WEST BARNSTABLE – A community forum has been organized by a coalition of educators across the Cape to discuss what they say is the under-funding of the region’s public schools and colleges.
The Fund Our Future forum will consist of a panel of students, parents, educators and elected officials who will shed light on the impacts they say funding shortfalls have from pre-K to higher education.
Barnstable educator Dale Forest will moderate the forum, which has been scheduled for Friday, March 14.
“The group came together as a coalition of educators and other people. Based on the Foundation Budget Review Commission in 2015, and the majority of what they found was that the state is underfunding public education,” Forest said.
“What they found was that the current formula that is used is really outdated, it dates back to the original Education Reform Act of 1993. So, if that were updated to current times, close to a billion dollars would be put back into the education system.”
The non-partisan Foundation Budget Review Commission analyzed state spending on public education and issued a report in 2015.
The report stated that because the formula used by the state to determine school aid to cities and towns has not been updated for more than 25 years, public schools for students in pre-K through grade 12 are underfunded by roughly $1 billion per year.
The group also plans to highlight legislation to address the issue.
The Promise Act, which will receive a hearing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education on March 22, would require the state to boost education spending over a period to achieve the goals outlined by the foundation budget commission.
“Its money that should be there, but based on the outdated formula, the state has not been paying the actual amounts that are needed,” stated Forest.
The forum is presented by the Barnstable Teachers Association, the Cape Cod Chapter of the Massachusetts Community College Council, Cape Tech Association, Dennis-Yarmouth Educators Association, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional Secretaries and Assistants Association, and the Monomoy Regional Education Association.
“It’s open to everyone in the public. We’re going to have educators, administrators, school committee members, community members, parents. It’s really to help make people aware of the shortfall that the state is having on our educational system,” advised Forest.
The Fund Our Future forum will be held from 5:00 p.m. through 7:00 p.m. on Thursday at Cape Cod Community College in the Science Building.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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