The issues with charter school and school choice funding
The Massachusetts Teachers Association on charter school funding https://massteacher.org/current-initiatives/charter-schools
The Mayor of New Bedford explains the issue with charter school funding https://www.mma.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/advocate_v29n2_charter_school_funding-1.pdf
Leverett Finance Committee Member Nancy Grossman explaining the funding challenges statewide of various public school districts in contrast to charter schools https://commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/where-do-charters-fit-in-ed-funding-debate/
Former Amherst School Committee member Peter Demling explains how charter school funding reform would address the current fiscal crisis in Amherst https://theamherstcurrent.org/2024/10/15/charter-school-funding-part-1-the-problem/
The Berkshire Eagle newspaper on school choice
About state school funding
Click here for a basic introduction
This slideshow presentation below highlights some of the basic facts about state school funding, related data and points at some of the inequity issues with the funding. A narrative of the slide show below that explains in greater detail the information on each slide. This slide show and narrative were presented at a public forum via zoom on 6/18/2024 sponsored by Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution. https://fccpr.us/
- This article from the Mass Budget and Policy Center is a short introduction to state school funding and the history of the funding https://massbudget.org/reports/pdf/Facts_10_22_10.pdf
- This article from the Mass Budget and Policy Center explains basic information about how charter school funding works https://www.massbudget.org/reports/pdf/Charter-School-Funding-Explained.pdf
School Funding state by state comparisons
This is a report from the Education Law Center titled “2024 Making the Grade” how fair is school funding in your state?
https://edlawcenter.org/research/making-the-grade-2024/
This is a joint publication on the adequacy and fairness of state school finance systems
https://www.schoolfinancedata.org/the-adequacy-and-fairness-of-state-school-finance-systems-2024/
The 82.5% required contribution cap
As part of the chapter 70 funding formula there exists a cap on the required contributions of municipalities. As a result, some districts pay a different rate for their required contribution for school funding than other districts. To fund the reduced rate as a result of the cap for the wealthy districts, the lowest income districts essentially pay an increased amount.
Montague resident Michael Naughton calculated the underpayments and overpayments as a result of the 82.5% cap using DESE’s complete formula spreadsheet. While these calculations are derived using data from DESE, these specific numbers are not posted on DESE’s website and were extracted from the data.
We uploaded it here for people to better understand the specific funding implications of the 82.5% cap. In the spreadsheet uploaded below see the sheet labeled compare target contributions and columns AH and AI for the underpayment and overpayment amounts for each city and town.
MASS Promise to Invest: School Funding for Every Child 