We are advocating for the state legislature to address the inequity in chapter 70 funding policy by supporting the following 3 state legislative bills:
House Bill 4439
An Act to amend charter school tuition reimbursement provisions
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/HD4439
Sponsored by Representative Gomez (D – 2nd Hampshire)
Co-sponsored by Representative Sabadosa (D – 1st Hampshire)
This bill addresses the municipal cost impact of charter school funding by substantially increasing reimbursement for school districts based on income and moves the funding from a “transitional” reimbursement schedule to a “fixed” underwriting amount of the total assessment.
Senate Bill 1237
An Act increasing the Commonwealth’s share of the education foundation budget
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/SD1237
Sponsored by Senator Lewis (D – 5th Middlesex)
and Senator Comerford (D – Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester)
This bill increases the Commonwealth’s share of the foundation budget. It addresses inequities built into the funding formula by providing additional funding support to districts that have the highest school choice sending tuition costs, districts that do not benefit from the major provisions of the funding formula and school districts in declining enrollment.
Senate Bill 2178/ House bill 3619
(The Rural Schools Bill)
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/SD2178
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/HD3619
Filed by Senator Comerford (D – Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester)
Representative Blais (D – 1st Franklin)
and 20 other legislators
While the rural schools supported by rural school funding allocation are a small portion of the Commonwealth’s K-12 student population, the unique challenges of rural schools requires dedicated funding support not provided by changing major provisions of the school funding formula.
What does H 4439 do?
House bill 4439 would make the following changes:
- Underwriting the sending tuition cost for charter schools for moderate income cities, towns and regional school districts at 100%.
- Underwriting the sending tuition cost for charter schools for moderate income cities, towns and regional school districts at 50%.
- Folding existing charter school reimbursement for low and moderate income cities, towns and regional school districts into this new underwriting line item.
- Charter school reimbursement would be unchanged for wealthy cities, towns and regional districts .
- This bill would cost the Commonwealth an additional $610 million annually if calculated using FY25 data.
- Definitions for community wealth would be based on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) calculations for combined effort yield
District by district funding advocacy amounts for H 4439
Here are the amounts (see below documents) that we are advocating for for each city, town and regional school district using FY25 data. If your town or city has a municipal school district, your district will appear in the first list. If your town or city has a regional school district, your district will appear on the second list. If your town or city has both a municipal and regional school district, it will appear on both lists with the amount for each district.
If a funding amount does not appear for your community as either a municipal district or a regional district it is likely because the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has calculated the wealth of your community as being extraordinary compared to other communities and this proposal specifically addresses funding equity.
What does S 1237 do?
Senate Bill 1237 changes the Commonwealth’s share of K-12 education funding. Currently the Commonwealth is responsible for 41% of the cost of K-12 education paid for by the state budget with chapter 70 state school aid and all of the towns and cities in the Commonwealth combined are responsible for 59% of the cost paid for by property taxes via the required contributions amounts in the chapter 70 funding formula.
Senate Bill 1237 would shift the State’s share by 5%, phased in by 1% every year for 5 years. This effectively reduces the required contribution of the towns and cities combined from 59% to 54%. But because of multiple provisions in the funding formula, this symmetrical change has an asymmetrical funding impact. This bill would cost the Commonwealth an additional $280 million annually if calculated using FY25 data once fully phased in.
District by district funding advocacy amounts for S 1237
The following calculations have been provided by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools using FY25 data to approximate funding benefit to each town. The “required contribution reduction” column indicates the total reduction in the required contribution of the town over the 5 years, which is the funding benefit to that town. Note that these calculations do not factor the hold harmless status of the school district or districts.
For the full spreadsheet from the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools download link below.
What does the Rural Schools Bill do?
The rural school bill, among other provisions within the bill, specifically provides additional funding allocations to rural schools based on 3 tiers of funding factoring the population density of students in rural districts.
A full explanation of the Rural Schools Bill can be found on the “Rural Schools Advocacy” Website.
https://www.ruralschoolsma.org/
District by district funding advocacy amounts for The Rural Schools Bill
This bill asks for the Commonwealth to increase rural school funding from the current appropriations amount of $15 million to the $60 million recommended by the Legislature’s rural schools commission report. The new funding amount would be distributed based on the current rural schools aid distribution.
MASS Promise to Invest: School Funding for Every Child 