Calls to boost state spending for public schools are coming from everywhere — including the governor’s office and the Legislature.
That’s the good news. But to get from here to there will be difficult and require Democratic lawmakers and a Republican governor to agree on the devilish details.
It’s encouraging to see there does seem to be consensus that the current formula for raising and distributing state Chapter 70 aid to public elementary and secondary schools is broken. That formula, worked out in 1993, was intended to even out the disparity between school spending between rich and poor communities. The formula takes into account factors like a community’s wealth, special education costs, the number of low-income students and English-language learners.
But these days, everyone pretty much agrees the 25-year-old formula — known as the “foundation budget” — isn’t working well, if it ever did.
Most everyone involved on Beacon Hill — from the governor to the Mass. Teachers Association — seems to be citing the need to boost state school aid by a billion dollars.
In our region’s rural, relatively low-income towns, we’ve seen underfunding squeeze to the point of forcing school closings and program elimination.
Now, the governor’s proposed budget for the school year that begins July 1 calls for proposed changes to the foundation budget.
His budget would boost the state’s share of education funding by $262 million in the next fiscal year. The proposed revamp of the formula would increase spending by $1.1 billion by the middle of the next decade, according to administration officials.
Efforts to revise the foundation formula have been dragging on, unresolved, since 2015 when a special commission determined that public schools were between $1 billion and $2 billion short of the funding they needed and that students from poorer, urban school districts were bearing the brunt of the shortfall.
The commission recommended that more funding be directed toward students from low-income areas, and for those needing special-education services or who are learning the English language. The panel also called for adjustments to reflect the rising cost of health insurance for school employees.
Under Gov. Charlie Baker’s bill, all school districts regardless of relative wealth would receive at least a $20 per pupil increase in overall state funding. There would additionally be $13.6 million for districts with large numbers of English-language learners; a $12.8 million hike for districts with the highest percentages of low-income students, and $30.6 million more for health care.
Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers have joined mayors, school officials and other advocates in filing a bill they dubbed the PROMISE act, which also calls for addressing the key issues raised in the 2015 study.
It would also boost education aid by a billion a year when phased in.
So, as we said, consensus is building over the broad outlines, but now our elected officials on Beacon Hill need to hash out a compromise to keep these reforms from dying as did a similar attempt last year.
We encourage Gov. Charlie Baker and our local legislators to make this a priority in the coming session, so our public schools get the life support they need.