BOSTON — As deportations and ICE presence have rocked some Massachusetts communities, activists are asking the Legislature to direct dollars to immigrant-heavy school districts disrupted by recent federal actions.
Cities and towns around the state with large immigrant populations have seen steep enrollment declines over the last year, says the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, as families have been deported or voluntarily returned to their home countries amidst heightened anxiety.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and deportations in these communities have now produced a ripple effect on school budgets, the group says — with declining enrollment, the districts receive less money from the state to run their schools.
In Chelsea, a city where 46% of residents are foreign-born according to Census data, about 350 students have left school in the past year, Chelsea School Committee member Sarah Neville said at a State House press conference Wednesday. That represents about 5% of the district.
The formula the state uses to determine how much aid to send to each district considers enrollment as a primary factor.
Neville said the district’s budget took a $6 million hit due to that 5% enrollment decline alone. Combined with inflation and rising costs, Chelsea is trying to make up an $11 million deficit with budget cuts. A Tuesday night school committee meeting in the city was held in a “packed auditorium” she said, where board members told parents and educators they’d have to cut 70 positions in the school.
“And yes, some staffing cuts are necessary because we do have fewer students. But what about our fixed costs? What about keeping the lights on? It’s just not possible for a district like ours to absorb such a huge loss of state aid in one fell swoop,” she said.
Activists at Wednesday’s press conference pointed to 2021, when the Legislature and governor gave out millions in targeted grants to the districts most impacted by pandemic-related enrollment drops.
“Our budget problems in Chelsea are not due to mismanagement, it’s due to border policy, immigration enforcement and the reign of terror that Donald Trump has brought against immigrant communities like Chelsea. Our families always have to worry about ICE being in our school parking lots. They have enough things to worry about, and school funding just should not be one of them,” Neville said.
A flyer from MEJA highlights several communities with high populations of immigrants in their districts, and the enrollment declines they’ve faced in the past year: 435 students in Lynn, or 2.4% of the district; 339 students in Everett, or 4.2%, 337 students in Marlborough, 6.3%; 584 students in Framingham, 6.1%; and 184 students in Holyoke, 3.2%.
“We do not ask students immigration status, so we cannot exactly attribute the decline in enrollment to that or any individual factor, but we know what we are seeing. We are seeing fear, we are seeing instability, and we are seeing the financial consequences of that instability placed squarely on the districts serving our most vulnerable students,” Lynn Superintendent Molly Cohen said.
The event did not address other trends that are leading to declining enrollment statewide. Schools are struggling to fill seats across the state as young families are opting to leave Massachusetts to domestically relocate, and they’re not being replaced as the annual birth count has declined significantly in recent years.
Additionally, rural districts have attributed their shrinking number of students to aging populations.
The News Service asked MEJA Executive Director Vatsady Sivongxay about the strategy to pitch lawmakers on sending additional dollars toward districts dealing with enrollment decline due to federal immigration policy, while other communities may also be dealing with financial shortfalls from low enrollment due to other, unrelated factors.
“We really think that it’s a critical time right now … Massachusetts is such a wealthy state, and we just want to make sure that our communities, our economy, our students, and families feel support,” Sivongxay said, pointing to funds available from the income surtax on high-earners and the state’s rainy day fund.
The group does not currently have an estimate of how much money they’d like to see districts get, she said.
Among the immigrant-heavy cities facing deficits, Boston has a $53 million school budget gap, Lynn is facing a $7 million gap, and Framingham has an $8 million shortfall, according to a MEJA spokesperson.
Lynn Teachers Union President Phillip Connor said that while some of the decreased enrollment can be attributed to “just general attrition” and students moving out of district, “what really concerns my members is that we don’t know where they went.”
“Consistently the question I get from them is, where are my students?” Connor said. “Where are they? And instead, you just see an empty chair in front of us.”
Sam Drysdale is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach her at [email protected].
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