Pelham Elementary PTO

The Honorable Stan Rosenberg
24 Beacon Street, Room 332
Boston, MA 02133

July 17, 2017

Dear Senator Rosenberg,

On behalf of the Parent Teacher Organization at Pelham Elementary School, we are seeking your support today.

As you know, Pelham is a small town in the Pioneer Valley. The state department of education recently informed the school committee in Pelham that it owed the local Chinese Immersion Charter School $67,000. That represents 4% of its budget. It has only one teacher per grade.

The state was supposed to let the district know long before the budget was completed but failed to do so. Now, our highly rated public elementary school is trying to figure out how to find $67,000. How did this happen, one might ask? Normally, Pelham would have received notice of the two students attending the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School after the charter school submitted residency information to the state in October. However, that October data, contained an error that was corrected in a subsequent February filing.

In recent years’ state lawmakers have not fully funded charter school reimbursements for sending districts. Since 2012 lawmakers have failed to appropriate full funding for charter reimbursements, which were underfunded by $35.3 million in fiscal 2015 and $47.1 million in fiscal 2016, according to the nonprofit Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

There is a reason that the majority of Massachusetts voters cast ballots against the expansion of charter schools in the state this past November. The current system is not working for our students, or our educators. We respectfully ask that you look into this matter and see what you can do to help fill this funding gap which is a major hit to this exceptional school.

Sincerely,

The Pelham Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization.


Hampshire Gazette News Article 
Pelham Elementary Budget: http://www.gazettenet.com/Pelham-schools-facing-sudden-budget-shortfall-11264067