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Chapter
70, General Aid to Education Increased Slightly
Governor Romney’s 22.86 billion dollar budget will boost overall
spending by less than 1% over projected 2003 levels, the smallest
increase proposed by any Governor since 1992. House 1 contains significant
executive branch reorganizations and also merges and/or eliminates
many line items. It is fair to say that they 2004 state budget as
proposed by the Governor is a unique document, which makes prior
year comparisons very difficult.
The Romney budget concentrates almost 80% of local aid in Chapter
70 distributions earmarked for public education. Overall, Chapter
70 funding increases by about 2% or $73 million over projected 2003
levels for a total distribution of more than $3.3 billion in state
aid. However, significant changes have been proposed to the Foundation
Budget Formula, which will result in some communities receiving
more or less Chapter 70 aid than anticipated. Also, the Chapter
70 increase reflects a merging of several grant programs, (class
size, kindergarten and early literacy grants etc.) which have been
eliminated in this budget proposal.
As you are aware, it is not just Chapter 70 Aid which determines
local school spending. Items such as Additional Assistance and Lottery
distributions are frequently used to help schools meet or exceed
the foundation budget requirements. H.1 proposed a cut of about
$350 million from non-school aid accounts. The Administration maintains
however, that the $350 million cut reflects a $232 million decrease
from F.Y. 03 spending levels.
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Proposed
Foundation Budget Changes
It will take time to sort out the proposed changes concerning the
foundation budget, and MASC will provide you with more in depth analysis
in the future. H.1 proposes increased allocations for elementary school
students, low-income students, special and vocational students in
the foundation budgets. It is assumed that the proposed changes to
the formula would result in more funds being distributed to poor school
districts. No municipality will be required to spend above their foundation
level according to a significant proposed change to the foundation
budget formula, which the Administration estimates could result in
a reduction of about $300 million in currently required net school
spending. The Governor has proposed the state’s minimum contribution
would be at least 12% of a municipality’s foundation budget. |
Regional
Schools and Local and Regional Transportation
The F.Y. 03 budget appropriated about $52 million for general school
transportation and the Governor’s budget proposes to eliminate
the funding in its entirety. The Regional School Transportation account
for F.Y.03 contained about $42 million, which H.1 proposes to cut
by 50% to almost $21 million, thereby funding only 50% of the full
commitment.
The Governor has proposed that local aid, which, heretofore went directly
to regional schools will now be sent to the member municipalities.
The monies will follow the students therefore, regions must receive,
at a minimum, the per pupil foundation budget amount. |
Special
Education
The F.Y. 03 budget funded the so-called 50/50 account to pay for certain
costs of out of district special education at about $71 million. The
Governor’s budget proposes to implement the circuit breaker law,
which would reimburse in district special education programs at 75%
of approved costs that exceed three times the state average per pupil
foundation budget, and reimburse out of district programs at 50% of
approved costs that exceed four times the state average per pupil
foundation budget. The Governor proposes to merge the 50/50 account
with an additional $45 million to bring the total appropriation to
$115 million. This line item will also be used to fund students who
have no parent living in the commonwealth and foster students at 100%
of the costs based upon the above referenced in-district and out of
district average per pupil foundation formula. The special education
weighting in the Chapter 70 formula has been significantly increased
from 3.75 to 8.25 percent. |
School
Building Assistance
H.1 proposes to fund School Building Assistance racial imbalance projects
at approximately $7 million, which essential level funds this account.
The Budget for non-racial imbalance projects has a proposed funding
of about $15 million, which represents almost a $2 million increase
over the prior year appropriation.
The Budget contains an outside section 92, which would allow the Board
of Education to advance or remove a project from the priority list
based upon their determination as to whether the project addresses
urgent facility needs, and its determination as to whether the Commonwealth
has the ability to sustain its share of eligible project costs. |
Additional
Sources of Local Aid
Some localities support substantial state government operations, but
cannot collect property taxes on state owned real estate. To offset
losses from state property, the Romney budget increases Payments in
Lieu of Taxes from $10 million to $172 million.
The Romney Administration has proposed awarding additional local aid
to municipalities in 2005 based on the number of building permits
they issue in 2004. This revised formula will help offset infrastructure
and education expenses for new residents.
Most significantly the Romney budget will establish a temporary mitigation
account to ease the transition for municipalities that face the largest
declines in aid under the proposed formula. H.1 adds about $293 million
in proposed transitional local aid mitigation. For a review of a municipality’s
local aid distribution you may access the M.A.S.C. website. |
MCAS
Remediation
The F.Y. 03 Budget included $50 million to fund MCAS remediation.
The proposed Romney budget adds $3 million to the MCAS account and
requires that approximately $35 million be spent on high school remediation,
with a particular emphasis on the non graduating members of the class
of 2003. The additional $3 million proposed appropriation will provide
funding for post high school programs for the non-graduating members
of the class of 2003 to attend community colleges or to participate
in workforce development. There will also be targeted elementary /
middle school initiatives in mathematics and structured English immersion.
Also the budget proposes to add $4 million for additional MCAS tests
(science and history) and extra re-tests including one in the late
summer of 2003. |
Adult
Education and Early Childhood Moved From D.O.E.
About $80 million of the F.Y. 03 Early Childhood appropriation of
approximately $90 million has been moved to the Health and Human Services
Secretariat. The final $10 million will remain with D.O.E. for establishing
educational standards and professional development.
The responsibility for Adult Education has been transferred to Higher
Education. |
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Full
Day English Immersion Kindergarten Programs
The Romney Budget adds $9 million to fund a full day English Immersion
Kindergarten program. This proposed program would provide about
$3300 per English language learner in Kindergarten.
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Choice
and Charter School Reimbursement
At a briefing with Administration and Finance personnel the M.A.S.C.
representatives were told that about $12.5 million has been reinstated
through the Chapter 70 formula in order to address Choice and Charter
School Reimbursements. These proposed reimbursements will be calculated
on a three year average of students lost to Choice or Charter schools,
and are anticipated to address only a return to the sending school
of one third of the per pupil foundation budget amount. |
Civil
Service and Collective Bargaining
The Romney Budget proposes to eliminate Civil Service for most employees.
Under current Massachusetts Law, supervisors may be members of unions,
which may, according to the Governor, compromise their ability to
supervise effectively. H.1 proposes removing supervisors from union
membership. |