Restore priority teachers for continued progress
After crafting a budget within the revenue guidelines set by the city, which required a less than one percent increase and the elimination of 60 positions, the Lowell School Committee voted last night to send the manager a list of 10 priority teaching positions to fully or partially restore if additional funds are made available. (Related Sun article here.) The restorations, as the list below indicates, are for teaching positions in core areas such as math, reading, and English-language instruction. Restoring all 10 positions will cost $550,000—not an easy ask given the current fiscal environment. But we can’t afford NOT to do it when the ultimate price may be a serious decline in student achievement. For example, in our latest MCAS results from 2007, 14% more Lowell sixth graders scored advanced/proficient in math and 15% less scored in the warning category. Three of those priority positions directly impact middle-school math instruction. Also, four of the positions are to restore elementary reading teachers at state-labeled Commonwealth Priority Schools—those schools that have not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on MCAS. In yet another case of unfunded government mandates, these schools are judged on student performance without being provided the resources to meet their students’ needs. Worth noting: Last year, of the five largest districts in the state, Lowell had the highest percentage of schools making AYP in English, and the second highest for AYP in math. We’re making progress and Lowell is one of the state’s most successful large urban districts, but we still have a long way to go. We will not get there by constantly cutting positions—360 since 2002. The only way to improve our schools is to make educating our children a priority, which right now means funding the priority list. To see the list, check:
1 1.0 ESL Teacher for Molloy Alternative School
2 1.0 ELA/ESL Teacher split between Bartlett and Pyne
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3 1.0 Mathematics Art at Rogers for Allied Arts/Math
4 1.0 Mathematics Intervention Teacher at Wang
5 1.0 Instructional Technology Teacher at Stoklosa for Allied Arts/Math
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6 5.0 Elementary Reading/ESL at Lincoln, Morey, Murkland, Pawtucketville, Shaughnessy
Each position needs to be budgeted at $45,735 plus health insurance cost of $9,365 ($55,000)