Common misconceptions about school funding

Dear City Council, 

It’s budget season, and again there are common misconceptions about school funding. 

If children with high needs are prevalent state and nation wide, why is this a local government responsibility? 

Government exists to take care of the people. 

These are our neighbors: economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, students with disabilities and at risk youth. When community members are left with unmet needs, the costs don’t disappear. They emerge later through increased strain on emergency services, healthcare systems, public safety and reduced economic opportunity. 

Public education is shared infrastructure that benefits everyone in the community. 

Why are we hiring more staff when enrollment is going down? 

Projected declines in enrollment don’t reduce the needs students have today. 

If you know your child will eventually move out at age 18, you don’t stop feeding them when they turn 12 to save money. 

Schools still need adequate staffing right now to address pandemic-era academic deficits, rising behavioral needs and mandated special education services. 

But this is different, the city has to pay unemployment when they lay off employees like teachers.

Students who graduate with low literacy levels face dramatically reduced lifetime earning potential and are more likely to require additional public support services.

We should examine the long-term economic impact of underfunding intervention services compared to the cost of maintaining staff such as literacy interventionists, counselors and specialists. 

Educational support is an investment in the economic health and stability of the community. 

Every dollar the schools get is taken from other city departments.

Local government is responsible for serving the public through both education and essential services. 

We shouldn’t normalize framing schools and city departments as competitors for survival. These systems are interconnected. Underfunding education increases strain on other public services over time, while strong schools contribute to public safety, economic stability, workforce development and community health. 

Thanks to City Council President Rachel Maiore for clarifying this during the first Budget Hearing and to Councilors Robbins and Stratton for your respectful and important questions. 

Letter sent to Northampton City Council. June 1, 2026

References: 

Two-thirds of children in the United States who cannot read proficiently by the end of fourth grade will eventually end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of inmates in American prisons cannot read above a fourth-grade level. 85% of juveniles who appear before the court system are functionally low literate. https://usareads.org/the-illiteracy-to-prison-pipeline-two-thirds-of-children-who-cannot-read/

One in four young adults across the U.S. is functionally illiterate -yet more than half earned high school diplomas, according to recently released data.

The paper, “Investing in Our Nation’s Future: Advancing Educational Opportunity for Underserved Students,” by education economists Emma García and Henry Levin, summarizes the benefits of educational interventions ranging from participating in early childhood education to increasing rates of community college completion. Their study analyzes data on existing cost benefit analyses of each intervention, showing substantial benefit-to-cost ratios ranging from approximately $2 to more than $10 for every dollar invested. 

Income is strongly related to literacy. The average annual income of adults who read at the equivalent of a sixth-grade level is $63,000. This is significantly higher than adults who read at a third to fifth grade level, who earn $48,000, and much higher than those at the lowest levels of literacy, who earn just $34,000 on average.