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Snap Schott:
State's staggering new $131.8B tax-and-spend plan has critics howling |
K-12 Taking Primacy in States' Targeting of Stimulus Dollars
By: Alyson Klein Although precollegiate programs get the lion’s share of education aid under the federal economic-stimulus package, states are expected to use a considerable chunk of the nearly $100 billion in aid to restore cuts to—and even invest in—higher education programs. But where they have discretion, policymakers in some states hit hard by the economic downturn, such as Nevada and Tennessee, appear to favor increasing, or maintaining, funding for K-12 schools over higher education. That’s hardly a surprise, said David L. Shreve, the senior education committee director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, based in Denver. Typically, state higher education appropriations are "either feast or famine," he said. In lean times, states may be more inclined to trim higher education budgets, because they have a built-infunding mechanism: tuition. The stimulus measure, signed into law in February and formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes a $53.6 billion stabilization fund largely intended to help put education programs back on firmer fiscal footing. That money primarily is slated to restore reductions for fiscal years 2009 through 2011 previously made to K-12 and higher education. Federal Guidance If a state doesn’t receive enough money in the fiscal-stabilization fund to make both programs whole, it must use the money to restore spending levels proportionally to K-12 and higher education. If there is excess money from a $39.8 billion portion of the stabilization fund, it must flow to schools that receive money under the formula used to disburse Title I aid for disadvantaged students, according to guidance from the U.S. Department of Education. Colleges and universities are eligible for funding under the stimulus package as part of nearly $8.8 billion in grants to be given directly to governors, also included under that stabilization fund. Those institutions may use stabilization money to mitigate tuition increases and to pay for modernization, renovation, and repair of facilities. States are still sorting through the guidance from the Education Department, trying to determine how they’re allowed to spend the stimulus-program money. But in some states, K-12 programs appear to be prevailing in funding fights. For instance, Nevada has applied for a waiver from the maintenance-of-effort requirement under the stimulus law because it can’t meet the necessary commitment to higher education, even though it has kept up appropriations at the required level for K-12. Nevada appropriated $2.3 billion for precollegiate programs in fiscal 2009, and Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed reducing that to $2.11 billion in fiscal 2010. Under the stimulus law, states must maintain funding for all education programs at 2006 levels in order to be eligible for the federal aid. But Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that K-12 programs would suffer if his state doesn’t receive its stimulus funding. The waiver would ensure that the state receives $396 in stabilization dollars, according to the governor’s letter. The money would help the state offset proposed decreases in K-12 education, Mr. Gibbons wrote, including plans to slice teacher pay by 6 percent, eliminate teacher signing bonuses and merit pay, and reduce teacher-training programs. States are still waiting for federal guidance on which states will be eligible for waivers. Mr. Duncan has said he will look at how states cut education in proportion to other programs. In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen said colleges and universities can expect $100 million in stimulus funding, restoring some funding cuts. But Mr. Bredesen, a Democrat, made it clear his state would "completely protect and fully fund" K-12 programs. He also cautioned that the state’s higher education system shouldn’t expect the one-time federal money to become part of a permanent baseline. More than most other areas, higher education has dodged a bullet and bought some time, but there is a great deal of work to be done to reorganize and streamline for a much leaner future—to practice good stewardship," Gov. Bredesen warned in a March 23 budget speech. Tennessee’s higher education system already is considering a major reorganization of its governing structure, in part to conserve resources after the stimulus money dries up, said Mary Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee board of regents. On the other hand, states with brighter fiscal forecasts that haven’t cut K-12, such as Montana, are hoping to use some of the new funds to help out higher education. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, plans to use some of the largess to hold down tuition at public colleges and universities.
State's staggering new $131.8B tax-and-spend plan has critics howling
BY Kenneth Lovett and Glenn Blain ALBANY - Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders unveiled a record $131.8 billion tax-and-spend budget deal Sunday night.
Albany’s Big 3 Is Cut to One as Silver Flexes Might
By DANNY HAKIM ALBANY — It’s Sheldon Silver’s Albany now. He won the policy fight, forcing Gov. David A. Paterson to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, an idea that the governor decried as potentially disastrous three weeks ago. The $131.8 billion budget, which could hardly be called austere, is largely a reflection of the liberal tilt of Mr. Silver, and the Assembly’s predilection for big spending on social programs, no matter the economic climate. Mr. Silver also dictated the process, turning back the clock to the most secretive budget negotiations the capital has seen in years, casting aside the open government that Mr. Paterson and other Democrats once said would follow the party’s sweeping victories in recent state elections. He argued that technicalities in recently passed budget reform legislation allowed the Legislature to circumvent requirements for open meetings among those negotiating the spending plan. He argued that “nonprofit organizations throughout the state have been devastated by the economic downturn,” but lawmakers appropriated money for gun clubs, churches, a yoga foundation and the Wantagh American Legion Pipe Band, among thousands of other projects. Critics say Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side who has been speaker for the last 15 years, is the symbol of all that is broken in state government, a man who long ago forsook principle for power. They also say that he lacks the fiscal discipline to prudently manage the state’s escalating future deficits. Certainly, he is more influential than ever, a master negotiator who finds his counterparts diminished in stature. Mr. Paterson has dismal poll numbers and a staff in constant flux; even some of his supporters worry about his ability to be elected next year. In the Senate, Democrats are still learning to work the levers of power after more than 40 years in the minority, and Senator Malcolm A. Smith, the majority leader, is consumed with keeping his fractious caucus together. “I don’t feel like I prevailed,” Mr. Silver said of the budget in an interview Sunday night. “I don’t consider that a great goal.” “We went into this budget saying over and over again that the sacrifices will be shared, that the wealthiest New Yorkers would be asked to pay more, that we wouldn’t decimate education and health care to balance the budget,” he added. He conceded his experience gave him some inherent advantages. “Clearly we have a good staff and the Senate is still relatively new,” Mr. Silver said, adding of the Paterson administration: “Clearly they’re finding out how the process works. A lot of the staff is new.” Opposing Mr. Silver has proven futile, even for billionaire antagonists like Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose plans to charge drivers entering Manhattan and to bring a football stadium to the West Side were scuttled by Mr. Silver. Mr. Paterson, who no longer has a discernable ideology, is being increasingly marginalized. When he was laboring in obscurity as Senate minority leader, he was a champion of open government; as governor, he has been a sharp critic of the concept. Mr. Paterson had a liberal voting record during his more than two decades in the Senate, but as governor he has sought to reinvent himself as a champion of fiscal conservatism. His own budget plan, which he retooled earlier this month, outlined roughly $8 billion in spending cuts and $4.5 billion in new or increased taxes and fees, when one includes his plan to eliminate property tax rebate checks that were part of the state’s School Tax Relief program. Republicans, who were not meaningfully involved in the negotiations, pointed out that the tax hikes and other actions ran to more than $8 billion when one included moves like using tuition increases at state universities to balance the budget. Even without federal stimulus funds, state spending growth exceeds the rate of inflation. The $4 billion in income tax increases on the wealthy and the upper middle class, with increases starting for single filers earning $200,000, had been a priority for Mr. Silver, and initially opposed by the governor and Mr. Smith. Mr. Paterson warned of the risks of such a move earlier this month: “When we have raised taxes on the wealthy in the past, we have seen a loss of job growth almost immediately,” he said. Mr. Silver also reversed cuts to education proposed by the governor, including $185 million in cuts to pre-K special education programs as well as cuts to tuition assistance for public university students. He restored a cost-of-living increase to supplemental Social Security income checks that the governor had proposed to freeze, and moved up a plan to increase welfare grants to begin in June instead of next January. Where the governor did prevail, on proposals like an expansion of the state’s nickel bottle deposits to include bottled water, it was often on issues that were already Assembly priorities. “I can’t see what the governor got out of it, or what the Senate majority leader got out of it,” said Kenneth Adams, the chief executive of the Business Council of New York State. “If it’s done by three people and two of them didn’t get much out of it, it certainly sounds like the third person gets the spoils.” Still, even some who criticized the process acknowledge that some of Mr. Silver’s moves restored funding for worthy programs, especially in these hard times. At the same time, the state’s main financial engine, Wall Street, is undergoing a profound transformation and unlikely to soon produce the tax revenues of its heyday. Some wonder if an Albany led mainly by Mr. Silver will be willing to confront that reality. “The message hasn’t hit home yet that the state is in an enormous fiscal crisis,” said Elizabeth Lynam, the deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, adding of the new budget: “It’s a disgrace.”
Tough tasks for Regents' chief Merryl Tisch SCHOTT GRANTEE NEWS
BY Meredith Kolodner Merryl Tisch, who takes the helm of the powerful state Board of Regents this week, has performed a balancing act few accomplish: earning praise from city school officials - and their critics. The daughter of a rabbi and Hebrew school principal who grew up on the lower East Side, Tisch ascends to the post at a crucial time. She faces immediate challenges: choosing a new state commissioner and steering the state education system through a mix of budget cuts, anticipated federal dollars and the lurking issue of control over the city's schools. The law granting the mayor control of the schools was passed in 2002 and is up for renewal in June in the state Legislature. The Regents - who approve charter schools, oversee the commissioner and set some school policy - have no formal role in the decision, but legislators are expected to consider Tisch's position seriously. Sitting in the board's Park Ave. offices last week, the former first-grade parochial school teacher spoke bluntly about the achievements and failures of the city's school system. "I give them remarkably high marks for taking some of the challenges they took on," said Tisch, 53. "It's so easy to write off their success." But Tisch didn't mince words about what she said were excesses of mayoral control. "They took away their voice, and I think that was a mistake," she said, referring to low- and moderate-income parents. She praised Bloomberg for rooting out dysfunction and corruption, but said the academic record under him was mixed. She is "very concerned" about the discrepancy between rising state test scores and flat national scores. Tisch - who was 20 when she married her husband, James, who owns the Loews Corp. - was first appointed to the Board of Regents in 1996 and elected vice chancellor in 2007. She was just tapped to fill out the remaining year of outgoing Chancellor Robert Bennett's three-year term. City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has called her election a "terrific choice." Many of his critics agreed: Diane Ravitch praised her as an "outspoken advocate" for accuracy on graduation rates, and leaders of the Alliance for Quality Education and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lauded her insistence on matching increased standards with adequate funding. The charter school advocate promised a change in direction for the state Education Department from one that "punishes schools" to one that helps promote the best practices. Tisch said she was proud to be the first woman to head the Regents, but wants to go past that. "At the end of my tenure, I'd like them to lose that description," she said. "I'd like them to just say she was an effective chancellor."
Gov. Deval L. Patrick unveils $300 million in college loans
Wednesday April 01, 2009 By MICHAEL McAULIFFE With students across the state now receiving college acceptance letters and accompanying financial aid offers, Gov. Deval L. Patrick has announced the availability of $300 million in college loans for the 2009-10 academic year. The loans are offered through the state Educational Financing Authority at a fixed rate of 7.75 percent a year. Applications were available beginning on Wednesday. "The first step toward future success starts with education and securing opportunities for tomorrow's workforce," said Patrick. Kenneth M. Lemanski, vice president for advancement and college relations at Westfield State College, said loans can be pivotal in determining whether - or where - a lot of people attend college. "It makes the difference between whether they go or not, or whether they go to a four-year institution or a two-year institution," he said. Lemanski said that room, board, tuition, and fees for Massachusetts residents who attend Westfield State is about $15,000 a year. Students from outside the state pay about $20,000. Lemanski said the majority of WSC students seek financial aid. "I don't think we're any different than most colleges," he said. Springfield Technical Community College President Ira H. Rubenzahl welcomed Patrick's announcement. "We're clearly pleased that the governor, through this additional loan program, is supporting access to higher education in Massachusetts," said Rubenzahl in an e-mail. "We try to keep student charges low at STCC. Almost all of our financial aid is in the form of grants rather than loans. However, when students transfer to a (four-year college), loans may be necessary, as those costs tend to be significantly higher." Tuition and fees at STCC are $3,000 a year, based on 12 credits per semester. The government considers someone a full-time student if he or she is taking 12 credits. Thomas M. Graf, the authority's executive director, said some consumer loans offered by banks can feature interest rates of 10 to 14 percent, and are often variable-rate loans. Still, he encouraged prospective applicants to examine the marketplace. "Take a look around; compare us to other things," he said. The authority was created more than 25 years ago by the Legislature. It is overseen by a nine-member board appointed by the governor.
2 Enfield women launch the Enfield Foundation for Excellence in Education to finance school programs
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 ENFIELD - A new education foundation has been formed by two local women with students in town schools. Shannon E. Roberto and Maureen M. Brennan said the Enfield Foundation for Excellence in Education will help fund innovative educational programs offered by teachers, the library and other organizations. "I think the need has always been there," said Roberto, past president of the PTO at the Enfield Street School. "I think there are a lot of teachers that would like to have (special) activities and programs in their classrooms, but it's been difficult when they don't have an alternative source of funding." The purpose of the foundation is to raise funds and accept donations from corporations, organizations and individuals. Its board of directors will consider project proposals and award grants. "Shannon and I are both advocates for quality in public education," said Brennan, president of the PTO at Hazardville Memorial School. "Any time an enrichment program or some opportunity that the kids don't already have for learning is available, it's always welcome, especially with the (federal education) mandates strapping the schools. This is something positive we could do." The foundation's fund-raising goal is $1,200 by September, $7,000 by July 2010 and $15,000 by July 2011. The hope is to award some grants by July 2010. Brennan and Roberto said their idea is not new. There are about 80 established education foundations in Connecticut, and they are looking to those foundations for guidance. Examples of programs funded by education foundations in other towns that they think are worthwhile include: Nutmeg at Night at the Mary Cheney Library in Manchester, in which students read a list of selected books and later competed in a quiz on the content of the books; A fitness program in Avon, in which teachers received funding to purchase physical education technology equipment, such as heart rate monitoring devices, and A science project in Somers, where an "arson" was staged and students had the opportunity to try to solve the "crime." "We are proposing to fund programs that wouldn't normally be funded by the Board of Education or through the town budget," Roberto said. Brennan said the idea is to fund projects that are a little out-of-the-box. "We believe these programs should be creative, innovative and state-of-the-art," she said. While the foundation will focus on projects for local public schools, other educational programs from community organizations and other sources will be considered. Roberto and Brennan are optimistic their foundation will be successful, even in the current economy. "We're hoping people buy into it and become involved," Brennan said. "It's one of the few foundations and nonprofits that really help every child in our town." The foundation's next step is to get its board and officers finalized so that it can apply to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. They are looking for a diverse and well-represented board, to include community members, corporate and government representatives.
Under a third of men at black colleges earn degree in 6 years
That, though, is not necessarily true. An Associated Press analysis of government data on the 83 federally designated four-year historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) shows just 37% of their black students finish a degree within six years. That's 4 percentage points lower than the national college graduation rate for black students. One major reason: the struggles of black men. Just 29% of HBCU males complete a bachelor's degree within six years, the AP found. A few HBCUs, like Howard and all-female Spelman, have much higher graduation rates, exceeding the national averages for both black and white students. But others are clustered among the worst-performing colleges in the country. At 38 HBCUs, fewer than one in four men who started in 2001 had completed a bachelor's degree by 2007, the data show. At Texas Southern, Voorhees, Edward Waters and Miles College, the figure was under 10%. To be sure, women are outperforming men across education, and many non-HBCUs struggle with low graduation rates. And the rates don't account for students who transfer or take more than six years, which may be more common at HBCUs than at other schools. Most importantly, HBCUs educate a hugely disproportionate share of low-income students. Compared to other colleges defined by the government as "low-income serving," HBCU graduation rates are just a few points lower. Factoring in obstacles like lower levels of academic preparation, some research suggests that HBCUs do as well with black students as do majority-white institutions. Still, HBCUs' low completion rates, especially for men, have broad consequences, on and off campus. Women account for more than 61% of HBCU students, the AP found. They have unprecedented leadership opportunities, but also pay a price — in everything from one-sided classroom discussions to competition for dates. HBCUs educate only one-quarter of black college students, but produce an outsized number of future black graduate students and leaders. That group is distinctly female; HBCUs award twice as many degrees to women as to men. The good news is some HBCUs are working hard to boost graduation rates — and succeeding. Experts say that proves failure isn't inevitable — but also means it's fair to ask tough questions of schools that are not improving. HBCUs receive more than half their revenue from government. There is growing frustration with the waste of money — for students and taxpayers — when students have nothing to show for their time in college. President Barack Obama wants to return the United States to the top rank of college attainment by 2020. That will never happen if the colleges that do the heavy lifting of educating disadvantaged groups don't perform better. Even some within the tight-knit HBCU community say the schools bear some responsibility. They say too many HBCUs have grown content offering students a chance at college, but resisting the hard work to get them through. "I think HBCUs have gotten lazy," said Walter Kimbrough, president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock. "That was our hallmark 40, 50 years ago. We still say 'nurturing, caring, the president knows you.' That's a lie on a lot of campuses. That's a flat-out lie." 'Ladies pretty much run the yard' Glancing around her classes at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis and in the stands at basketball games, sophomore Velma Maclin has noticed something odd. Most of the so-called "Big Men on Campus" are women. "The ladies pretty much run the yard," said Maclin. Several male friends recently got discouraged and dropped out. She has little sympathy. She works the overnight shift at FedEx Corp. and says if she can stay in school, they can, too. Women have probably outnumbered men at HBCUs for most of their history, but the proportion has been gradually rising, the AP found — from 53% in 1976 to about 61% the last few years. On 17 HBCU campuses there are two women for every man. At a few, the ratio is three-to-one. "I don't think any of us have put our finger on exactly why this seems to be exacerbating," said Norman Francis, the longtime president of Xavier. It sounds like easy living for men at HBCUs, and some joke about the advantages. "You have so many beautiful women around you (that) you get to see and so many to pick from. The net is real wide," laughed Eric Jefferson, a senior at North Carolina Central University in Durham, which is two-thirds women. But while HBCU women are doing relatively well, many note the lack of gender diversity in their classes. The gender gap also weighs heavily on social life. For many HBCU women, said Monet Phillips, an N.C. Central senior, the feeling is: "Even though that I'm the Monday woman, I'm going to be the best Monday woman so that when he's with the Tuesday woman or the Wednesday woman then he'll be thinking of me." Like their counterparts at any college, HBCU women enjoy rewarding, lifelong friendships. But the competition for men can sometimes strain. "It's sad to say, but in the African-American community, it's hard enough for women to get along without the issue of men," said Bridgette Alexis, a LeMoyne-Owen freshman from Springfield, Mass. "You throw a small percentage of guys into the picture, and women who are looking and hoping to have boyfriends and relationships, and there's not enough for everybody to have one. So that just makes the situation worse." 'No. 1 barrier': Not asking for help? Why do so many men drop out? Money is the reason you hear most. More than six in 10 students at the HBCUs the AP analyzed get Pell Grants, which go mostly to students from families earning under $30,000. The faltering economy is hitting HBCU students hard. Fisk University in Nashville has lost 11% of its enrollment since August. Another reason is preparation. On average, black students are less well prepared for college — and black men less so than women. The best black students are now also being recruited by majority-white institutions. At Edward Waters, virtually every student takes developmental courses — essentially, to finish the high school education they never fully received. Only then can they start progressing toward a college degree. To explain the particular struggles of men, educators point to a range of cultural factors that affect black men everywhere, but which are especially visible at HBCUs. Men have fewer role models, and also seem to think they have more opportunities without a degree. Educators also describe a constant battle against two poisonous ideas: that black men can't succeed, or that if they do they are somehow less than genuine. Tyshawn Johnson, 20, a junior education major at Claflin University in South Carolina, says it's discouraging to see so few male faces on the campus, which is two-thirds female. "When (men) come to school they think they're never going to make it," he said. "They start out and when they don't think they're up to snuff, they just quit. And that's why females will always dominate the college ranks." There's no silver bullet strategy for boosting graduation rates. But persistence helps. Elizabeth City State University, a public HBCU serving a low-income corner of North Carolina, tries to identify who's struggling and throw every possible resource their way. The best professors teach introductory and developmental courses. There are mandatory sessions to help students correctly apply for federal financial aid. When students drop out, ECSU calls them to find out what went wrong and try to persuade them to return. At some HBCUs, there's a growing recognition that some strategies need to focus specifically on men. Last semester, Philander Smith established mentoring programs for men and aggressively recruited them. Some are simple: Students who came from homes without fathers never learned to tie a necktie, said Kimbrough, the president, and were embarrassed not to have one during chapel. So the school teaches them how. Graduation rates have improved from the teens to near 30%. "There's still this idea that guys come to college, and if you need to help, you don't ask for it. To me that's the No. 1 barrier," he said. "A lot of students are coming with issues students didn't even think about 30 years ago," Kimbrough said. "Our jobs have changed. I think we have to be much more intrusive." 'Some schools get it' UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, which represents 39 private HBCUs, said on its website the "average graduation rate at HBCU(s) is higher than the average graduation rate for African-Americans at majority institutions" — a claim that is contradicted, both for HBCUs and UNCF members, by the AP's findings. After inquiries from the AP, the organization removed that statement. Karl Reid, UNCF's senior vice president of academic programs and strategic initiatives, says the group is working with researchers at Morehouse College, an all-male HBCU in Atlanta, to find ways to help more black college men. It hopes to increase black male enrollment 20% at its member schools over the next five years, and to improve overall graduation rates 10%. "There seems to be a groundswell that we've got to get this right," Reid said. "Some schools get it." But he acknowledged, "the urgency varies." Every HBCU has success stories — students like LeMoyne-Owen senior Jerome Heard. With his good looks, good manners and a dynamite singing voice, it's hard to believe he had a 2.0 high school GPA. If LeMoyne-Owen hadn't taken a chance on him, he says he'd still be working at the Hobby Lobby store back home in Chattanooga. Here he has a 3.6 and was named "Mr. HBCU" in a national contest that crowns an informal HBCU student "king." "The teachers here just took me in and saw something in me, and said, 'I think you will be successful,"' he said. But the harsh reality is many HBCUs don't have the resources to give every student that kind of attention. Howard and Spelman have endowments valued in the hundreds of millions, but Edward Waters has just $1.6 million. Flagship universities typically get the lion's share of state funding over public HBCUs. In a perfect world, say experts like Kevin Carey of the think-tank Education Sector, HBCUs would have more resources to spend on the toughest students. But they don't, and "if you don't have the resources to serve students, you're not doing much good." "Some of these institutions ... have struggled along for some time and have just tried to be available, an option for students, and have focused on the experience," said Marybeth Gasman, a University of Pennsylvania historian of HBCUs. Many do heroic work with students others ignore, she said. But graduation rates below one-quarter won't cut it in an era of tighter accountability. "You have to keep in mind these students may be taking out loans and going into debt and still not get a degree," she said. Philander Smith's Kimbrough says neither HBCUs nor any college should admit students if they don't have the resources they need to get them through. "I think it's immoral to take someone when the indicators suggest this person is not going to graduate, and I don't have anything special for them," he said. "I'm just taking their money."
Highlighted below are some of the exciting projects of the Schott Foundation’s grantees. Please visit the Schott Foundation website at www.schottfoundation.org to see a listing of current grantees. Reception honored men in early childhood education by recognizing that men in the field are an "endangered species"
Announcement - Boston Public School students need your help! BPS Students support Local Tax increases to support education: The groups are Boston Mobilization, Boston Student Advisory Council, Boston Student Alliance for the Future of Education, Boston Youth Organizing Project, Chinese Progressive Association, Hyde Square Task Force, Sociedad Latina, and Youth on Board. After working with many BPS students to determine their interests and needs, the youth organizers are proposing that the state of Massachusetts approve local options legislation for Boston allowing it to increase taxes independent of the state. Mayor Menino's recent efforts to increase revenues for the City have been laudable. We ask that he allocate some of these revenues specifically for education, arguably one of the highest purposes of state and of city government. Specifically we are supporting increases in the following local taxes and propose that the additional revenue be targeted towards education. Hotel Tax: Increase the hotel tax by 1% to raise approximately $10 million for Boston. A large majority of the youth believe that a minimal tax increase on tourists visiting hotels is an acceptable tax increase. Even with this level of increase Boston's hotel tax will remain in the same range as other major cities such as New York, Chicago and Miami where hotel taxes range from 12.5% to 15.4%. We ask that this new revenue be directed to the BPS budget. Meal Tax: Support the City's proposal to increase the meal tax on prepared food, and to do so at the level of a 2% increase-- raising an estimated additional $47 million-- and earmark 1% directly for public education, providing more than 23 million additional dollars to the BPS budget. Boston's meal tax is currently 5% by comparison, cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco range from 8 ..5-10.3%. Parking Excise Tax: Support the City's proposal to implement a local parking excise tax of 10% for off-street commercial parking that lasts more than 2 hours. This would raise approximately $28 million for Boston, which we also ask to be directed to the BPS budget. In addition to its environmental benefits, a significant proportion of the burden of this tax would fall on people who live outside of Boston. Many other major US cities, including Chicago, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, have parking excise tax rates that range from 15-38%. We understand that at times like these it is difficult to ask people to pay more in taxes, but it is imperative that we find ways to pay for the education of our city. If we do not invest in our young people, especially in their education, we will surely pay a higher price for our shortsightedness in the future. These are students from many different schools, from many different organizations, and they have come together. You can support their efforts by: What is the "local option"? What BPS Students need from you:
For more information call Shaka or Najma at the Boston Youth Organizing Project |
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The Snap Schott is distributed by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. For more information, please visit www.schottfoundation.org. |
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