Published in the May 30, 2018 edition
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Local officials expressed their support after the State Senate voted unanimously earlier this month to begin overhauling the state’s Chapter 70 education aid funding formula.
The Senate passed bill S 2506, An Act Modernizing the Foundation Budget for the 21st Century, recently. The bill would implement the recommendations established by the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC). The FBRC identified two areas — employee health insurance and special education — where the Massachusetts Foundation Budget significantly understates the true cost of educating students in the commonwealth. The report also concluded the state has failed to keep pace with rising costs in both areas.
The commission determined the state underestimates the cost of funding education between $1 billion to $2 billion annually.
“I am proud to support this legislation that is based on the in-depth analysis of the bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission,” said State Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) in a statement. “By advancing this bill, the Senate is taking the first steps in moving the commonwealth toward greater equity in access to quality education and a more equitable distribution of resources for all students. These reforms will generate positive outcomes in public education for generations to come in all of our cities and towns.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) agreed.
“For far too long, school districts and students in our state have lived with the daily consequences of a foundation budget formula that woefully underfunds the actual costs of a kindergarten through high school education,” said Tarr in a statement. “We must take decisive action to close and eliminate that gap, and this bill creates a mechanism to do that.”
Tarr called the unanimous vote as a “day of reckoning that is long overdue.”
“We need to never let this happen again,” he said.
House lawmakers are currently reviewing the state Senate’s bill.
Over 50 school committees in the state passed a resolution supported by the now defunct Suburban Coalition calling on the state to support the FBRC’s recommendations. The Lynnfield School Committee voted unanimously to support the Chapter 70 resolution two years ago.
The FBRC bill was well received by Lynnfield officials.
“There has been a lot of talk to change the formula for Chapter 70 funding as it has not been changed in over 20 years,” said Superintendent Jane Tremblay in an email sent to the Villager. “The details of the changes I do not believe have been stated. However, I believe part of the legislation that was just passed included an annual review. In the long run, this will be a good thing. We have new mandates around English language learners and ever-growing costs of health insurance just to name a couple. It’s a good start, but the issue most definitely needs to stay on the front burner. I am also a bit optimistic about the work that has been done on Circuit Breaker and the increase in the METCO budget at the state level.”
School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman agreed.
“I consulted with Superintendent Tremblay and Director of Finance Tom Geary to better gauge the impact this overhaul would have on Lynnfield, and the state in general,” said Hayman in an email. “The consensus is that the Senate’s unanimous approval to overhaul the funding formula is a good start. One of the main issues is that the current calculation hasn’t been updated in 25 years, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. For example, the current formula is 25-years-old and severely underestimates the cost of health insurance and special education as it’s currently calculated. As I understand it, the goal is to increase education support by $1 to $2 billion. While this is a good first step toward properly funding education, and it is likely that Lynnfield will be positively impacted, it is too early to tell what the direct impact on Lynnfield would be as the bill still needs to pass the House and be signed by the governor before any updates to the formula would be made.”
Town Administrator Rob Dolan said a change in the Chapter 70 formula is critical for a town like Lynnfield for three reasons.
“One reason is we are at our Proposition 2½ levy limit,” said Dolan. “Secondly, we have very little new growth. With the heart of MarketStreet built out, our new growth is limited and there is very little additional revenue aside from property taxes. Third is our school population is growing. This is not just a Lynnfield problem. It’s a universal problem. Local aid for Lynnfield rarely is more than 2 percent.”
Dolan said unfunded mandates further complicate matters.
“The unfunded mandates on schools have never been more demanding,” said Dolan. “The unfunded mandates and regulations put on public schools comes nowhere close to what the state is providing schools.”
Selectman Chris Barrett, who serves as Everett High School’s vice principal, said, “We should not be operating under a funding formula implemented in 1993 that doesn’t accurately represent the needs of our students in 2018.”
“It’s up to local and state leaders to make sure every child — whether in the inner city or in the suburbs — has the same great opportunity to meet their full potential in and out of the classroom,” said Barrett. “Gateway communities like Everett are being hit hardest with millions of dollars in budgetary shortfalls because the 1993 funding formula fails to accurately reflect the 2018 costs of what it takes to educate English learners and students living in poverty. Likewise, towns like Lynnfield have been hit hard because the 1993 funding formula doesn’t meet the challenges of a foundation budget formula that seriously underfunds the 2018 costs of a K-12 education.
“Whether in towns like Lynnfield or cities like Everett, the 1993 formula also fails to keep up with the rising 2018 costs of health care and special education,” Barrett continued. “It’s up to us, the leaders of 2018, to come together and do what leaders did three decades ago and change the funding formula to make sure the students of Massachusetts remain the very best in our nation and around the globe. Anything short of this will leave us stuck in the past and greatly jeopardize the future potential of millions of our students.”
— The State House News Service contributed to this report.
