to ensure a good education in daunting times when there is no money.

“I graduated from this system, and it breaks my heart to see what they are going through,’’ Balzotti said. “It’s a very difficult time.’’

A public hearing on the school budget will be held on June 1.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.