Changes to school aid and school funding????

February 29, 2016

The House and Senate budget committees will wrap up hearings in March on the $39.6 billion state budget recommendation for fiscal 2017 filed by the governor in January and will start drafting their own versions in anticipation of a House budget debate in April with the Senate to follow in May.
 
At a hearing on municipal and school aid accounts in Everett today, a panel of city and town officials led by North Adams Councillor and MMA President Lisa Blackmer expressed strong support for the governor’s revenue-sharing proposal to increase unrestricted municipal aid at a rate equal to the rate of growth in state tax collections.
 
The “consensus” tax growth forecast for next year is 4.3 percent, even after accounting for the scheduled drop in the state income tax rate. The governor proposed to increase the Cherry Sheet Unrestricted General Government Aid item at the “consensus” revenue growth rate, for an increase of $42 million.
 
Councillor Blackmer told the committee that the proposed increase was a top priority for cities and towns and would help pay for much-needed municipal services and help avoid over reliance on the property tax.
 
In written testimony submitted at the hearing, the MMA asked the Legislature to expand the governor’s Chapter 70 education aid recommendation by increasing the minimum aid amount. Under the governor’s recommendation, 249 school districts (77 percent of all operating districts) would receive an increase of only $20 per student. For many districts, this would represent another in a series of years of receiving only minimum aid, which has forced a growing reliance on the property tax to fund schools, a situation that the MMA maintains is not sustainable.
 
The MMA also asked the Legislature to take a look at the new method developed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to account for economically disadvantaged students in the local foundation budget spending standard and in school aid amounts. A number of school districts have reported that the new method understates the number of disadvantaged students in need of supplemental education programs.
 
MMA testimony also strongly supported implementation of the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission to update the Chapter 70 “foundation budget” minimum spending standards for special education and health insurance costs for school employees, and to add to the spending standard a measure of recognition for the cost of services for low-income, English Language Learner (ELL) and other students who would benefit from more intensive services.
 
The MMA also asked the Legislature to fully fund other state mandates and legislative commitments, including special education “circuit breaker” reimbursements, charter school impact transition payments, school transportation reimbursements, and other municipal and school programs.

the above is from the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
posted by Jeff Bennett