Local leaders vocal at first hearing on school finance law

Local leaders vocal at first hearing on school finance law 

November 24, 2014

The state’s basic school spending standard significantly understates the real cost of educating students, especially in how it accounts for special education, school employee health insurance, and technology.

This was the message from legislators and municipal officials from across the North Shore during a Nov. 17 public hearing in Danvers held by the special state commission established to study school finance law.

Municipal and school officials from the area also told members of the Foundation Budget Review Commission that unfunded mandates and the way that charter schools are funded are hurting local school programs.

Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday told commission members that her city was struggling to provide adequate support for schools and had been forced to cut teachers and school staff and programs. The way the state funds charter schools, she said, was hurting her local schools and effectively reduces the state Chapter 70 school aid contribution to the city’s $33 million school budget to less than $2 million.

Amesbury Mayor Ken Gray told commission members that Chapter 70 aid was a shrinking share of school spending in his city and that unfunded mandates are a problem. Amesbury, he said, has also been forced to cut local school programs.

According to David Tobin, representing the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, actual local spending on schools under Chapter 70 totaled $11.7 billion in fiscal 2014, more than $2 billion above the “foundation” budget standard. In written testimony, he said that actual spending on special education and employee benefits and health insurance exceeded the standards for these two cost items by $2.2 billion. The result, he noted, is that adequate funding is not available for the teaching and learning necessary for students and schools to continue to make progress.

The MASS testimony included six recommendations for changes to the foundation budget.

The Foundation Budget Review Commission has scheduled six public hearings across the state, with the next meeting scheduled for Dec. 15 in Somerset. Other meetings are scheduled for Jan. 10 in western Massachusetts, Jan. 24 in central Massachusetts, Feb. 7 on Cape Cod, and March 9 in Boston. Details will be posted on the MMA website as soon as locations are announced.

The MMA website includes a way for local officials to provide comments on school finance issues to MMA staff and Attleboro Mayor and MMA President Kevin Dumas, who serves as the MMA representative on the commission. For the comment form as well as background information, visit www.mma.org/foundation.

The commission, established by the fiscal 2015 state budget act, is charged with reviewing parts of Chapter 70 school finance law, with a focus on how the “foundation” spending standard is calculated.

At the first meeting of the commission in October, Rep. Alice Peisch, co-chair of the commission and House chair of the Legislature’s Committee on Education, said that analysis should focus on foundation budget “outliers,” where model spending amounts set under state law for different categories are out of line with actual spending in those categories. She mentioned two areas where costs have been growing at unsustainable rates: employee benefits (for both active employee health insurance and retiree benefits) and special education costs.

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, Senate chair of the Committee on Education, is the other co-chair of the commission.

The commission is comprised of 21 voting members and a six-member non-voting advisory committee. The commission includes eight legislators and four members of the Executive Branch. There are nine members representing other public education stakeholders, including Mayor Dumas.

• MMA’s Foundation Budget Review Commission resource page

Written by MMA Legislative Director John Robertson

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Keep an eye on the Foundation Budget Review Commission

 The Foundation Budget Review Commission has an important task. This Commission is the first review of the foundation budget since education reform was enacted in 1993. 

Since 1993, state funding for municipal budgets has been slashed dramatically. When hard financial times hit the state budget, Chapter 70, transportation, circuit breaker money line items have been "Held Harmless" ie - not cut. State  funding for municipal budgets has absorbed the lion's share of these draconian cuts over the years. 

For FY 15, Sen. Brewer worked very hard to raise funding for regional school transportation to an historic 90 % funding. I believe this was to provide some financial relief to towns who are members of regional school districts. That didn't happen here in Templeton nor  in Phillipston. Ruth Miller, the NRSD school superintendent decided to keep that money.

Funding of regional school districts, using the calculations set forth in the foundation budget, is confusing. I believe the calculations used to fund of regional school districts was designed an afterthought, partly due to  the mistaken perception that the majority of school districts are not regional in Massachusetts. 

There is an organization, Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools (MARS)which maintains a list of its members here. 

At last count there were over 180 regional school districts in Mass that are members of MARS. 

With well over half of the 351 communities in Massachusetts impacted by membership in a regional school district, it is hoped that the Foundation Budget Review Commission will seriously consider the impact of regional school budgets on local municipalities. 

An honest review of the "nuclear option" -  603 CMR 41.05  which was used to eviscerate Templeton's municipal operating budget  is clearly in order.

My opinions...supported by FACTS ! ! ! 

Julie Farrell