Begging to Be Unpacked

(Great minds think alike — My colleague beat me to the punch. I’m posting anyway.)

Today’s Globe has an editorial calling for an end to the practice of funding transportation for schoolchildren attending private school in Boston. Within the piece there was this little nugget:

Crowded school districts in many suburbs are only too happy to pay to transport private school students while saving the much higher cost of educating them. But such equilibrium does not exist in Boston, where the infrastructure and staffing can support thousands more children than currently attend the public schools. [Emphasis Added]

That’s a mouthful — given that the Mayor is planning on laying off hundreds of teachers, I’d like to know if these layoffs are a prudent way to eliminate excess capacity or something else.

I’d also note that this provision affects about 2,000 kids in private schools. Boston pays, on average all-in, about $12.5k per student, of which the city pays 70 cents on the dollar or $8,750. So for $1000 in transportation costs, the city potentially avoids spending a significantly greater sum on their education. Unless of course, there is that excess capacity….