Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — School districts around Massachusetts are facing major funding shortfalls because of declining enrollment amid the Trump Administration's ongoing immigration crackdown.
Activists and school administrators at a statehouse gathering described thousands of immigrant students fleeing the country, being deported, or staying home out of fear, which means fewer students in some heavily-immigrant school districts.
The funding equation for public schools in Massachusetts is partially based on enrollment totals. The Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, the group hosting the meeting, asked lawmakers to consider bridging the emerging funding gaps by giving the struggling districts grants. Several speakers pointed out that lawmakers approved similar grants for districts during the pandemic.
Chelsea is among the districts losing money. One parent from the Chelsea school community, Ana Vanegas, said the district is "being punished" for something they "have no control over."
"Please help me keep my family and my community whole," Vanegas pleaded during teary-eyed remarks at the event Wednesday.
At the gathering, Kathryn Anderson, president of the Chelsea Teachers Union, said this year has been "crushing," and "the hardest year in education for me since I started in 2012."
"Our cafeteria is emptier," Anderson said. "There are empty tables, just entire tables missing where kids should be."
The Chelsea School District has lost $6 million in state funding as a direct result of declining enrollment. In response, it is cutting 70 teachers from its payroll.
"Seventy teachers is an entire building," Anderson said. "That's like wiping an entire building."
Several other districts — including Brockton, Lynn, Marlborough, and Framingham — have also seen serious declines.
In December, Framingham Superintendent Robert Tremblay told WBZ NewsRadio he has "never seen anything" like the exodus he witnessed in the last year. Framingham has one of the highest proportions of Brazilian immigrants in the country. The district has lost some 700 students in the last year, more than six percent of its student body.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.