Good morning, my name is Kim Gibson, president of the Brockton Education Association, which represents all certified staff in Brockton.
Thank you for hearing my concerns regarding the budget crisis that school districts across Massachusetts, but specifically Brockton, is facing for FY27.
Students in Brockton are once again about to lose a significant amount of learning support because of budgets that do not prioritize their needs.
Students in Brockton are once again about to lose a significant amount of learning support because of budgets that do not prioritize their needs. Brockton relies heavily on state funding for our public schools. We are feeling the effects of how inflation and enrollment fluctuations are not adequately captured in the state’s funding formulas for public schools. Students should not have to pay the price of a statewide fiscal crisis in public education, which in Brockton is being made worse by a local budget crisis.
While Brockton is receiving an increase of $8 million in Chapter 70 funds for FY27, the school department’s budget would have been $800,000 less than in FY26. The city has found an additional $800,000 to level-fund the school department for FY27. This makes no sense at all except that the Schedule 19 charge-backs from the city to the school department have increased significantly for FY27. Something must change.
How can Brockton Public Schools receive $8 million dollars in additional funding from the state but be level-funded by the city?
Our district has many students with high needs and diverse learning styles. Losing more than 60 Education Support Professional positions and 40 teaching positions will put further strain on a staff doing its best to support student success at every level of learning and across every grade. Brockton schools have already absorbed damaging layoffs in recent years. We can’t ask students, educators and families to keep settling for less when, in reality, they deserve and require much more. The social-emotional needs alone have increased so much. At a time when we should be adding positions that would support these needs, Brockton is eliminating positions.
Brockton is trying to bring students currently in out-of-district placements back to our school system because the cost of educating the students is so much higher in an out-of-district placement. If Brockton is successful in that endeavor, how do we support the students once they are back if there are no support staff to do so?
Staff cuts of this magnitude in Brockton and across the state will have a negative effect on students. I’m asking all of you to become more engaged in the budget debate that is happening in the Legislature. We need a commission to look at the school funding formula and to involve those of us who are impacted at the local level. We welcome visits to our districts, and to have conversations about what our true needs are. I’m urging all stakeholders to quickly come together and develop a strategic plan that addresses the fiscal crisis our public schools are experiencing to prevent even more devastating elimination for FY28.
