2023-09-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Education
2023-09-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Education
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Good afternoon, everybody. I'm state senator Jason Lewis, And I'd like to welcome you all to this, hearing, public hearing of the joint committee on education.
We I expect we will be joined shortly by, my co chair for the committee, representative Denise Garlic, she she will be here shortly. And I want to recognize a representative, Howard, who's joined us as well. Welcome. And I think we may have a few other members of the committee, perhaps online or who will be joining us in the in the course of the of the hearing. Thank you very much for taking time to be here to testify either in person or or virtually. We very much appreciate hearing from members of the public. Today's hearing, as you probably know, the committee is taking testimony on all the bills pending before the committee on the topics of school buildings and school finance.
We have a number of people signed up to testify on many of these bills. And, and of course, we welcome that, but we also encourage you to consider submitting written testimony which is, can be sent to the to the chairs and then is shared with all members of the of the committee. If you are in the peering room and you want to testify, and you haven't signed up already, then you should, please see 1 of the committee staff members and, just, sign up to testify. Also, if you have any documents you want to distribute to the committee, Again, if you could109 hand those to committee staff, and again, for those either here in person or virtually, if you have materials you want to share with the117 committee, we would welcome those. And,119 you should just, email those to to us. Okay. Just as a reminder, we do ask that you limit your testimony to, on a maximum of 3 minutes. And I can132 sure you, you can be very effective in making your point in, in, even less than 3 minutes. Alright. In general, we do take the we go in order of the bills as listed on the docket for the most part. And then in general, we will take testimony from those who are here in person and then those who are participating, virtually.
We only call you to testify once. So if you are if you want to testify on multiple bills, please do so at the, at the time that you are, are called up. Okay. A copy of the agenda for today's hearing, is available on the legislature's website under hearings in advance. And we do177 try to conform to that agenda as much as possible, recognizing similar bills together. It is generally the practice of committees to out of deference to Fellow legislators to take them out of turn. So I do see a few legislators193 who are here. So we will probably call195 them first and, and then proceed from there to, members of the public. The hearing is being live streamed on the legislature's website. And the recording205 will be posted shortly after the207 conclusion of the hearing. If you have any questions or concerns, during the course of the hearing, don't hesitate to, talk to the committee staff. We have, to my right, my chief of staff, Zach Crowley. We also225 have, to my left, Zach Schwartz, the committee's research director, We have Andrea Apefoneo down there. We have Fiona Turnoff.
And, I think that's that's everyone. Right? Okay. Alright.244 So I also wanna recognize rep McGonigle who's joined us. Good to see you. Thank you. Alright. So without251 further ado, I'm gonna call, I see, Senator Keenan. Do you wanna255 come up first? Alright. And then,
just 1 quick, sorry, 1 quick question. Representative Cahill was Okay. Hill. Sorry. How many people are gonna join you to testify on besides the mayor? 3rd. Seth?
I didn't even say 30. Did you?
4. Okay. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna have I'll call Senator Olivia next. You're by yourself, right? And then we'll go to Rep Cahill and your panel. That's it. Okay. Alright. Senator Keen, and welcome.
SEN KEENAN - SB 295 - Thank you, Mr. Chair, not knowing who's online, I want to thank Madam Chair as well, and the committee members for the opportunity to talk to you a little bit about Senate 295, which is an act to create a facilities loan program for private special education schools. This is a refile, and what it does, it creates a loan program for approved special education private schools with the loan program to be administered by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Unlike other local schools that can receive loans and grants from the state, most private special education schools are nonprofits,327 and they must go through the commercial lenders, which often have more burdensome terms and oftentimes higher interest rates, it makes borrowing therefore much more expensive. Consequently, they are then forced to rely on tuition and fundraising to finance their projects. This legislation requires the347 MSBA to create a loan program for facility construction and upgrades to schools on the chapter 71B. Since Covid, more students require access to special education private schools, and so the need is only going to continue to grow.
The program would offer loans at low or no interest rates. I want to thank the Massachusetts Association of Prude Special Education Schools for their steadfast support of this Bill. I've said it many times in the Senate Floor and before committee hearings, the students that go to the special education schools are our students, they are our public school students, they are students that our public schools in our communities can't meet the needs of, and so those public school students go to the Chapter 766 schools, and I think it's imperative, therefore, and fear that they are able to go to schools that have facilities that are equal to other schools and that they have equal access to funding that would improve those facilities. They deserve that high quality education. So I want to thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee for your time today, and I am available to any questions that you may have, and I would urge the committee if they could to report this out favorably. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Any questions? Alright. Thank you, Kristina. Thank you. And we really appreciate your long standing, work on behalf of our, chapter 766 schools and the, many vulnerable students that they serve. So thank you.
434 SPEAKER2434 -434 Thank434 you very much. Have a great day.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you. We're also joined by a representative of the world. Good to see you here. Alright. Right? And441 online, I believe we have committee, education committee members, the representative of Peace, representative Ferguson, representative of Pignatelli, and, the vice chair of the committee representative, Altria. So welcome to all of all of you as well. Alright. So at all there.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you, Mister chairman.
SEN OLIVEIRA - SB 331 - HB 569 - Good afternoon, thank you members of the committee. Let's hope I don't get too teary eyed and use these tissues, but I appreciate having them up here. I'm here to testify on Bill that I've filed along with my friend and colleague, State Representative, Adam Scanlon to actually extend the ability for the Massachusetts School Building Authority to allow collaboratives here in the Commonwealth to access funding through the building authority. Having sat on a collaborative board for over 10 years as a Representative of my school district in Ludlow, Massachusetts, we do vocational program at our collaborative in West Springfield, the lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative. It's seven school districts that joined together, but the catch region for that collaborative is throughout Western, Massachusetts, and we provide for hundreds of students vocational opportunities, yet we aren't allowed to access the building authority for funding to update those facilities. There are collaboratives all across the Commonwealth that are514 facing similar challenges with aging buildings that provide direct services to public school students, and they are not eligible for funding through the building authority. I know that you have several Bills before the committee today that527 are527 looking at the building authority in general and the need to put in greater funding and support for the building authority, so I would ask the Bill that I535 filed Senate bill536 331, be538 coupled at some point in time with some of the other540 Bills to raise up the542 ability for the building authority to extend beyond our public schools, our vocational school districts to include special education collaboratives, and that's what my Bill would do. So I'd be happy to answer any questions, I'd keep it brief, but, happy to take any from you, Mr. Chairman, or any member of the committee. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Right? Anybody? Thank you, Senator.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you. Yes.
SPEAKER1 - I said to Senator Kien, I'll say564 to you. Thank you for your advocacy. Again, on behalf of a population, you know, that often, is overlooked and, and and underserved, particularly when it comes to school facilities. So thank you for
SPEAKER3 - your interest
SPEAKER1 - in Germany for them. Alright. So now we're gonna have, Repson of Cahill, and I believe you're joined by Mayor Nicholson from this City of Lynn. And, the others who are gonna join you, if you'd like to come up. And then just letting representative Ramos Snow that we know you're on waiting online, and we'll have you testify after this panel? Let's just
SPEAKER4 - do a quick intro and turn it over.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Good afternoon, folks. Welcome. I did have a chance to speak with, Senator CRriton over the weekend, and I know he, unfortunately, was sorry he wasn't able to be here, but, he shared with me as well. How strongly he feels about the legislation that you're gonna be talking about.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you, Mister Chairman. Yes. The senator did send his better half. Me. To be here today.
REP CAHILL - HB 441 - SB 251 - I want to thank you and the committee for hearing us out of turn. I'm joined by some fantastic people in my community. We have Sheila O'Neil, who's the president of Lynn's Teachers Union. We have doctor, superintendent, Yvonne Alvarez, and we also have Mayor Jared Nicholson from the city of Lynn. We're here to testify on behalf of Senate Bill 251 and House Bill 441, which I was very fortunate to file, and649 it649 addresses649 the matter that I know we're all dealing with in our communities,653 and that is the funding formula for MSBA. I'm going to turn over to the facts of these folks, but I just want to thank you, Mister chairman, because I know as chairman of, the education committee, you've been dealing with this issue, not only statewide but in your own district and we appreciate your advocacy on behalf of many citizens towns that are finding it increasingly difficult, especially these times where we've seen a vast inflation and rising costs of construction in order for us to actually build these necessary buildings. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So I'm going to turn it over to our panel right now. I don't know who's going first. But, Doctor Alvarez is gonna go first, and thank you again for everyone for all your attention.
EVONNE ALVAREZ - LYNN PUBLIC SCHOOLS - HB 441 - SB 251 - Good afternoon, everyone. The dire need for the funding for the Massachusetts school building authority to address the situation of the antiquated and inadequate buildings within our Lynn Public Schools cannot be overstated. Many of our school buildings are over a century old, their deteriorating conditions pose significant challenges to the714 quality of education and the safety of716 our students and I want to reiterate that it really is imperative that MSBA recognizes the urgency of the situation and provides a necessary financial support to modernize our aging facilities in particular. While the safety of our students is a top priority, it is very difficult and presents numerous safety hazards from outdated electrical systems to crumbling infrastructures. The conditions are not only detrimental to our learning environment, but also pose real physical safety for students and staff. So by providing funding for critical renovations and updates, MSBA can help ensure that our school buildings meet modern safety standards, which often secure and are conducive to our environments for learning. I want to state that 41% of our school buildings are over 100 years old. An additional 26% are between 71 to 100 years old and a total of the total of 67% of our school buildings are in need of infrastructure updates because of the 70 years plus category. Those outdated infrastructures of our school buildings hinder the ability to provide a 21st century education, which I know that we are all focused on.
It sends a801 clear message to our students and community that803 equity is often mentioned, but805 not taken seriously by a system that807 should be funding equitable access to education. Learning environments provide exactly that; access and the equity to a free and appropriate education. Inadequate classrooms, insufficient technology and resources and limited accessibility for students with disabilities will impede the educational experience. The MSBA financial support is absolutely necessary for Lynn's public schools and is essential to bringing our schools up to par with the836 standard and requirements for college and career readiness. This will enable us to create a modern, functional, and inclusive learning environment where students can thrive academically and personally. Finally, investing in the revitalization of Lynn Public School's aging buildings is an investment in the future of our community, providing students not only with safe state of the art facilities, but also enhancing their educational experiences and contributing to the overall quality of life in our city. It attracts families and it fosters community pride. MSBA's funding support will have a long lasting and positive impact on the educational landscape of Lynn, strengthening our city's foundation for generations to come. We urge the legislator to recognize883 that the urgency of our situation and partner with us to887 provide the funding needed to address these critical infrastructure challenges. So I respectfully request as a superintendent of Lynn Public Schools that you support S 251 and H 441. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of our students in Lynn.
SHEILA O'NEIL - LYNN TEACHERS UNION - HB 441 - SB 251 - Thank you, Doctor Alvarez. Good afternoon, Chairs Garlick and Senate Chair, Jason Lewis, and the members of the joint committee on education. My name is Sheila O'Neil, and I am the President of the Lynn Teachers Union and affiliate of the American Federation of teachers and the AFL-CIO.927 Thank you for this opportunity929 to testify before you today on the critical issue of school building construction reform. In the city of Lynn, more than half of our school buildings are over 100 years old and they have not been maintained sufficiently. The average age of our buildings is 90 years old. Only five buildings are younger than me, 65, and only three of those are less than 50 years old. The oldest school building is 149 years old with 600 students currently being educated. The state of our school buildings and the growth of our student population has created an educational dilemma. The current Pickering building is substandard and does not allow for a full range of academic and enrichment programs to be offered, programs such as the ones that are successfully done at Marshall middle school that was built in 2015. When you mix buildings in disrepair, and high numbers of students in the schools, the result is a crisis. The Pickering Building project is moving forward with the MSBA but the rising construction costs in archaic state reimbursement rates are failing gateway cities in Massachusetts.
The advertised 80% reimbursement is unreachable, the actual reimbursement is significantly less and will cripple our city financially. Our city cannot wait 20 years to build another new school, we need to build or renovate at least 10 schools in the next 20 years. Funds for education that should be used for teachers, para professionals, social workers, therapists, and curriculum are diverted to repair failing infrastructure and reutilize space for classrooms. Lynn serves some of the neediest students in our Commonwealth, and we are proud of their dedication and inspired by their success but the inequity of the MSBA funding formula must end now. Please support S 251 and H 441, which would double the revenue for school construction, update the MSBA formula with an equity lens, and allow districts to receive additional funding for MSBA approved projects. All students in our Commonwealth deserve safe healthy and sustainable buildings. Urban students like those in Lynn cannot wait another decade for new schools. Thank you.
JARED NICHOLSON - LYNN SCHOOL COMMITTEE - HB 441 - SB 251 - Good afternoon, House Chair, Senate Chair, members of the committee. Thank you, Representative, Cahill, Doctor Alvarez, President O'Neil. I'm Jared Nicholson, I'm the Mayor of Lynn and the Chair of the Lynn School Committee, and I'm here in support of S 251 and H 441. As has been discussed, the system that funds school buildings is broken, however, well intentioned, the designers of that system were to start, failing to take action now is defending what in our cases become indefensible. We have ancient, crumbling buildings, and we do our absolute best to keep them safe and extend the lifespan of those buildings but that in turn sidetracks funding that's meant for other needs, including other educational needs. The spaces we have in our buildings are inadequate on many levels, a lot don't have the educational components of a modern school so the buildings themselves are insufficient, but even more basically and frustratingly, we don't have enough classrooms, we don't have enough physical space for our growing student population. In the 13-14 school year, LPS served 14,378 students, a decade later, we're up to 16,377, that's 15% growth in the last 10 years, an extra 2000 students. We're proud of that growth, it's a testament to the hope that our community offers families but without more space to relieve the overcrowding, we're just not doing them justice. In the last 25 years, we've been able to build one new middle school, and that school has been terrific for our community, we're incredibly grateful for the state support to get that done, it's actually a model that we're using for the school.
But the funding system is so1211 broken into that next project of Pickering Mill School is on the brink of doability because of the financial hurdles. Despite us being eligible for that 80% reimbursement rate, according to the formula passed in statute by the legislature, the 80%, the projected effective reimbursement rate for our middle school is currently at 45%. Other gateway cities are in a similar position. When a system is left to this level of dysfunction financially, it's no surprise that disparities result. Communities that can afford to pick up the slack do exactly that, and they should, that's the right thing to do but communities that can't afford to pick up the slack suffer. A member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts School Building Authority announced in a board meeting about our project that if our school was in her town, this is a member of the MSBA board, it would be condemned. A top state official has said that they point to our schools as examples of the worst in the state and yet our project currently hangs in the balance because of the deficiencies in these school building formulas. We will not sit idly by our students that are clearly being shortchanged which is why we are here to respectfully request your support of S 251 and H 441. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you all very much for your very powerful testimony today. Questions, comments, what? I wanna, welcome my co chair, representative garlic. So, help the committee make
SEN LEWIS - I want to make sure all the committee members and those who are following along in the public understand a very important point you're making today, which is that according to the statute, which established the MSBA back in the early 2000s, the community of Lynn should be getting an 80% reimbursement rate from the Massachusetts School Building Authority for your school building projects, right? There's a formula that lays out based on a number of factors what the reimbursement rate should be for each community. Lynn should be receiving 80%. Your estimated effective, actual reimbursement, right, for the Pickering School, you just said Mr. Mayor was 45%. Help the committee members, I think this is a very important point understand why that's the case?
NICHOLSON - So the the 80% reimbursement rate is a formula that is designed to take into account inequity. So it looks at the communities income, communities assets, ability pay and finance schools. The idea being that some communities are having more of an ability to pay for new schools than others, and obviously, as you would expect, a city like Lynn is eligible for the higher reimbursement, that's the 80%. The reason why the effective reimbursement rate is so low is because the way the reimbursement is calculated is on a per square footage construction cost basis and the reimbursement rate that's set by the board lags the current market. So for a long time, communities haven't received what they're entitled to on paper because of the way the formula's calculated, there's certain costs that are excluded from the reimbursement. When we last built a school, the Marshall middle school, several years ago, our effective reimbursement rate was 65% as a result of some disparity between the actual costs and the reimbursement rates as well as those other costs that aren't reimbursed. Over time, the discrepancy between the construction costs and the actual rate of reimbursement has increased, and there's been more that's been determined to be ineligible. So, that's how we get to that1440 point where we're actually on the hook for a majority of the project when the whole idea was that the state would be stepping in for the 80%.
LEWIS - So to summarize, both because the MSBA make certain costs ineligible for reimbursement, as well as the fact that they set the eligible per square foot construction costs that can be reimbursed at a rate that is far below what the actual construction costs are and this has become a growing issue in more recent years because of the inflation that we've been seeing in building projects, that big gap is the reason why your actual reimbursement rate is so much lower than what is supposed to be?
NICHOLSON - Yes, that's exactly right. I would say that we all understand the MSBA is under certain restrictions in terms of their ability to fund projects and that's where this legislation steps in, it's to increase the amount of revenue that would be going towards these projects and empower the MSBA to be able to put this formula into action in a way that eliminates these disparity. So that's why we're here in support of that legislation.
LEWIS - Good. I just want to say as we wrap up here, that I want to echo the point you made that the result of this is that we have a major equity issue because wealthier communities, in many cases can still1525 make up that difference in the lower reimbursement rate. Maybe they can pass1529 an override, for example, but in the case of Lynn and, many of our other gateway cities and less affluent communities, you are not in position to do so, which means that these projects are at risk of not moving forward. I know we're working together to try to make sure we can at least get the Pickering project across the finish line, and we'll continue to do everything we can on that. But certainly, the point you're making about the larger issue here is one that is not only a major issue for the city of Lynn, but a lot of other Massachusetts communities as well. So thank you very much for coming to really make that clear to the committee today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER9 - Thank you.
SPEAKER8 - Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Representative.
Alright. Let's go, online now to we're gonna go to, I believe representative Ramos is with us. Then I see, we have, Senator comma Fit and Representative Dom, you're going to testify together. So we'll we'll have you next. And then I believe Representative Elliott is waiting online and Representative Cruise as well. So we'll we'll go to you all, in that order. Alright. So re Representative Ramos, Europe.
REP RAMOS - HB 559 - Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the honorable members of the Education Committee for this opportunity to testify on one of my Bills that I filed, H 559, an act relative to increase access to safe swimming. I filed this Bill, this is a refill from last year to address the drowning deaths among children in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Drowning is still one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death worldwide. The highest rates are among children, particularly minority children. There was a study that was commissioned by the USA swimming foundation and it was conducted by the University of Memphis, which found that nearly 70% of African American children have little to no swimming ability, 60% of Hispanic children have little to no swimming ability compared to 40% of non minority children, and so that's a that's a huge disparity and this disproportionate. As a consequence, according to the CDC, the number of drowning deaths among minority children ages 5 to 14 is almost three times when compared to non minority children. One of the contributing factors according to this study is the lack of access to safe swimming pools or to safe swimming in general.
So in 2004, under Governor Romney, the administration actually made several changes to the reimbursement formula and reimbursement criteria for school building projects, and among those changes,1699 swimming pools were made categorically ineligible for state reimbursement because they were1705 actually considered a luxury item and not a necessity. Well, when you consider these statistics and the number of children that are dying because of drowning deaths, this is no luxury item, this is a necessity for gateway cities like the city of Springfield. So what this Bill would do is it would address the issue of reimbursement for safe swimming by making swimming pools eligible reimbursement for gateway cities, including the city of Springfield and reverse that decision that was made in 2004, which has led to, again, a lack of access in communities like the city of Springfield. So I'm asking this committee for a favorable recommendation, I sincerely appreciate your consideration on this Bill, and, as was mentioned before, if there is a possibility to combine it with some of the other recommendations to the MSBA formula criteria, I would hope that the committee will consider that as well. So thank you for your time, and appreciate your consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Representative, Ramos. Any questions? Okay. Great. Thank you so much. We appreciate your, your advocacy on this. Another important issue. Thank you. So I apologize to Senator come up and represent Dom. I didn't realize a representative Elliott, I think he's here in person. And I know you've you've been you were here first. So we'll we'll take Go ahead. You're next. And, sorry. And then and then we'll take, Senator and the representative.
SPEAKER11 - Excuse me.
REP ELLIOT - HB 3569 - Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Chairman Lewis. Thank you for the opportunity, I will be brief because I'm here to join the the chorus of previous speakers relative to the conditions of our schools and the cost related to the the construction of these schools. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on House 3569, a Bill I filed relative to construction costs of the Lowell High School,1840 one of the largest, if not the largest school construction projects in the state. I was a member of the Lowell City Council for 24 years, and, during my tenure, both as the Mayor and Chair of the school committee, clearly, I recognize and appreciate the concerns that were iterated earlier by members from Lynn. Lowell High School did approve as I mentioned, the largest school construction project in the state, and, we held off bidding this project as a result of Covid, trying to stem the tide of the cost increases. As a result, there was a $38,000,000, there are almost $39,000,000 cost increase. I know I'm not alone, thanks to the wisdom and the support that we received from the fair share amendment, $100,000,000 was allocated for this, you know, not specifically for Lowell, for approximately 30 projects across the Commonwealth that went through the same cost increase.
So, I do know the need is great, $100,000,000 is a lot lot of money, but we do know that the staggering impact has been a lot on communities to try to afford these cost increase. So, thank you again, I know that this will continue, thanks to the fair share amendment, they were huge resources, hopefully, that will continue so communities like Lowell and others across the Commonwealth can receive some financial support because the impact for budgets to come will be significant. Lowell, I will say, back in the late 80s and 90s was a benefactor of this program when we built 14 schools to accommodate all the people that we welcomed into our city and has been successful. Lowell has also taken advantage of the accelerated building project program to assist with these infrastructure improvements but I do concur with including your poll, Mr. Chair, that MSBA program has to be taken a look at and changed to accommodate the needs of the time. Lowell started out as a 79% reimbursement project, to date, we're probably at about 67% as a result of the ineligible costs, but we couldn't build state of the art high school when we couldn't put a track in, they came off that was not an eligible project. So I will stop here, thank you for your time and consideration on all these important Bills that ideally with the MSBA, which affect all of us across the Commonwealth. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Great. Thank you very much. I represent Elliot, and, Senator Kennedy has also, spoke to me many times about
SPEAKER11 - the Yes.
SPEAKER1 - Lowell high school building project, 1 of the largest, in our state's history and, I know it took a long long winding road to to get to where it is, but we're very pleased that that project is moving to completion. And
LEWIS - This may be the rare case where a Bill that you're presenting to the legislature is one that we've, at least in part, actually acted on and passed already. So, just as a reminder to folks, the recently enacted state budget included a plan to provide additional funding to approximately 30 school building projects, including Lowell high school which were disproportionately impacted by the rising costs during the pandemic. So I'm very pleased and thank my colleagues that we took action on that, and, so it was a big deal for those communities that were so severely impacted. So, thank you for filing this legislation, and you can declare victory, I know you feel like there's more we could do, but, at least that's a big step forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER12 - Right. Right.
SPEAKER11 - Thank you, Senator, and forgive me, for an out, mentioning Senator Kennedy and my colleague, from Law's all representative Howard who sits on this very committee. But, yes, was, it's it's very exciting. So
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thanks, Mara. Any questions, comments? Alright. Thank you. Alright. Next up, Senator Commerford, and Representative of Dom. Welcome. And then we will go on on virtually to representative Cruise. Good afternoon.
REP DOMB - HB 469 - SB 242 - Good afternoon. I so appreciate you taking us out of turn, and I hate you to apologize up front because I'm running off to a hearing that I heard is next door, that's just about to end, and I'm testifying there as well. So I really want to thank you. I'm Mindy Domb, I'm the Representative in the 3rd Hampshire district. I'm here with my great State Senator, Joe Comerford. I want thank you, Mr. Chair, thank you, Chair Garlick for having us. I'm just going to say a little bit about this Bill, and then I'm going to let Senator Comerford fill you in on all the details. We all know that sometimes government needs a committee to make sure that it stays on task and it finishes its works, other eyes on that work become really critical to make sure it's successful. I am so grateful that as a body, the legislature put our proceeding Bill enacted it into legislation so that we could go and get healthy green schools for our communities, but now we need to create a plan. We need to make sure that plan is actionable, it's brilliant as we want it to be from Massachusetts, it represents great expertise and great minds, and in order to do that, we need to form a working group to work side by side with government to make sure that those plans are not only effective and doable but get implemented. This Bill is basically creating that kind of working group. So I urge your consideration, it's not that much of a heavy lift, it's really just making sure that government engages the expertise that exists in the Commonwealth to make sure that we realize these goals for healthy green schools. So I thank you so much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I thank my senator partner and my state senator for picking that up. And please forgive me for writing on.
SPEAKER1 - We certainly understand representative. It's a busy day, but I appreciate you making time to be here.
SPEAKER6 - If I come back and she's still talk.
SPEAKER13 - That's okay. I'm not
SPEAKER14 - still talking
SPEAKER15 - with you.
SEN COMERFORD - SB 242 - HB 469 - Chair Garlick, Chair Lewis, and esteemed members of the committee, I'm so delighted to be here to talk about S 242 and H 469. Representative Domb was going to give the exclamation point to this testimony, but I think she really provided a robust runway. You may remember this from last session, this was the 1/3 of the Bill that didn't get down, and I'll talk a little bit about this. This 1/3 of the Bill, the climate Bill, the green and healthy public school Bill, was informed by practitioners in schools who told us again and again and again, Oh my God, you have to form a working group, make it focus on standard operating procedures, make it focus on implementation because if we don't do that, all of the gains of the green and healthy public school Bill will be lost because there's just too many pressures and not enough focus. So, as Representative Domb, has said, it's an act establishing a green and healthy schools working group and implementation plan. As this committee2295 knows better than any other committee in the building, our Commonwealth school children face an array of challenges2301 relating to aging and inadequate school buildings, which struggle I believe to be safe and healthy places for faculty staff and students to learn and thrive. The legislature, as Rep Domb said, has taken strong to address these challenges. The Bill in question, the first Bill is in Section 83 of the last session's Omnibus climate law, an act driving clean energy and offshore wind which directed the Massachusetts School Building Authority to conduct an assessment of elementary and secondary school buildings on energy efficiency, building conditions, safety, and public health. The MSBA is doing that work right now, we've checked in with them, and we are most grateful. Following the assessment which is2350 ongoing, DPH is to develop best practices and standards for achieving green and healthy schools and strategies for all students and faculty and staff in the Commonwealth.
In this report, DPH will consider the need to address historic patterns of inequity in education in schools, including patterns of inequity involving students in special education programs2375 which I know this committee cares deeply about. That report, again, is in progress, and it's due at the end of2381 year. So thank you to this committee, you were part of this Bill's journey, it started as a public health Bill, it came to you for your discernment, and it passed as a climate Bill, which really is all we2394 really need to see about this green and healthy school movement. You know, it's an intersection of public health and climate, and with regard to climate, it's our state's ability to use public funds to be part of the built environment reduction in admissions. So in addition, it's Section 37 of fiscal year 2024, and I'm sure this has been a subject of conversation, the budget signed by Governor Healey creates the green school works program, which is, as you know, a $50,000,000 competitive grant program to provide financial support to K12 public schools for projects to install or maintain clean energy infrastructure. As you know, these grants can be used for an array of issues and work, including installation, operation,2441 or upgrades of clean energy, infrastructure, reducing carbon emissions, mitigating the impact of climate change. So this Bill, S 242, and H 469, complements all of these, right? It complements the state's own investment, it complements the Bill that has already passed by bringing together experts, as Rep Domb said from multiple disciplines, and they include education, public health, school design, facility maintenance, and climate change. We envision that they will2472 use this data that's collected, it's going to be a treasure trove. It has never been collected ever or put in the same place, we do not know the quality of our public schools, currently, it's not in the light for us, we certainly don't know it in terms of how it relates to public health or climate.
So we're going to2491 have2491 this data, it is going to be beautiful, this group will use that data and help lawmakers help the administration decide on how to best and most equitably expend funds for the betterment of our schools. So it's going to organize our capacity, also to seize the $1,000,000,000 in federal resources available through the inflation reduction act. If we don't have the data, we won't have a visibility into the problem. If we don't have this group, we will not have a body that can hold us accountable to use the data. So they really are sisters in our combined effort to get this done for our schools. So I'm very appreciative to AIA Mass, the architects have come through, they are in the front lines, as you know, and they've offered sharp council and undaunted k 12 has been really winded our back. Really helping us keep this issue of healthy and green public schools on the front burner and we're grateful for the tireless advocacy and the kind of real public push to get this done. In closing, you know, when I think about this, I think about what we owe to the faculty and staff who teach in these buildings for their whole lives. Kids like mine who go in at Pre-K and come out and at grade 12, they've been in these schools for thousands of hours, tens of thousands probably faculty and staff. This is our opportunity not only to be part of the climate crisis solution, but also to really invest in public education, the buildings where our kids and our educators teach and learn. So thank you so much for your consideration of this Bill, we're very grateful to you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Any questions for can I come up for
SPEAKER17 - you? Okay.
SPEAKER1 - I wanna recognized representative Donna who's also2609 joined us. Good to see you.
LEWIS - So, Senator Comerford, thank you so much, you've been a long standing champion for green and healthy schools and thank you to Representative Domb as well. It was a big victory when we included, I think it was Section 83 in the climate Bill, thank you for your work on that. I was wondering if you know, given the $50,000,000 you referenced, which was included in the fiscal year 24 budget for green2632 schools that the legislation included, which is great. But because we don't yet have the working group envisioned in your Bill, or the analysis yet from the MSBA or from DPH that's underway. Do you have any idea how the administration's planning to proceed with making those competitive grants available?
COMERFORD - It's a very good question. You'll remember, Senator and committee that we, the legislature in the last budget and with ARPA, we also invested in infrastructure. So I do know that advocates like undaunted K12 and I was personally responsible for bringing AIA advocates to meet with MSBA to really talk through, and DESE. DESE has had a lot to say and do, in terms of expanding these funds and talking about different ways that they could think about apportioning, this money, they were very receptive. I'm happy to say, and actually, Dory Brooks Khan, who is my personal inspiration for this Bill has offered webinars for DESE and has certainly been in great conversation with MSBA about how to think about equity, how to really think about the cost, what can a school do for, say, $50,000 versus $100,000, what are the best on road? So the architects, I have been super hands on in trying to help school districts understand the best way to expend this money but why perhaps I feel so much urgency is that we don't yet have data that's going to help us as a legislature know these are really glaring in equities, these are much deferred maintenance that has visited now these really unhealthy buildings.
We don't have that visibility yet, and we don't have a group of people organized to be able to talk to us and the administration who have significant facilities expertise. So I will say to you that while I'm grateful for MSBA and grateful for DESE for being so much under the weight of what it means expand public funds for the greater good, I do think we need that data, and we need this group of advisors organized to have a collegial informed conversation with our state colleagues to make sure that these next investments that will come perhaps, I hope we get this out in time, certainly, I defer to the committee to be able to help expand this, but certainly it won't be the last dollar we spend on green and healthy infrastructure, and I really hope that it is informed by both the data and the expertise in this sort of 2/3, 1/3. Again, we had this in the last Bill, we weren't able to get it through. So that envisioned, you know, collecting the data, analyzing it, making it public, making a plan, and so that's all underway, and that's great, and we just don't have the body that will say, okay, we've got this plan, alright, friends in the legislature, what do you think? Okay, friends in the administration, what do you think? We don't have that yet. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Got it. Alright. All set. Thank you very much, Senator, Comfort.
SPEAKER16 - I appreciate it.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Time with us today. Alright. Representative Cruise, I think you've been waiting patiently online. You're next.
REP CRUZ - HB 3894 - Good afternoon, Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick, honorable, and distinguished members of the joint committee on education. It's good to be with you today to be able to testify in support legislation that I filed, H 3894, which is focused on student aid and creating a few different mechanisms that are aimed at creating greater equity. I first just wanted to begin by thanking Chair Lewis, Leader Peisch, Senator Lovely, Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian who are part of a conversation that began with then Lieutenant Governor elect Driscoll about this particular issue regarding below effort increment communities, minimum aid communities and the real need to address on a I think, a statewide basis, the work that's still left to be done when it comes to education reform and the funding formula. It's been a privilege to be able to work with members of this committee and having these conversations around the particular issues that not only face communities like Salem, but many others throughout the Commonwealth. I do think in the arc of policy, it's a continuation of the great work we've been able to do with both fair share, and certainly with the student opportunity act. So this particular legislation proposes a few different mechanisms that are truly aimed at trying to address a greater educational equity for all students.
So the first provision of this particular bill, is that it would establish what is known as a municipal education fund that would tie to a couple of different sources, provide opportunities for us to tap into some of the revenues from fair share, allow for private donations, essentially to supplement districts who have continuously been considered minimal made or below effort communities. This is an effort that my predecessor had been working on prior to in the budget and I have continued that particular piece within the Bill. But most importantly about this particular fund, it does prioritize gateway city, school districts, rural school districts, and districts that have I think tremendous need and it allows for DESE to ensure that that fund is being evaluated on an annual basis to ensure that the funds would reach different parts of the Commonwealth in the most equitable fashion. The second key provision of this particular Bill is that it would tackle I think what is the biggest challenge which is the need for us to convene folks one more time to really think about the needs of minimum aid communities, below effort increment communities and to define I think the chart forward for education funding. This particular Bill calls for now the creation of a commission that would allow us to once again come together to continue the conversations we were having with the foundation budget review commission, and to be able to I think settle the pieces that keep all superintendents up at night that didn't see the major investments from the student opportunity act that gateway city saw.
As I've traveled across the state and worked with my policy counterparts in education, what I've heard from many superintendents is that I think we all value what student opportunity act was able to achieve but not every community is in a position to be able to engage in overrides and this is an opportunity to arm our Commonwealth with another tool, an evaluation of what we can be doing funding formula to ensure that some communities are not being penalized for the efforts that they are making to do their part to fund public education and they simply need more assistance. I would point you all to testimony that you will have received from my Mayor, Mayor Pangalo, and our superintendent that points to a contribution study that was made by DESE. It was a contribution study which outlined some of the inequities within local caps on contributions and this particular legislation with humility, I'll say does provide the state with some mechanism and flexibility to think about the cap contribution issue that was outlined by DESE and to provide the commissioner and his staff with an opportunity to do some redistribution.
I would submit to you all as members of the committee that we're not married as a coalition of particular districts who care about this issue to those particular numbers. We would in fact welcome opportunities to be able to engage more on this particular conversation, and if there is a path forward for this type of legislative committee that we were agnostic to particular numbers and would be happy to look at ranges if that would make it more amenable. So in summary, you know, this particular legislation is truly aimed at continuing the conversation of what's needed for education reform and showing them that all of our districts are well equipped. I can tell you as still serving on the School committee, here in Salem, our biggest concern is that we're going to reach a fiscal cliff that's going to result in a city like Salem, which is incredibly diverse, having students who are not being well served, for issues that, quite frankly don't center our children and they are just simply mechanisms that need to be updated to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to succeed here in our Commonwealth. So I respectfully request that the members of the committee, please report this legislation favorably and I thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I, once again, thank you, my friends, Chair Garlick, and Chair Lewis for the opportunity3159 to appear out of order. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. Representative of Cruise. Appreciate your testimony to any comments, questions.
LEWIS - So for the benefit of the committee members and others, I just want to lift up, what Representative Cruz is bringing forward here when this legislation worked for many years to pass the Student Opportunity Act, which we passed in 2019, that Bill really made changes to a part of the Chapter 70 formula that's called the foundation budget, and that's what we are now implementing, but the Student Opportunity Act really did not make any significant changes to how we determine the share that the local community pays versus what the state pays in Chapter 70 aid. There are concerns with that part of the3211 formula, they've been there for a while, and a number of those concerns have been exacerbated by the very significant increases in the foundation budget that the legislature has been phasing in, and that is having a significant impact I know on Salem because I've had conversations with the delegation and the previous mayor, now Lieutenant Governor, and it's affecting a number of other communities well. As we continue to evaluate Representative Cruz Bill in the committee, I just want committee members to also know that I have made a proposal to Secretary of Education Tutwiler to use his authority to convene a working group of experts on the Chapter 70 formula because it gets very complicated, very fast. There's a few people within his team and within DESE and outside of the state government to have expertise on how the formula works and could be helpful in determining some reforms we may to consider. So I have asked Secretary Tutwiler to consider that, I think he's still still considering it but I'm hopeful that he will3281 take the lead on that, and that will help us provide a path forward in addition to considering this legislative proposal. So thank you for indulging me in those comments. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Alright. So we are now going to work our way through the, bills in the order that they're on the on the agenda today. And the first bills are House 469 Senate 242, enact establishing a green and healthy schools working group and implementation plan. We just heard from Senator counterfeit and rep Dom, the lead sponsors. The next person signed up to testify on those bills is Liam Quinn. Liam Quinn, are you here with us?
Nope. Okay. How about Doctor Erika Eitland? Doctor. Eric Heitland. Oh, great. Welcome, and thank you for your patience.
SPEAKER19 - Senator Lewis, nice to meet you in person. Feel like it's only been a pandemic type of world, so it's nice to be here.
SPEAKER1 - Nice to have you.
SPEAKER19 - Thank you.
ERIKA EITLAND - HARVARD UNIVERSITY - HB 469 - SB 242 - So thank you members of the joint committee on education. I'm Doctor Erika Eitland, I come to you as a public health scientist trained at the Harvard Chan School Public Health, as well as Columbia University. My research's focus is purely on how K-12 buildings impact child health and performance and what's important to me is that as now working at the second largest architecture firm in the world, in working on schools like the William E Carter School here in Boston, it has been important to me that we embed that research in the work that we do in education, so I'm humbled to support, H 469, S 242, which is an act to establish a green and healthy school working group implementation plan. I would say that after 27000 hours of education myself, I would say I'm a nerd and data is my love language, and I would agree with Senator Comerford that data is beautiful. So with that, during my doctorate, I aggregated data from different Massachusetts state agencies that includes DESE, DPH, MSBA, to understand who was occupying our buildings or schools specifically that were in the greatest need of disrepair. What I found was is that there were buildings with six more major repairs, and this is things of the roof falling in. It's windows. It's HVAC systems, things that we know were critical post pandemic. What we found is that those buildings were more likely to be occupied by English language learners, by economically disadvantaged students, they had lower teacher retention rate and higher percentages of students of color. Meanwhile, then when we assessed with who was getting green schools in our state, what we found was those new buildings were going to larger schools who had the administrative capacity, they had higher percentage of white students, they were higher performers overall compared to some of their other counterparts and they were not in the greatest disrepair.
So when I look at something like S 242, I see them overcoming a couple of key challenges that are critical to our state to move forward, and the first one is is that we needed an assessment, both qualitative and quantitative because data without action is used less. So what we found was is that, listen, not all schools need intensive capital projects, they need to be giving support to behavior changes, existing maintenance, and custodial staff, and even when we think about building age, it is an imperfect proxy measure for the health of those students and teachers in that space because even new buildings, if poorly maintained, are not giving the health benefits that we hope for. The number two thing that I have saw in this data is that our need for our buildings outweighs the resources we have which means that we need to be thinking about how we are efficiently using those resources, to me, this is where S 242 is extremely helpful because every dollar matters extremely helpful because every dollar matters when we hear about schools like Lynn. So with that in mind, just wrapping up with the number three, what we see is that the public health burden of deferred maintenance is disproportionately affecting our low income communities or students of color and this is limiting our educational potential, it is widening health disparities as we see it. When I saw that healthy and green schools Bill was passed without this key aspect of it, I understood that, okay, there is an indoor environmental justice issue that the state sees but without this working group, we are unable to actually make real change, we are unable to reduce absenteeism or help support teacher quality. So for me, this is an opportunity to think about if data is my love language, then action for health is our moral imperative. This is an opportunity for this committee to really put forward something that is complex, like lighting and air quality, all of this, and be able to have the right experts at the table to ensure we are making the proper actions to move forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much, Doctor. Itland. Any questions, comments? Alright. Great. Alright. Thank you very much. AA to your work on and, your time with us today. Sarah Ross.
SARAH ROSS - UNDAUNTED K12 - HB 469 - SB 242 - Thanks so much for having me. My name is Sarah Ross, I'm a graduate of and have two children currently attending Amherst public schools. I'm also a co founder of Undaunted k12, a national nonprofit organization focused on helping all schools embrace climate solutions. Thank you to the Chairs and committee staff for your tireless work on behalf of our children. My kids came home for the first week of school and complained, mom, it is so hot, it's impossible to concentrate. A family member who was a teacher in Plymouth shared how a student dysregulated by the unbearably hot classroom bit her. Here's a sobering thought; as hot as this back to school was, it's likely the coolest we'll have from here on out. At Undaunted, we track school closures across the country due to extreme weather, and Massachusetts has a lot of dots on the map. So what's the plan to address extreme heat in our classrooms? What's the plan to address the array of challenges facing our aging and inequitable school buildings? Last session, as Senator Comerford mentioned, you all took important action to help us improve our school building.
Through the 2022 Omnibus climate Bill, you directed the MSBA to collect data, and you directed the department public health to recommend strategies and standards for achieving green healthy schools, that work is underway. We also have a new opportunity, in addition to these recent boosts in state funding, schools have unprecedented federal funding, over the next decade, the Inflation Reduction Act offers unlimited non competitive funding to schools to install heat pumps, which can efficiently heat and cool our schools without burning fossil fuels. If over the next decade, we install heat pumps in 30 school buildings, each year over the next decade, we would earn $1,000,000,000 in federal funding towards healthy green schools. So what's missing? A plan to help our schools reach the standards that we expect the Department of Public Health to outline, a plan to organize all of our schools to take advantage of this generational funding from the inflation reduction act, a plan formulated by a wide array of stakeholders that puts the expertise we do have in the Commonwealth on green and healthy schools into the hands of school leaders in our cities and towns. Data collection, standard setting, and financial resources are all important pieces of the puzzle that we have started to put into place with your leadership, a vital missing piece is a statewide plan. Last week in California SB 394, a Bill mandating the creation of a master plan to make all public schools climate resilient arrived on Governor Newsom's desk with broad bipartisan support. Let's move in the same direction here in Massachusetts. Please vote an act establishing a green and health school's working group and implementation plan out of committee. Thank you so much for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. Questions? Alright. Well, you've got my competitive juices flowing now when you, mentioned California there.
SPEAKER20 - That that was the plan. It sounds very effective.
LEWIS - Can you tell us a bit more in terms of the money and the inflation reduction act that is available for schools, can you tell us a bit more about how that works in terms of accessing that funding? Is it a matching program? You said it was not competitive.
ROSS - It's not competitive, it's unlimited. So Inflation Reduction act has taken a very successful tax credit for renewable energy that has built our solar industry in this country, built it in this Commonwealth, and it now extends it to some new technologies like ground source heat pumps, which can heat and cool our schools, and it makes it available to the public sector. So the private sector has been making lots of money off of renewable energy in these tax credits. The IRA said, wait a second, we want our public We want our municipal buildings to also be able to embrace these climate solutions and lower operating cost, let's conquer the way so that able non taxable entities can take advantage of tax credits. So they've created a new mechanism called direct pay, which will allow our cities and towns to install these clean energy technologies that are going to improve health, reduce carbon pollution, and reduce operating costs, and they're going to get a cash reimbursement back from the IRS. We're going to pretend like they overpaid on their taxes, right? That's kind of the mechanism to achieve nd so this is available now. What it's doing is it's radically changing the price point for these clean energy options. So instead of installing a gas boiler, schools can install a ground source heat pump, and it's actually going to be cheaper for them.
LEWIS - Do you know how much of the cost it would cover? Maybe it differs into projects.
ROSS - Yes. As an example, our Amherst school project, which is currently in the MSBA pipeline, it's going to provide us with $3,900,000 towards the cost of our school building just for installing heat pumps. Eversource is going to put in an additional $1,600,000 through their Mass save program, so we're going to get over $5,000,000 back for choosing the cleaner, more affordable option, and that's going to come back us as cash into the town, and it's cheaper than the gas alternative. So, we're working with the MSBA to get the word out about this, but if we had a plan, right, that was organizing all of our resources, we wouldn't be kind of chasing the tail of the dog here, we would all have eyes on the need to install these clean energy technologies that can improve the health of our school buildings and protect kids from things like extreme heat. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Great. Thank you. And I'm glad to hear you are working with MSBA because I would urge them to be communicating this obviously to all October 19th. Projects that are in process. I mean, this is clearly a major source of funding that we should be, maximizing
SPEAKER20 - Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. October 19th, we're holding a round table. So all all cities and towns should should participate. It'll be wonderful.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you very much for testifying, and thank you for your leadership in founding this organization and raising awareness.
SPEAKER22 - Pleasure. Alright.
SPEAKER1 - All set. Thank you. Alright. We have several folks, I think, who are online to testify on this on these 2 bills. So let's go to Dorey Brooks next. Dory Brooks.
SPEAKER23 - Thank you. Thank you. Can you hear
SPEAKER1 - me? Yes. We can. Welcome.
SPEAKER12 - Thank you so much
DORRIE BROOKS - AIA MASSACHUSETTS - HB 469 - SB 242 - SB 309 - Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to HB 469 and SB 242, an act establishing a green and healthy schools4047 working group and implementation plan. I promise not to have to read that more than once because it's mouthful every time. My name is Dorrie Brooks, Senator Comerford gave me a wonderful opening here to speak. I'm the current president of Massachusetts Chapter of the American Institutes of Architects established in 1963, AIA Mass represents over 5000 architects, design professionals and allied member statewide, we're the state chapter of our national organization, the American Institute of Architects. In addition to being a licensed architect, I'm also a certified educational facilities planner and principal of Jones Whitsett Architects, an architecture firm with three decades of experience designing, renovating, and constructing schools in Central and Western Massachusetts. AIA strongly supports HB 469 and SB242. We see these healthy and green schools Bills as a vehicle through which the state can implement4100 comprehensive ongoing assessments of the condition of our schools. The proposed interagency working group and school building standards would hold districts accountable to a common set of environmental and energy reporting requirements and standards.
As you noted, Senator Lewis, these Bills do not begin from scratch, they were intended as a follow-up to Section 83 of Chapter 179 of the Acts of 2022 which required a study of school buildings, which is currently being conducted by DPH, DESE, DOER, and MSBA. The results of that study due back to the legislature's ways and means joint TUE, joint public health, and joint Ed committees is December 31st 2024, will provide the results of a limited assessment of existing school conditions relative to health, safety and energy use, and it will recommend baseline standards of acceptable health conditions, energies, and learning environment effectiveness. Our fear is that if 469 and 242 are not passed, those legislature will be sending a signal to the administration and these agencies that assessing the condition of our existing schools as learning environments is not a priority. It would be taking the foot off the pedal. We hope you will keep the foot down here, as you have heard from others today, we have an equity crisis and have to address it with more than one strategy. I also want to note that there's some irony here that we are at the state and federal level of throwing money at school construction projects to eliminate fossil fuel use, but not at the same time prioritizing those things within the classroom that make the classroom environment self healthy and effective as a learning environment.
While it is important to address our climate goals, we also want to keep looking back at these schools as sites of education. As the speakers from Lynn, were so effective in speaking to, we have many aging buildings in New England, and architects can tell you a lot about the differences here. The vast majority of our schools were built prior to us having a building code standard in Massachusetts. So we really want to be sure that we are simultaneously, while removing fossil fuel use, addressing the condition and quality of these environments. We're fortunate here in Massachusetts to have some of the very best schools in the country, and I know this because I regularly attend conferences where school buildings are judged. Our highest performance lead silver and gold schools are the envy of educators outside of Massachusetts, but they're also the envy of many family here in Massachusetts who don't happen to live in a municipality that has4256 successfully navigated an MSBA core project. MSBA cannot fund schools fast enough to replace all the schools that need replacement or renovation. Much has been said already about the impact of the high cost of construction on the MSBA funding formula and the MSBA's ability to support districts financially to the degree needed. Rather than resting our hopes on a single strategy, an opt in only voluntary strategy of replacing schools one at a time to achieve higher performance school buildings, an act for healthy and green schools4288 would establish a second strategy, a4290 building performance threshold and reporting obligation for all districts to meet and then gradually over time raise those standards.
These report cards of our schools would contain existing and relatively easy to collect data on energy use, environmental quality, and classroom conditions. That's the data that Doctor Eitland was speaking about, it would pull that data together to allow you and the administration to come up with a more consistent and thoughtful long term plan for investment in our4319 schools. In this type of reporting system, families also will be able to review the metrics used to determine the health and safety of the schools where their children will spend thousands of hours before graduation. Again, rather than place all the responsibility for the improvement of our school buildings on a single strategy of an often grant program, we advocate implementing a second strategy of achieving equitable high performing schools by gradually raising the bar on old schools at once. Lastly, while there are a variety of4349 other Bills before you, AIA and Mass would also like to be on record in support of SB 309, an act establishing a special commission to review adequacy and equity of the Massachusetts School Building Program, and we'll follow to the committee shortly with written testimony on both these Bills. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Thank you very much. Really appreciate you sharing your expertise with us. And I know you're you helped inform the drafting of the legislation as well working with Senator Kamaford. So thank you. Any committee members questions? Okay. Alright. Great. Thank you so much. Next, we have Mark, Diane, I think you're with us virtually, Mark Diane.
SPEAKER24 - Okay? I am.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Great. Please please go ahead.
SPEAKER24 - Berkeley. Here I am.
MARK DYEN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 469 - SB 242 - Thank you very much for taking me and it's a little awkward to be in the mix of all of these experts on this, I'm not an expert on education but I would want to bring to the committee's attention in support of H 469, S 242 and related legislation. The urgency of making sure that new schools and retrofits of existing schools4429 are going to 0 emission4431 heating systems. From the perspective of climate activists that I work with in 350 Massachusetts and gas transition allies. Every fossil fuel system we put into a school which has an expected life of 20 or 30 or 40 years is setting up a new public expenditure when that system has to be replaced with a non emitting system to meet the Commonwealth's goals and the roadmap Bill and other legislation. At present the policy that the mass school building authority has is that for replacements of systems in existing schools, this heating system has to be like for like, i.e. if there's a gas boiler or gas furnace or oil boiler oil furnace, the new system has to be a more efficient version at the same time. And what we are doing by doing that is setting the Commonwealth up for another expenditure, 10 or 15 years from now when the road map law and the other legislation that moves us to zero emissions tells us to go back to that school, take out the existing heating system, and put in an unremitting one. As Undaunted K12 can tell you better than I, through the inflation reduction act, there's money available now for ground source and other heat pump replacements that can be done at relatively low cost for the Commonwealth and high impact over time. So I would argue for the legislation that has the studies and commissions that have been argued for here but with this perspective of moving us to a zero emission school construction program. Thank you very much for your time, we'll submit some written testimony to back this up. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Thank you very much. Alright. Anyone in the committee? Alright. All set. Alright. Next, we're gonna hear from.
Are you with us?
SPEAKER25 - Yes. Hi there. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Great. Good afternoon.
SRIRUP KUMAR - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 469 - SB 242 - Good afternoon, thanks for listening, House Chair and Senate Chair, members of the joint committee on education. As a father of children in 1st grade and Pre-K and an active town of Westwood citizen, and climate tech entrepreneur, I'm in full support of H 469 and S 242, an act establishing a green and healthy schools working group and4587 implementation plan since it would steward social, environmental, and economic benefits that our communities and future generations deserve. While helping communities mitigate and adapt to climate change, this act would reduce public health risks, including asthma, and help prevent premature deaths. It would help raise IQ while enhancing steam curriculum with 21st century infrastructure. It would also deflate and stabilize operating expenses for our school districts. It would build clean energy economies in Massachusetts, it would spur workforce development and create non exportable new jobs even.
Overall, it would promote sustainability and equity though, and resiliency along with resourcefulness in our communities, that's just to name the five biggest bullets in my mind. Youth climate activism is at a all time high, parents and teachers, they're also demanding change, and this change is towards climate justice, environmental justice, food and energy justice. So this act will enable that change, and along with the biggest transition of our time. After living in Washington State for a decade and recently traveling abroad to multiple countries, it's clear that we are falling behind in4676 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but a green and healthy school working group and an implementation master plan that would help serve as a north star for all Massachusetts schools to help tap over a billion in funding to up our game, improve facilities. Invest in a sustainable future and maintain national leadership for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After all, there are no global green solutions, there are only local ones. So thank you very much for listening, and, I hope you can get this passed. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much, Mr. Kumar. Any committee members? Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate your testimony today. Last person signed up to testify is Sereta Hudson. Sereta Hudson.
Are you with us?
SPEAKER26 - Hi there. Yes. Hello? Yes. Yes. Sorry. I am. Hi there.
SARITA HUDSON - PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS - HB 469 - SB 242 - I want to thank, Senator Lewis, Chair Garlick, and the joint committee on education and staff, and in particular, Senator Comerford and Rep Domb for their work to ensure all children can learn and thrive in healthy schools in the Commonwealth. We applaud this legislation, H 469 and S 242, an act establishing a green and healthy healthy4760 schools working group and implementation plan. This is for much needed multiagency collaborative planning for implementing and enforcing green and healthy school standards. I'm Sarita Hudson, I am Senior Director of Strategy and development at the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, and for 10 years, I've led the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition. So I am deeply understanding of how asthma and other respiratory issues impact learning for children and how it impacts the workplace for teachers and staff. Over our history, the Asthma Coalition's worked with Springfield Holyoke West Springfield, Northampton School Districts on improving air quality, implementing EPA's tools to schools model, and working in general to improve the health of students, teachers, and staff. We have done some great work by implementing green cleaning standards in Holyoke and Springfield, supporting these districts to sort of track what their buildings look like and how they can improve them, the establishment of clear standards, multiagency collaboration, and planning are absolutely necessary if we want to do this statewide and if we want to have the impact on children's health that we need to.
This is particularly needed for districts that are under resourced and have the greatest health inequities, and that would be a number in our region; in Holyoke, Springfield, Chicopee. In the past few years, we've seen the Metropolitan Areas of Springfield, Worcester, and Boston in the top of the Asthma capitals across the country, and Springfield, that's the Holyoke Hampden County that has been in that spot. Our children and our teachers and staff deserve updated and healthy school buildings where they can breathe easily and learn better. The statistics show that Massachusetts is more heavily4889 burdened by asthma, Latino and Hispanic youth are most impacted along with other bipoc children, and these children with asthma are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change with the heat, we already heard an example of stream heat and three districts in Western Mass closed for over 90 degree heat, and we know this is only the beginning. There are other client impacts; school buildings, the flood, the mold, wildfire smoke, and other ozone, and air quality. We need this legislation that will bring this working group to set up the standards, to allow for enforcement to address children's health, learning, and our communities future and the Commonwealth's future, and we urge you to move this legislation forward out of the committee. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Right. Thank you very much. Alright. Well, great. Thank you. So that's, that was everyone who signed up to testify on on those bills. So I'm gonna close the hearing now on House 469 and Senate 242. The next bill is Senate 309 and act establishing a special commission to review the adequacy and equity of the Master school building program. We have Gwen Trueblood signed up to testify. Gwen Trueblood.
Okay. Last chance, are you with us? Gwen? True blood. I think that's the next bill. Yep. Okay.
Alright. We're gonna move on then. I'll close the hearing on senate 309. Let's move to house bill 568 and senate bill 278, has the same title and act establishing a special commission to study the effectiveness of the School Building Authority. And we have, Jamie, is it Coben? Coben? Signed up. Great. Welcome. Thank you.
JAIME COBHAM - UNDAUNTED K12 - HB 568 - SB 278 - Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jaime Cobham, I am a policy associate with Undaunted K12. I want to thank the Chairs of the committee for hosting this hearing as well as the staff for every member of the committee for help making it possible. With almost 20 years of service and over $16,000,000,000 of taxpayer money invested, the MSBA has established its track record. We now have a good sense of what the enabling legislation and the programs and guidelines developed at the MSBA have been able to deliver. We have some spectacular school buildings, and we have a lot of devastating inequity. Just last week, CBS News highlighted Massachusetts as a state with extraordinarily high5067 levels of inequity in its school buildings. In talking with leaders in Gateway Cities, it's clear that the system is not meeting the needs of those who most need state support, and it's getting worse. It's time we take stock of where we've been and where we want to go next. The conditions under which the MSBA now operates are significantly changed from decades earlier. For example, the5089 2021 act creating a next generation roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy has substantial implications for our school buildings.
With 186,000,000 square feet of building space, our schools are the largest public sector contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. Moreover, school buildings and the students they serve face dramatic new challenges in the form of global pandemics, extreme heat, air polluted by wildfires smoke, and rising in volatile costs for the fossil fuels our schools currently burn to keep themselves warm. A special commission would help us ensure that our investments in school buildings are responsive to the challenges facing school leaders and communities today and for the foreseeable horizon. It's urgent that we do this now as the job is only going to get harder going forward. Climate change is accelerating the inequities we already see in our school buildings. Those hot classrooms that were spoke about earlier are already responsible for 5% of the gap in standard test scores between black and brown students and their white counterparts. Now is also the time to stand up as commission because we have new opportunities. The inflation reduction act offers unlimited federal funding for certain school facilities improvements over the next decade. The MSBA has an important role to play in helping us make the most of this opportunity. Looking back on decades of experience will allow the new leadership at the MSBA to build on their assesses and learn where they can reform policies to better meet the needs of all school districts in a broad participatory process. Thank you for the opportunity to record my support for the special commission to study the MSBA. It is an absolutely urgent that we vote this Bill out of committing, and I thank you for the time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Thank you very much for your testimony. Anyone on the committee? Alright.
LEWIS - I do want to take this opportunity to note that a version of the Bills that we're talking about here, Senate 278, House 568, and Senate 309. Their very similar version has actually been included as part of the Senate's budget proposal for the last three budgets. So there is strong support that has been expressed within the Senate to move policy issue forward. I know the committee will be taking a close look, I also want to use this opportunity to call on the MSBA to embrace, what's called for in this commission and to also take the lead on moving forward with a closer evaluation of a range of the different issues that you shared in your testimony and that others have shared throughout this hearing. So thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Alright. So we're gonna close the hearing now on House 568 and Senate 278. Moving on to Houseville 606 and act relative to MSPA school funding. Don't see anyone signed up on that, so we're going to close the hearing on that bill. Next up is house 441 and senate 251 in Act Modernizing School Construction. We heard from, Representative Cahill Mayor Nicholson, several other panels earlier today. I believe we have 1 more panel signed up on this bill on these 2 bills. Brent Duncan, Kim Barry and Johnny McGinnis. So you're up you're up. You're up. Thank you. Good afternoon.
BRANT DUNCAN - AFT MASSACHUSETTS - HB 441 - SB 251 - Good afternoon. So my name is Brant Duncan, I'm with AFT Massachusetts, we're a statewide labor organization, and, we represent educators, school employees and public librarians. A lot of our educators are in Lowell, Lawrence, Pittsfield, Springfield, New Bedford, Fall River, Lynn, and and Boston. With me this afternoon is, Kim Barry, a teacher in the Lawrence Schools, as well as the President of the Lawrence Teachers Union, and Johnny McGinnis, who's a music teacher in the Boston Public Schools, as well as the political director for the Boston Teachers Union. We're here collectively to express our support for an act modernizing school construction, and an act establishing a special commission to review the adequacy and equity of Mass school building programs, and to speak generally in5360 terms of the need for greater state intervention5362 in supporting our schools. You know, with this passage of the fair share amendment, and I understand there's a lot of interest in those funds, you know, Massachusetts has the opportunity to fund programs to rebuild and renovate public schools while prioritizing environmental sustainability and energy efficiency so students and educators can focus on learning rather than dealing with windows that don't open, crumbling cement and bricks and lack of reliable temperature controls. You know, I'm a educator as I mentioned in Lynn, my wife works in a school that was fortunate to have the accelerated school repair program out of the MSBA refurbished the, roof, the windows, and the doors. My daughter is a student at the school that Mayor Nicholson and Representative Cahill spoke about, but those are two of maybe 20 schools in Lynn that need incredible support. You know, generally speaking, the rate that we're able to rebuild schools through the Massachusetts School Building Authority isn't meeting the needs and we particularly see that in the schools of the students that we represent. So, I just ask you to hear from Kim Barry and, hear some thoughts about, Lawrence and some of the things that we can do in that district.
KIMBERLY BARRY - LAWRENCE TEACHERS UNION - HB 441 - SB 251 - Good afternoon, Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick and good afternoon, committee members, thank you very much for the opportunity. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to present in support of 251 and H 441. My name is Kimberly Barry, the President of the Lawrence Teachers Union, and I have been for the last 24 years as an ESL teacher and reading specialist in the district. And, throughout the Commonwealth Public School Districts and Communities of suffered under decades of the disinvestment in the school buildings. As you know, leaving schools where most of our youngest spend most of their days in dire restraints in these buildings. In Lawrence, the district reports multiple buildings in need of major repair or replacement and there's a wide variety of needed repairs that you've heard about, including Hvac, windows, doors, roofing. Some of these projects will be completed with ESRA funds, but, it still remains multiple schools without any plan for repair. We are beyond excited and5515 extremely grateful to have the MSBA working on two new buildings within our5519 city. The Oliver and the Lahey School. Our Gateway City continues to open its doors and officials do not cease to approve more apartment complexes leaving new school buildings close to the maximum capacity as soon as they open.
I've spent a handful of years teaching in buildings that were rented through the city by the archdiocese, owned by the archdiocese, and those schools have windows with old paints, that they can't close properly, they can't open properly, pigeons used to fly into the classroom up on the 3rd floor where I taught, and time on learning gets distracted when you have to stop and get the pigeon out of the room. So, unfortunately, you know, there's many schools in the district like that, and I get calls5570 over the past couple of weeks, many calls, and before the Lahey was being built, there was buckets of rain coming into the schools from leaky ceiling. So it still does exist in many schools that are over 100 years old, like5587 the5587 Breen, the Lawrence family academy, the Allor, the Leonard, the Rollins, and some temporary housing, that still exists in the old Lawrence High School. So those schools, like I said, buckets of rain pouring into the classrooms and, before finally relocating into a flex space and you could also find the councilor's room in the elevator shaft, the old elevator shaft, and many desks in the hallways of these schools. During the dog days of September, some of the schools had classroom temperatures reaching 80 to 100 degrees in the building, the superintendent/ DESE had no desire to close the building.
You know, even though some schools had AC, those schools that didn't would have loved to go home for a half a day but I guess the data was more important than the students because we didn't have a chance of closing those schools. School buildings need to be cool in the warm weather, and they need to be warm in the cold weather. You may have read that our top official in the city toured the schools during this time for a photoshoot, bringing cameras, fans, ice cream, but the unhealthy air quality was still what the teachers5669 and students were suffering against that day, despite the smoke and mirrors. Some schools provide plastic water bottles available for students, others have built in water dispensers and all schools we believe deserve clean water to be available for our students. Students who wait in these temporary buildings are in places that aren't intended for schools, they have endured months of indoor recess, last spring, and there's no top lot or play5705 lot yard for them to5707 have some time outside to be joyful, healthy, have some fresh air before going back into the curriculum.
So in communities like Lawrence, we need increased funding from the MSBA in order to provide the equal education opportunities for all of our students. We're proud and grateful for our new facilities, I do invite you to visit us and check them out, come to a Lawrence high performance, come to a basketball game in the top state of the art facility there. We love it there, and the students do too, but we really know that all of our5740 students deserve these opportunities, not just a select view. Even in that high school building that I about the library was up and running for about half a year before, Jeff Riley put in a small school within the school for a select group of students. So the library was dismantled, and the students in the nuance, I do not have a library, but the Abbott students have taken over that space for their school. So without enough space for everybody, that structure exists where it has and have nots, even within that school. So in the city of Brennan Roses and across the Commonwealth, all students deserve to be in a healthy state of the art school building. Thank you again for the time.
JOHNNY MCLNNIS - BOSTON TEACHERS UNION - HB 441 - SB 251 - HB 469 - SB 242 - HB 568 - SB 278 - Greetings, Chair Garlick, Chair Lewis and House and Senate members of the joint committee on education. My name is Johnny McInnis, political director for the Boston Teachers Union. I am speaking on behalf of our climate justice committee, and this statement was already submitted to you, so I'm going to read on the current Bill and I'm going to briefly speak on a couple of other Bills that were mentioned earlier. An act modernizing the school construction. We strongly urge support for this Bill, the Bill will address some of the issues raised already, concerning the inequitable MSBA funding formula, double the revenue for school construction as well as protect communities such as land, and other gateway cities from erroneous debt financing that has the effect of stifling new school construction. We cannot afford to allow the status quo to continue, but must move forward aggressively to provide for children and protect our planet. Speaking on H 469 and S 242, green and healthy schools. This particular member has worked in Boston Public Schools for more than 30 years and is very aware of the inadequacy of many of these 100 year old buildings, and the impact that poor ventilation, inadequate heating and cooling and other environmental hazards have on student learning.
Additionally, and critically, building renovations and new buildings must be free of fossil fuel to ensure that the state is able to meet our climate goals and save off the worst impact of climate change. There's a tremendous amount of funding available through the inflation reduction act that we must take advantage of, however, there needs to be a coordinated multiagency effort to make this happen. We need comprehensive planning with the measurable goals so we know we're on track to create the school buildings our young people, and all of us deserve. Lastly, H 568 and S 278, an act establishing an MSBA special commission. It is also strongly urged to support establishing this commission. Rebuilding and retrofitting our schools is important work ensuring that all students in the state regardless of the community they live in have access to high quality facilities. The glaring inequities that we currently see from community to community need to be addressed. Again, transitioning our school buildings to fossil fuels is essential work if we are to meet the goals laid out in the state's climate road map. It is irresponsible for the MSBA to be providing funding for new construction projects that will use gas and oil. Likewise, there needs to be a thorough examination as to whether environmental justice communities are being provided financial support similar to wealthier communities. Obviously, cities and towns with less available funding to provide high quality, sustainable, facilities need additional support. Overall, the MSBA with a revised lens on equity needs much more significant funding to be sure that public educational facilities in the state are everything we want them to be. Thanks so much your attention and your work on these issues. We hope, and we will be following the work of the committee with great interest. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Any committee members, questions? Okay. Alright. Well, thank you to all 3 of you, and thank you very much, to the AFT. For, for your leadership and your advocacy on these important issues. Thank you. Alright. So I'm gonna, close the hearing now on House Bill 4 41 and Senate bill 251.
Next up is House 569 Senate 331 in Act providing school building assistance for special education collaboratives. We heard from Senator Olivera earlier, And, now we are gonna hear from Joanne Haley Sullivan and Catherine Cooper, who have been waiting patiently. Good afternoon.
JOANNE HALEY SULLIVAN - MASSACHUSETTS ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION COLLABORATIVES - HB 569 - SB 331 - Thank you so much to the committee for seeing us, we appreciate it. So thanks everybody for listening to us this afternoon. I'm Joanne Haley Sullivan, I'm the executive director of the Massachusetts Organization of Education Collaboratives, MOEC, and with me is Catherine Cooper, who is the executive director of the Southeastern Mass Educational Collaborative and also the chair of our legislative committee for MOEC. So we're here to seek your support for House 569 and Senate 331, an act providing school building assistance for special education collaboratives. We represent the 24 educational collaboratives across the Commonwealth. And just by way of background, each collaborative serves a variety of school districts, together to be more efficient and effective in the way that they provide services to school districts. So we do that primarily students with very high needs in terms of special education needs, and we serve 268 member school districts. In 2022, the collaboratives served over 35,000 students through special education programs and services, regular education programs and services, and then special education and general education transportation services. So 35,000 students in total, but on any given day, approximately 5000 students attend our collaborative schools. As you've heard6155 from a variety of people today, many collaboratives are also in aging buildings across the Commonwealth and those buildings need critical upgrades and improvements which are delayed or prevented from moving forward due to lack of funds.
We are sensitive to the difficult position of our school districts because they represent their communities and are using local funds communities for collaboratives that serve a variety of, communities. But as a result, students in many collaboratives are being educated in spaces that are really inequitable for their regular education peers. So, additionally, there's also a large number of students out there in the Commonwealth who are being referred to us for services who we're prepared to serve, but we don't have the facility space in order to accommodate them, and so that's another challenge that we're looking at as well. You might know that in the past, we were prime early in public school buildings but that was where we were serving our students, but over the years, for a variety of reasons, the public schools have needed to use their space in a different way. So now there's only 12 out of the 24 collaboratives that even have any of their programs housed within public school buildings. That means that it comes back to us to either frequently move our students from building to building as the school's districts need the space or left with no option, but to purchase or build our own or lease our own buildings. The problem is that we're not eligible for any funding source for this other than going back to our districts to a large tuition increases in order to support that. So we don't get MSBA funding, we don't have facility funding comparable to what charter schools may get, we don't have the OSD reconstruction process that private schools use in order to fund their facilities, that's not applicable to us. Then when we try to seek private funding, we're often ineligible for mortgages, etcetera because of lack of collateral, and we didn't get any of the Esser funds. So we really are looking for a resolution to these concerns and ask you to support these Bills and report them out favorably. Thank you, and we will be submitting written testimony as, will MASS and MASC in support of this as well. Thank you.
CATHERINE COOPER - SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE - HB 569 - SB 331 - Good afternoon.6303 I'm Catherine Cooper, executive director of Southeastern Mass, Educational collaborative. My collaborative is made up of 10 districts in the Southeast corner of the state, including the gateway cities of Fall River and New Bedford and surrounding towns. My collaborative programs are located in both leased classroom spaces in our host member districts as well as separate buildings that we lease. We are fortunate to have several member districts at least classroom space to us, but we are often asked to move or vacate those spaces when a district's needs change or their enrollment grows. Over the years, we have had to move several of our programs, either to less desirable spaces within the same building, or we've had to go out and search for other district spaces that we could inhabit. In June of 2020, when we were trying to reopen our schools for that July after the pandemic closure, we were notified that one of our spaces for classrooms that we lease in one of our district that houses our multi disability and medically fragile children might not be available to us because of the district's need to comply with the 6 ft. distancing requirements for their own students. Fortunately, that did not come to pass, but it highlights the precarious situation that we are in when we do house our programs in leased district built classrooms.
My collaborative also leases a historic school building from a member school district that was built in 1917, it was decommissioned by that district decades ago for their own school use but it currently now houses approximately 50 of our high need special needs students every day. While we are grateful to the host district for allowing us the use of space at a very fair rate, we are frequently on alert as the town is currently undergoing their own facilities use study, and there has been discussion about taking the6420 building back for municipal use. The building shows its age, and while it serves a need and we make do with it,6428 it certainly less than ideal. SMEC has owned a very small building of its own that the collaborative purchased back in the 90s and after searching for seven years through the public procurement process, we just recently purchased another small building in order to expand our social emotional programming. However, after the multiple RFP proposals, the building that we identified that we could afford is a former preschool building in a municipal business park near a landfill. Even with excellent credit and a relatively low purchase price, we had trouble getting financing because we just don't have collateral, and that is across the board with collaboratives.
Because our revenue projections are based on projected student enrollment, bank executives have difficulty establishing our ability to finance commercial mortgages and many of our members have been forced into very high level commercial leases at very high rates because of this difficulty with finding space. As Joanne mentioned, we are not currently eligible for MSBA funds, we do not receive facilities aids, such as the charter schools, and when the Chapter 766 schools receive millions of dollars in state aid during the pandemic for facilities and other needs, we did not get any of that. To expect our sending districts to fund our facilities needs through tuitions is unreasonable especially when our districts are the ones who set our tuitions and they are struggling with their own budget shortfalls, and as you've heard today, their own facilities needs. We are grateful to the sponsors of House Bill 569 and Senate Bill 331, and their recognition that collaboratives are an essential part of the continuum of services for the collaborative's most vulnerable students and that we need state assistance to ensure that these students receive their services in safe and comfortable and appropriate settings. MSBA eligibility or other forms of state funding for collaborative facilities is an issue that can no longer be ignored, and we hope that the committee will assist us in reaching this goal. We thank you for your attention and support. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you both very much. Anybody questions?
LEWIS - You mentioned the difficulty of almost impossibility in getting commercial mortgages of your inability to show collateral. Has there been any discussion around making you eligible for loans through public financing? You know, I don't know what public state agency it might be, like, Mass development or somebody like that. Has that come up?
COOPER - During our procurement process, we did speak, quite frequently with Mass development, they offer bonding services at a substantial cost to secure the bank loans, but not in terms of actual public financing.
LEWIS - Okay. So they would help you to get that private mortgage, but not to?
COOPER - To back the mortgage, if you will.
LEWIS - So is there any reason you've chosen to pursue this legislation which would still put a significant amount of the cost on you to cover even when the MSBA does not cover, and I understand why this would be beneficial to be in the MSBA program, but, nevertheless, you'd still have to cover that as opposed to a solution where you would be able to secure public financing to be able to make improvements or are you trying to do both?
SULLIVAN - I would say we're agnostic to where we get the funding, we are certainly in support of this because this is an avenue for us to get some funding, but we are agnostic as to where that funding comes from. I certainly do know that people have explored the Mass development as you've referenced and Catherine talked about, and it's helped in some instances in years gone by, but I think in more recent years, even though they get the backing of Mass development, the collaboratives are still being rejected in terms of the request for the mortgage. Not everybody, I don't want to paint with one brush, but many collaboratives are experiencing that as they've tried to go forward. So where we get the funds from, I think, is not as important to us as the fact that we feel that it is a shared responsibility across the state and that we really need to be taking care of the students that we serve. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Absolutely. Alright. Well, let's continue this conversation. I know, representative of garlic and I, I think, just got an invitation from you to member meeting that's
SPEAKER30 - coming up,
SPEAKER1 - in October. Right? Yep. And I'm sure this will be 1 of the topics we've discussed, but, but I would like to explore further this whether there is a solution here that would, and again, not mutually exclusive, but whether that wouldn't enable collaborators to get public finding directly, not just essentially enabling you to get a private mortgage, but to be able to. So what those options might be and what what it would take to to do that because that6723 seems like it could be another way to help you.
SPEAKER21 - Absolutely.
SPEAKER30 - Okay. That would be great. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you to the committee.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you very much. Alright. So we're gonna close the hearing now on House Bill 569 and Senate Bill 331. Next is House Bill 3881 and act relative alert systems in public schools. We don't have anyone signed up, so we'll close on hearing on that bill. House 554 an act relative to equipping public elementary and secondary schools with panic alarms or emergency mechanisms. Don't see anyone signed up for that bill. So close the hearing. House 427 and act relative to the safety of schools, residences, and public assemblies, And then Senate Bill 271 in act relative to carbon monoxide detectors in schools. I believe the, We have 2 of our fire chiefs here. Is that right? Chief Jean Dorothy and chief Brian Nardelli. And I think you wanted to testify on both of those bills. Correct. Okay. So we'll we'll we'll do those together since no 1 else is signed up for those bills. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you for coming.
GARY DAUGHERTY - FIRE CHIEF ASSOCIATION - HB 427 - SB 271 - Good afternoon. I'm Gary Daugherty, I'm the retired fire Chief from Revere. Chair Garlick, Lewis, members of the committee, as I said, am a retired fire chief. I'm with, Brian Nardelli, who's the current chief of Brockton, and, we're here looking for your support. I should state I'm the assistant government affairs director, and we're here representing the Fire Chief Association. We're requesting your support in House Bill 427 and Senate Bill 271. We're looking for your support and guidance for6832 this critical legislation. These Bills are for the requirement for the schools in the Commonwealth be required to plan and install carbon monoxide detectors. It is critical, we get this necessary protection for students, teachers, and personnel of our districts. These Bills also have a funding6851 mechanism where a trust fund6853 is part of it to be set up to fund it. A big roadblock for us in the past has been the schools either said they didn't have the money, they couldn't fund the money. All worse, they said, well, it's not a statue, we don't have to go by it.
I can say in my experience in Revere, some years ago, we had sick buildings, and it turned out to be CO2 and I was able to convince our district superintendent, Doctor Dayton at the time to put in smoke detectors. They were trying to blame it on monoxide, and we did all the testing and it turned out to be CO2 because of the air quality of the buildings. It is very critical, and the fact that it puts in a statue that is required, they have to set up a plan, and then the funding will go to them once they apply for it. This endeavor will critically help the school districts and our students6912 and teachers. Like I said, we'll go on to Chapter 148. We have additional statistics, we won't bore you with now, but we will submit to you in a written testimony that have been provided by the Department of Fire Service for the last 10 years on carbon monoxide calls and delineation between what type schools and the school populations. Thank you for your support, and I can give it to Chief Nardelli.
BRIAN NARDELLI - FIRE CHIEF ASSOCIATION - HB 427 - SB 271 - Good afternoon, Chair Garlick, Chair Lewis, esteemed colleagues of the committee, I truly appreciate you having us here today. I think when we discuss Carbon monoxide and the silent killer that it is, and we talk about Nicole's law that was enacted back in 2005, this is now pushing the step forward. When you look at a lot of these incidents, 466 in a 10 year period between 2012 and 2023, that's pretty significant, that's about 31 incidents a year where schools have had carbon monoxide incidents where people have actually been transported to the hospital. To put a little bit of that into perspective, the National Institute of Occupancy, Safety and health, NIOSH, look at 35 pots per million as immediately dangerous to life and health, that's why a firefighter would put on his breathing apparatus to enter that structure. A couple of these incidents that you'll see in the documentation that you will receive in writing. At 1.1 of the schools, in January 11th 2016 had 600 pots per million in the building, another one in another school was 135 pots per million. So you look at the number and the drastic differences, one of the problems we see in any type of school is kids get sick, they're petri dishes, I think we all can speak of that and without my kids growing up as well.
I think when we look in the months that are the most detrimental to carbon monoxide issues are probably the months between December and March. In those months is when we've seen the highest rate of these incidents, it's usually early in the morning, the boilers start up, and there is a leak. Some of these buildings, we've heard testimony from so many today about the age of these buildings and the age of these boiler systems and HVAC systems. One of the problems with that is when those kids are sick in those winter months, they may be feeling the effects of an illness outside of carbon monoxide, or they may just think they're feeling that and it could be the common oxide that's creating7065 the problem. Putting carbon monoxide detectors in the schools is actually going to provide an alarming system7071 when it reads those numbers to show you that we have a possibility of carbon monoxide here, and it isn't just an outbreak of the flu or a cold with the kids. We were fortunate that in these instances that I speak of that someone did smell an odor or smell something that made them sick that made them call 911, but we have to look at the fact that this is technically a silent killer and could put everyone in danger. So I thank you for your time today, and I would have really appreciate your support on this Bill. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Any questions? Alright. Well, thank you chief Daugherty and chief Nardelli. We very much appreciate you speaking with us today and and making sure we're, aware of how article this issue is. I got you, sir. Alright. Thank you. Alright. So we're gonna close the hearing on house 42 7 and senate 271. We're now gonna open the hearing on Senate Bill 2440 and act to improve student staff attendance and performance by ensuring CO2 monitoring in schools throughout the Commonwealth. And they're first person signed up is Eliza Cody Perez. Are you with us? Yes. And I'm gonna hand over to 2 minutes to representative garlic. I just have to step out for 1 minute, but, please continue. I'll be back shortly.
SPEAKER22 - Okay. I'll be right Uh-huh.
ELIZA CODY PEREZ - SAFER AIR SAFER SCHOOLS - SB 2440 - Good afternoon. My name is Eliza Cody Perez, and I'm a founder of Safer Air, Safer Schools. By now, you will have received a number of written testimonies from various expert on the benefits of cleaning school air. I'm not here today to give you the stats about the growing attendance and low test score crisis in the Massachusetts schools. The Globe and the Times have plenty written on how the air is making us sick from wildfires, RSV, pollution, Covid, and allergens. This is also a frequent topic of discussion amongst families at every school from the Barnstable to the Berkshires. 100 years ago, they figured out it was contaminated water that was making cities of people sick. The water, and so they cleaned the water, and people stopped getting sick and dying. But it's 2023,7208 and air is the new water. I've spent my entire life in public schools as a student, as an educator, and now as a public school parent, and let me tell you, things are different than when we were kids. When we were sick, parents sacrificed a day or two of work, sacrificing a day or two of work is not new, right? Our parents made those sacrifices, their parents made those sacrifices, but the difference between then and now is that they made those sacrifices a few times a year. These days, with even more toxins and illness circulating in classrooms, these impossible choices are being made every single month. This is not hyperbole, it is reality, it is unsustainable.
Just take a moment to think about that rinse and repeat pattern and apply that to a population scale. To every one of the 900,000 students here in Massachusetts schools. So 900,000 kids times multiple multi day absences equals a lot of missed school for kids and teachers and a lot of missed work for caregivers, and let's not forget how many families don't have the option of keeping their student home, if anyone is sick. It becomes an impossible choice between putting food on the table and sending a sick child to school, or your sick self to work, and so it keeps happening over and over. Think about the staggering impact that number of missed days has, that is the definition of a crisis, but the solution is simple. Clean the air in schools and fewer kids and teachers get sick. More healthy days in school means better education, better health, and better economy. There's no perfect way to do this, but we must try. Air is the new water, and families are drowning, we must act. 2440 represents the best opportunity to fix this crisis right now, and like the trailblazing legislators that before our time made sure we all have clean water to drink, you are now the people to our future generations. You are the stewards of what will be known as one of the most impactful advances in education and public health in generations. Air is the new water, and we implore you pass 2440 to clean it. Thank you.
MEGHAN STRIPE - SAFER AIR SAFER SCHOOLS - SB 2440 - I submitted written testimony, but I'm here physically in support of my colleague, Eliza, so I'll just briefly give some moral testimony too. My name is Meghan Stripe. I'm a member of safer air, safer schools here to speak on behalf of Senate 2440, and thank you to the committee and, Representative Garlick and Chairman Lewis for having us. I'm a resident of Acton and a mother of two young daughters, one is five, newly in kindergarten, just started kindergarten and7444 one is seven, they both have respiratory issues. Senate Bill 2440 is an act to improve student and staff attendance by ensuring the efficient use of air quality monitoring systems that are already in use or installed and not used in K through 12 schools7462 across the Commonwealth. It's a low cost and a high impact piece of legislation. As my colleague can tell you in much greater detail, Eliza decreased CO2 levels in classrooms contributes to better student cognitive ability and educational outcomes. We're happy to answer any questions you might have as to the specifics of that kind of stuff. I worked in this building for about seven years, myself, I staffed this committee for a while, I have great respect for the committee and this legislative process, and we look forward to working with you throughout the life cycle of this piece of legislation should it have one. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Alright.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you both very much. Any questions? Okay. Alright. And, just because it was Eliza Cody Perez and Megan? Yes.
SPEAKER13 - Correct. Right.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Great. Thank you both very much. Thanks. Okay. Sarah Horstley is next?
SPEAKER12 - I'm not sure
SPEAKER33 - why my name is.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, okay. Alright. So you're all set?
SPEAKER33 - All set.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Alright. Nancy Lesson?
Hi. You're up.
SPEAKER12 - So
NANCY LESSEN - BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAMILIES FOR COVID SAFETY - SB 2440 - Good afternoon, Chairs Garlick and Lewis and committee members. I'm Nancy Lowenstein, I live in Boston. I'm a member of Boston Public schools families for Covid safety, FamCOSa, and a retired occupational health and safety specialist. Four of my grandchildren attend Boston public schools, and my daughter is an educator there. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the extremely important issue of clean air in schools, a necessity for good educational environments, and for the health of building occupants. Massachusetts is home to schools with state of the art electrical, and HVAC systems, as well as a myriad of schools in urban and other districts built decades ago that lacks systems necessary for good ventilation and the filtration of harmful particles. Senate Bill 2440 importantly calls attention to the need for clean air and classrooms, but falls short in prioritizing the improvements most needed by schools lacking ventilation systems. The Bill's provision calling for indoor air quality monitoring systems and classrooms might be useful in schools with modern HVAC systems, but not, it's not what will help the thousands of classrooms lacking ventilation systems. Boston Public Schools installed an indoor air quality monitoring system after the pandemic began, including in the 75% of the district school's lacking ventilation systems.
Recommended levels of carbon dioxide and indoor air is generally 800 parts7648 per 1,000,000 or below. It does no good to make a daily check online of my grandchildren's and daughter's classrooms and see that CO2 levels often hover around 1800 parts per million or higher. What we knew before this $2,000,000 system was installed is that without modern HVAC, ventilation is inadequate. My colleague, Elise Pictor, and I wrote an article just published in the journal new solutions titled, measuring indoor air quality does not prevent Covid-19. The article provides a comprehensive look at the failings of this monitoring in schools lacking ventilation systems, I have copies of this article for committee members. What is needed first and foremost is the installation of modern ventilation and filtration systems, including adding heat pumps coupled with dedicated out side air systems. A Boston Globe article stated in May of this year, 'Massachusetts aid for large scale school construction projects has benefited white students substantially more than students of color who tend to be clustered in urban districts with deteriorating systems, a globe analyst analysis has found'. Perhaps this is the impetus for S 309 H 568, which would establish the special commission to review the7731 adequacy and equity of Massachusetts school building program and hopefully make strides in reversing these7737 inequities. An important addition to the proposed commission would be representatives of students and of parents whose voices are now absent. It's past time to truly focus on racial equity and prioritize the most important air quality fixes, modern ventilation and filtration systems bringing clean air to schools most in need. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much.
SPEAKER22 - Any questions comments, sir.
SPEAKER1 - Yeah. Yep. Please. I'm Senator Garlic.
SPEAKER22 - So mostly a moment of personal privilege senator.
REP GARLICK - By my rudimentary math here, you and I wearing a variety of hats, have been talking about indoor air quality for more than 29 years. First beginning those discussions on the indirect7784 quality and the status and certainly in health care facilities and molecular leadership in schools, I thank you about all of your work, all of your persistence, all of your brilliance, all of the GS. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER12 - Thank you. Representative Garlic.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much.
SPEAKER12 - Can I give this whole article so that committee members can Sure? Alright. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. Alright. So we now have, several people signed up to testify virtually. On senate bill 2440. First on the list is Ann Marie Faust. And then after Ann Marie Faust, we have Lara Germanis, and then Mary Germanis, Elise Pector, and a few other people. Alright. Amari Faust.
SPEAKER33 - Hi. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes.
SPEAKER33 - Okay. Great. Thank you.
ANN MARIE FAUST - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 2440 - Thank you to the committee for considering this Bill. My name is Ann Marie Faust, and I am a scientist, but I come to you as a Mass resident and one of the petitioners of this Bill. I have elementary age children, so I know how important it is to have a safe educational environment. Part of that safe environment is high air quality, including as we've heard ventilation and filtration. Improving the air quality will reduce student and teacher exposure to allergens, asthma triggers, smoke and infections. This reduced exposure will help to improve attendance rates for students and teachers. When students and teachers don't feel well or are reacting to environmental triggers, they're less likely to learn and teach effectively, and they're less likely to even attend school. The recent trend of increased absenteeism in Massachusetts and across the country is startling. In Mass, according to the OE data, the percentage of students who are chronically absent, meaning that they missed at least 10% of the entire school year have been holding at an average of about 11% to 12%.
However, recently, the chronic absenteeism rate has been climbing dramatically from 11.7% in 2018 all the way up to 25% in 2022. Also, in 2022, 37 districts had a chronic absentee rate of 40% or higher. This trend is holding for the most recent school year, but the complete data have not been yet been published. This is really, really high, and it's not good for schools. We disrupt the continuity of learning when 20% plus of students missed that much school. According to a recent White House report, we're also seeing decreased test scores deliver at least partly explained by this increased absentee rate. When students and teachers are not exposed to these detrimental health triggers, they're better able to attend school and to learn and teach at high level. This Bill will help to ensure that all public schools across the Commonwealth have high air quality for students and7956 for teachers. I thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
7960
7960 SPEAKER17960 -7960 Thank7960 you very much. All set. Next, we're gonna hear from, Lara Jimenez. Welcome.
LAURA GERMANIS - HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL - SB 2440 - Thank you, and, thank you so much to, Chairs Lewis and Garlic for hosting this hearing and to the members of the Education Committee as well as to Senator Friedman and Eliza Perez, and sponsors of this Bill, 2440, which I encourage the committee to endorse and move favorably out of committee, ventilation is critical to learning. I am Laura Germanis, I'm a practicing family physician, meaning I see patients of all ages, currently practicing in Cambridge. I'm a parent of two children under the age of five and also a public health researcher and clinical instructor with an affiliation in the center for primary care at Harvard Medical School. 12.9% of children in Massachusetts have asthma. Ventilation is critical for preventing transmission of respiratory pathogens and simply cleaning the air, from allergens as all the others have said, and preventing transmission of RSV, flu and Covid-19. Infections in schools, in fact, seed infections in the community as we have seen actually from a study based in Italy and then just this summer, a new study came out from Boston Children's hospital researchers who showed that 70% of all Covid infections started in a school age8045 child. Children don't live in a vacuum and childhood illness has significant impacts with ripple effects, putting older family members at risk, and resulting in missed times from work for parents and others. I've personally seen the way this impacts children and families.
I still remember the story of a child who sat next to the window in all winter in his Boston public school wearing a jacket in an attempt to protect his immunocompromised grandmother from Covid-19 who he lived with. While vaccines and treatments give us hope, people who are immunocompromised of older age or have immunocompromising conditions can still become seriously ill from Covid, and long Covid still does not have definitive treatments, which anyone can get. Even children can experience severe illness due to Covid-19. I personally looked over the data for Covid-19 as compared with influenza from the last flu season, and, it turns out that when you just look at the data from October 1st 2022 through the end of the public health emergency, May 11th, 2023, 158 children died in the US due to Covid as compared with 150 due to flu. The good news is that ventilation can help save lives for both, so I would just really encourage the committee to take a look at this and think about ways that we can prioritize in an equitable fashion improving air quality throughout school systems. I do think that the first step needs to be creating and maybe it's a multi year plan to improve ventilation starting with the most impacted schools first, and perhaps there is a combination of these Bills, you know, thinking about improving green and healthy schools, installing heat pumps that create8140 air circulation. I think that these conversations are a8144 good place to start, and I also want to express the same concern that let's start with what we know works, which is improving air quality, and ventilation, rather than monitoring the problem that we know is already there first. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER33 - All set.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Next, next up is Mary Germanis.
MARY GERMANIS - MASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR HEALTH EQUITY - SB 2440 - SB 309 - HB 568 - HB 469 - SB 242 - Thank you so much, Chairman Lewis and Chairperson Garlick, and thank you to the whole committee for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Mary Germanis Saba, I live in Malden, and I'm a founding member of Massachusetts Coalition for HealthEquity and a Harvard and Berkeley trained political economist as well8192 as a public health and disability justice advocate.8194 I'm also a8196 lead author of the urgency of equity toolkit, a guide to safer and healthier8200 schools which was used by educator and parent groups across the country amidst school re-openings at the start of the pandemic. I myself have graduated masters in public schools and have two young children who I intend to put into public school when they're old enough, and I have asthma, and other health conditions, which inform my8217 testimony today on the question of indoor air quality and green school renovations8221 and equity. I'm here to testify on Senate Bill 2440 and S 309 H 568 as well as S 469 H 242, which I believe as my8236 colleague, Laura just mentioned, have a good deal of overlap, and I would like to speak directly to the necessity for clean indoor classroom air. As others here have said, good ventilation is essential for good health, and in an age of climate crisis in particular, it helps8254 reduce wildfire smoke in the air. It is an essential layer8259 to prevent absences from flu Covid and protect children and staff from long8263 Covid, which as we are8265 increasingly learning, can impact anyone.
The Massachusetts legislature should take steps to equalize access to clear indoor air. My colleagues8274 with children in Cambridge and Newton Public Schools have access to school buildings with newly8278 updated HVAC systems. Their air monitoring systems show CO2 levels that8283 rarely rise above 800 parts per 1,000,000. In Boston Public Schools, air quality monitors can show levels of 1800 PM8291 or higher. For reference, outdoor air is generally measured at 450.8295 Such inequality is not acceptable, and it will have long term precautions for health equity in the Commonwealth. Clean indoor air should be made standard for all8307 Massachusetts public school children. The American Society of heating, refrigerating,8311 and air conditioning engineers offers clear guidance on what adequate ventilation schools can look like which can and should be incorporated into any plans for school renovation and green building infrastructures over the coming years. Clean air is an equity issue, as we know, communities of color in the United States similarly suffer from significantly higher rates of asthma and in the earlier days of the pandemic, communities experiencing wildfire smoke, likewise, experienced disproportionate harm from Covid-19. I'd like to echo the point made by my colleague, Nancy Lessen, from the Boston Globe, Massachusetts Air Aid for large scale school construction projects has benefited white students substantially more than8354 students of color. All of our students deserve clean air. I urge you to support Senate Bill 2440, our children and school staff need modern ventilation and filtration8368 systems to bring clean air to schools most in need. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. We're very much appreciate your advocacy for greater health equity in our schools. Any committee members? Okay. Alright. Let's see. Next, we're gonna hear from Elise Pector?
Are you with us, Elise Pector?
Okay. Professor Barriba. Barriba? From MIT?
Professor l. Sorry.
SPEAKER15 - Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes. We can. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER15 - Okay.
Don't know if you can see me though. Let me try to see if you can. Can you see me as well?
SPEAKER1 - We could see the now we can. Yes. Great.
SPEAKER15 - Fantastic. Alright. Thank you.
LYDIA BOUROUIBA - MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY - SB 2440 - Good afternoon to all and the members of the joint education committee. Professor Lydia Bourouiba, faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, director of the fluids and health network and the fluids dynamics8446 of disease transmission laboratory at8448 MIT. I'm here to express my strong support for the Bill, S 2440. To give a few numbers, Americans spend about 90% of their times indoors where concentrations of pollutants and contaminants can be as high as two to five times than of the outdoor levels according to the EPA. The most susceptible to adverse effects of poor air quality include the young children in schools, of course, the impact of extended exposure to poor air quality include fatigue, headaches, decrease of cognitive functions, and of course respiratory diseases. The high level of of exposure is critical to control to prevent the future adult citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to spend time and critical formative years in contaminated air. To give a few numbers, at baseline, we inhaled and exhaled about 0.5 liters, that is 6 liters per minute of air, 360 liters per minute, that is about 90 cubic feet in a full day, let's say, seven hours. To give perspective, this is the total volume of air in a car inhaled in a day.
This is why air quality control is so important, particularly in school settings. The overall spirit of the Bill, S 2440 is essentially to introduce preventive measures that specifically monitor and8536 control the air quality in schools, and in addition to that, introduce also means that are mitigative, even for school buildings that are not up to standards. The Bill proposes an areas of methods to do so, and they are compatible with the recent recommendations and documents of ASHRAE. The ASHRAE is the American Society of Heating, refrigerating, and air conditioning engineers. Their standards or position documents are standards across the US, but also consider the gold standard worldwide for air quality indoors. In particular, S 2440 Bill is compatible with the ASHRAE position document on indoor carbon dioxide that is as recent as February 2022, and it is also compatible with the ASHRAE standard 241 2023 on control of infectious aerosols which was issued as recently as essentially end of June 2023. It's important to note that both of these recent ASHRAE documents are the strongest today to firmly link indoor air quality and respiratory diseases in particular infectious respiratory diseases, think Covid-19. This Bill is compatible with those documents and having strong support for it. Thank8613 you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Thank you very much, Professor Baruba. Great. Thank you. We appreciate you sharing your expertise with us today.
SPEAKER15 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. The last person signed up on this legislation is Rachel Kratniewski. Are you with us?
SPEAKER9 - I am. Yes. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes. We can.
SPEAKER9 - Great. Okay.
RACHEL KWATEWSKY - SAFE AIR SAFE SCHOOLS - SB 2440 - Thank you very much for this opportunity to present testimony. My name is Rachel Kwatewsky, I'm a resident of Beverly,8646 a nurse practitioner and a mother to three children who attend public school in the elementary, middle, and high school levels. So I'm here today on behalf of safer air safe schools supporting an act to improve student and staff attendance and performance by ensuring carbon dioxide monitoring in schools throughout the Commonwealth. S 2440, this Bill is important in addressing the indoor air quality disparities in schools across the Commonwealth. In Massachusetts, we currently have some classrooms that have HVAC systems with CO2 monitoring and pepper filtering to over 75% of Boston Public School Buildings that rely solely on windows. This Bill strives to standardize indoor air quality in schools to ensure that all students have access to clean indoor air and minimize these existing inequities. As you've heard from our experts in media, indoor air quality affects many measurable outcomes that are very important are student staff attendance and performance. Over the past few years, DESE has reported increased rates of chronic absenteeism. As a result, districts are under intense pressure to improve attendance. A recent report from8715 Central Texas found that respiratory illness accounted for 48% of reported absences. I wanted to share my family's experience from the last school year as it illustrates how Bill 2440 has the potential to greatly improve attendance and performance.
Last fall, my son was excited to start high school, he was off to a great start with a handful of friends in his honor level classes, nice teachers, and fun electives. He took his studies seriously and was conscientious about getting his homework completed. He was making great grades and the year was off to a great start. Unfortunately, that great start stalled, the Friday after Thanksgiving, my son developed respiratory symptoms and tested positive for Covid two days later. Over the next few days, three other household members became infected, one requiring an ED visit and another school age child8766 who missed nine days of school and sports.8768 This would begin a six month cascade of events in our household8772 where my son would continuously get sick every three weeks with a respiratory illness in this more days of school, still diligent about his grades. He made sure to attend the after school sessions to seek extra help, however, this was not enough for him to get back on track as the continuous illnesses and repeated absences made it extremely difficult for him to8794 make up missed work and to learn the new module simultaneously. Unfortunately, despite all of his efforts, his grades were not able to fully recover and he felt defeated. With the respiratory pathogen of the month circulating in the three different schools in our district, my three children tallied up a total of 48 missed school days for last year. Luckily, these were all medically excused as we are fortunate enough to access health care. I realized that money and implementation of S 2440 would be your top concerns. However, we need to consider the cost of not improving indoor air quality for8830 our students, educators, and staff. As Joseph Allen from Harvard school of public health recently8836 stated in an interview, we've neglected8838 our buildings in our school buildings in particular for decades upon decades, it should be totally unacceptable. The status quo is unacceptable and8847 equitable, and our children cannot afford to miss any more8851 days of school. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you for your powerful testimony. And I'm sorry to hear about, you know, what, transpired with your family and your children and and having to miss so many days of school. That's tough.
SPEAKER9 - Thank you. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER1 - K. Anybody on the committee? Alright. Alright. Well, thank you. Alright. Thank you to everybody who shared their testimony on Senate Bill to 440. We appreciate it. So we're going to close the hearing on that bill now. We now have a whole series of bills that don't have anyone signed up to testify, so I'm going to quickly move through those. And then I think we have maybe 1 or 2 people who still are still waiting to testify. Alright. House 574, an Act relative to facilities grants for approved projects under the school building assistance8903 program. I'm gonna close on8905 that 1. Senate 359 in ACRA relative to school districts in receivership and the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Moving close8912 to here on that bill. House 35698914 in ACRA to funding of school construction projects. We heard from Representative Elliott earlier in the hearing on that bill, so we'll close it. The hearing sent a 298, an act relative to8925 increase Hero costs and school construction projects. Closer hearing on that bill. House bill 559 and act relative to increase access to safe swimming. We heard from Representative Ramos on that bill earlier. Senate Bill 2818940 enact relative to school improvements in the town of Wilmington, close on that here in that bill. House 553 in8946 that relative to the consideration of ergonomically designed school buildings. Close8950 to hearing on that House 567 in Act relative to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Close on that bill, sent a 295 in Act to create facilities loan8960 program for private special education schools. That's the bill we heard from Senator Keenan on at the beginning of the hearing8966 So we'll close the hearing on that bill. House 431 and act to expand the Massachusetts School Building Authority and create a new program to assist Public School Districts with 21st century technology upgrades. We'll close the hearing on that bill. House 505 and Act to improve and enhance the advisory8984 board to the Massachusetts School Building8986 Authority. Closer hearing on that bill. Senate 303 in Act increasing the Commonwealth's share of the Education Foundation budget. Close to hearing on that, Bill. House 4 48 enact ensuring adequate minimum school aid. Closed to hearing on that bill. And act relative to educational freedom, house 481, closing the hearing on that bill. House 510 and act relative to foundation budget review commission permanent. Close the hearing on that bill. Alright. That brings us to house bill 562 and act relative to inflation adjustments for education aid. We do have9021 Amy Blanchett signed up9023 on this Bill, have you stuck with us? Does say in person? Is miss blind chat with us? Or maybe on virtually, Amy Blanchett.
Alright. I guess we will close the hearing then on House Bill 562. Final bill on the docket today, House Bill 3894, and act relative to state aid for public schools. This is the bill we heard from representative Cruise on early in the hearing. And we also have, Super Tenants, Drake signed up, from the Salem Public School of Super Tenants, Drake. Are you still with us?
SPEAKER37 - Yes. I am. Can you
SPEAKER1 - hear me? I am impressed. You've hung in there the entire time, superintendent. Thank you.
SPEAKER37 - Well, and fair fair, disclosure. I've been in and out, so it worked out with you. I'm sorry. Appreciate you. Take I'm to listen.
SPEAKER1 - Well, we're happy to have you anytime. Thank you.
SPEAKER37 - K. Well, let me
STEPHEN ZRIKE - SALEM PUBLIC SCHOOLS - HB 3894 - So I just wanted to, again, thank you for the opportunity offer testimony on behalf of the Salem public schools relative to H 3894, and an act relative to state aid for public schools. The Bill is focused on addressing significant inequities created by the Chapter 70 formula for communities like Salem. While well intentioned the implementation of Chapter 132 of the Act of 2019, the student opportunity act has had a negative impact on communities like ours. The Chapter 70 formula continues to place an unsustainable burden on a community with statutorily constrained revenue growth and an increasingly high need student population. Even though the percentage of low income special education and multilingual learners has grown financially over the last five years, the city of Salem has been faced with assuming a greater proportion of the requisite educational9136 funding. The Chapter 70 formula has a surprising impact of driving Salem's contribution up and the state's contribution down. Over the last three years, Salem has experienced a 10% decline in target aid from the state, while the opposite is true for almost all other gateway cities. Our colleagues and community serving the state's most high risk students have benefited from the resources provided by SOA, but in Salem and some other communities, we have not experienced the promises of Chapter 70 reform.
More specifically, over the last two fiscal years after accounting for declining education aid coming into the city's general fund, we have seen decreases or minor increases in State contributions of -.19% in FY22, 4.57% in FY23, and -.17% in FY24 while enrolling a higher percentage of high need students. These increases fall significantly short of what is needed to provide our staff with competitive salaries, our students with required and essential services9195 in our school communities with the engaging9197 and high quality programs they deserve. We understand that much of what we are experiencing in Salem has been documented as concerns in the December 2020 local contribution studies submitted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Department of Revenue Division of Local Services pursuant to Section 21 of the SOA, which speaks to the need to reevaluate the required local contribution portion of the RLC portion of the Chapter 70 formula. As a community,9228 we are strong proponents and advocates for9230 educational funding reform that was desperately needed for the poorest school districts across the state. It has been disheartening to watch the reform play out for Salem, and9239 we are concerned about sustaining and9241 growing mission critical programs like pre kindergarten, dual language, early college, career technical education,9247 summer learning and after school activities. We are committed to providing our student population with an exemplary educational experience, and we are calling on the legislature to review the revisions of the Student Opportunity Act so that as a Commonwealth, we can truly live up to the equity goals and values that were the impetus for fiscal reform in 2019. Thank you for the opportunity. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much, superintendent and strike. Any committee members? Okay. Thank you. As, as you know, we've had a number of conversations, including, representative crew, cruise and Senator Lovely and, your former mayor, who's now our lieutenant excellent lieutenant governor. And, you know, we continue to discuss these issues. And I don't know if you heard me earlier in the hearing when I mentioned the proposal that I I have made9298 to secretary of education Tottweiler, to use his authority to convene a a working group of experts on the on the local contribution side of the formula because I think that will help us develop some solutions that we can build consensus around. So if you haven't spoken already directly to secretary Tuckweiler, I I know you know him well, I9318 would, you know, urge you to do so, also, going forward.
SPEAKER37 - Great. Thank you. I appreciate the information and for the time today.
SPEAKER1 - Great. Yep. Thank you very much. Alright. And good luck for the new school year. Alright. So we're gonna close the hearing now on House Bill 3894. That brings us to the, end of today's hearing. And so I will now, do we have a motion to end the hearing? Same move. Alright. 2nd. Alright.
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