Massachusetts House Passes Historic Education Bill

Representative David P. Linsky (D-Natick) joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously passing historic legislation to invest $1.5 billion in the Commonwealth’s public education system. H.4137; An Act relative to educational opportunity for students will benefit school districts across the Commonwealth by providing updates to the existing funding formula, along with increased state investment in other vital education
aid programs such as transportation, guidance and psychological services, school buildings, and special education.

“This legislation will provide a much needed update to our education formula in Massachusetts,” said Representative Linsky. “I was proud to vote in favor of the legislation that will help students in every city and town in the Commonwealth.”

The legislation couples new investments with policy updates designed to monitor and measure progress and support effective approaches to closing opportunity gaps. The bill modernizes
the K-12 education funding and policy landscape in four areas.

1.Fully implements the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) to ensure that the school funding formula provides adequate and equitable funding to all districts across the state. Provides an estimated $1.4 billion in new Chapter 70 aid over and above inflation when fully implemented over the next seven years. The foundation budget is updated as follows:

• Estimates school districts’ employee health care costs using up to date health insurance trend data collected by the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC), and includes for the first time an amount for retiree health insurance costs.
• Increases special education enrollment and cost assumptions to more accurately reflect district enrollment and costs
• Increases funding for English learners (EL) that is differentiated by grade level to reflect the greater resources required to educate our older EL students.
• Addresses the needs of districts educating high concentrations of low-income students by:
  • Providing additional funding based on the share of low-income students in each district; districts educating the largest percentage of low-income students will receive an additional increment equal to 100% of the base foundation;
  • Returning the definition of low-income to 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, as opposed to the 133% level that has been used in recent years.
• Improves data collection and reporting, specifically around use of funding, by:
  • Establishing a Data Advisory Commission to help improve the use of data at the state, district, and school levels to inform strategies that strengthen teaching, learning and resource allocation to ensure greater financial transparency, including tracking funding for low-income students and English learners.

2. Provides additional state financial support to help public schools and communities deliver a high-quality education to students:

• Increases foundation rates for guidance and psychological services that will support expanded social–emotional supports and mental health services.
• Fully funds charter tuition reimbursements, which provide transitional aid to help districts when students leave to attend charter schools, within a three-year timetable.
• Expands the special education circuit breaker, which reimburses districts for extraordinary special education costs, to include transportation costs in addition to instructional costs, phased in over four years.
• Lifts the annual cap on Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) spending for school building construction/renovation by $150 million (from $600 million to $800 million), enabling the MSBA to accept more projects across the state into its funding pipeline.
• Requires the Department Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to calculate the transitional hold harmless aid amount using the base and incremental rates and minimum aid increment in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

3. Implements policy updates designed to maximize the impact of new funding in improving student outcomes and closing opportunity gaps.

• Establishes the 21st Century Education Trust Fund to provide flexible funding to districts and schools pursuing creative approaches to student learning and district improvement.
• Requires school districts to develop and make publicly available plans for closing gaps in student performance. These plans will include specific goals and metrics to track success.
• Requires the Secretary of Education to collect and publish data on student preparedness in each district and high school for post-graduate success in college and the workforce.

4. Identifies education policy areas requiring further analysis.

• Directs the Department of Revenue (DOR) and DESE to analyze the method of determining required local contributions in the Chapter 70 formula for the purpose of improving equity, predictability and accuracy.
• Establishes a Rural Schools Commission to investigate the unique challenges facing rural and regional school districts with low and declining enrollment. The Commission will make recommendations for further updates to help impacted districts and communities.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

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