Interest growing among cities seeking to sue state for education funding

 By Scott O’Connell
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted May 10, 2018 at 8:12 PM  

Updated May 10, 2018 at 9:16 PM

 

WORCESTER – The mayor says he will reach out to lawyers and hopes to have a decision to proceed with a lawsuit by the end of the next month as Worcester inches closer to taking the state to court to force an overhaul of its school funding formula.

In addition, leaders in some other cities in the region this week expressed interest in joining the proposed legal action, which so far has been publicly floated by just Worcester and Brockton.

Their aim is to get the state to finally fix its decades-old foundation budget formula, which they claim has underfunded public school systems around the state for years, even after a state Legislature-tapped special commission released a report in 2015 recommending a host of fixes to it. Their hope is that they’ll succeed just like the plaintiffs in the McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education did 25 years ago, which lead to sea change education reform in the state.

So far, however, it’s just been talk of a new lawsuit. Last month, Worcester and Brockton school officials did hold a rare meeting where they outlined their case and solidified their alliance. And at least here in Worcester, School Committee members have been ratcheting up their threats of legal action this past year out of frustration over the state’s gradual measures so far to fix the school funding formula.

But this week, Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty relayed some more concrete steps toward filing a lawsuit, including searching for a lawyer to work on the case.

“I am, anyway, on behalf of Worcester,” he said, adding he couldn’t name names, but will be reaching out to attorneys over the next couple weeks. Beyond that, Mr. Petty said, “I’d like to at least have a decision (to move ahead with the lawsuit) by the end of June.”

There are still some key questions surrounding the potential suit, however, including how it will be paid for. In Worcester, Mr. Petty said the School Committee would also likely have to officially vote to proceed with the case, although members have already informally expressed their support of it.

Elsewhere in the region, some government officials are watching closely, including at least one who wants to sign up.

“We have called the city of Worcester to express our interest in joining in on it,” said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella. “I think it’s about time – we’ve been talking about it for years, and we have a (school aid) system that hasn’t changed at all.”

Mr. Mazzarella said Leominster, like many other city and urban systems around the state, is put at a disadvantage by the decades-old foundation formula, which critics say doesn’t sufficiently tally the true cost it takes to solve today’s complex educational challenges. Out of the many issues facing state lawmakers, he said, “the first thing they need to do is fix the formula – cities like ours, we’re getting penalized.”

Next door in Fitchburg, Mayor Stephen DiNatale was also “intrigued” by the proposed lawsuit for the same reason – “the funding is just not keeping pace with the challenges that come with running an urban school district,” he said.

“The hope was the state would come by this on their own. But maybe (legal action) is the way to go,” he said. “It’s at least worth a dialogue, maybe more than dialogue. The time for talk has passed – we need action.”

Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke agreed there is “absolutely urgency” to remedy the school funding problem.

“You don’t get a second chance to do third grade,” he said. But he was not enthusiastic about the idea of suing the state to expedite that needed fix – “I just don’t know if the court system is the right road to go down,” he said.

Mr. Petty said momentum is building around the state for that approach, however.

“We’ve got other cities interested now,” he said, later adding despite his decision to begin seeking legal help on his own, there is no single city in charge of the movement between Worcester and Brockton. “I think they are and we are (leading it).”

In the meantime, Gov. Charlie Baker and the state Legislature have continued to chip away at the recommendations contained in the 2015 commission report, including additional funding in the state budget the last couple years to tackle some of the proposed adjustments. On Thursday, the state Senate also passed a bill that would establish an annual implementation schedule for fulfilling the rest of the suggested formula changes.

But lawmakers have been reluctant to aggressively adopt the entirety of those changes, which have been estimated to cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars each year.