Reps Stanley & Lawn Pass Historic Education Funding Bill

Oct. 24, 2019 – BOSTON – Representative Stanley and Representative Lawn joined their colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in unanimously passing historic legislation to invest $1.5 billion in the Commonwealth’s public education system. Known as The Student Opportunity Act, the legislation invests funding to support the needs of English learners and school districts that serve high concentrations of low-income students in order to help address persistent disparities in student achievement.

In addition, school districts across the Commonwealth will benefit from 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 makes significant, long-term investments in the Commonwealth’s public schools,” said Representative Thomas A. Stanley (D-Waltham). “The additional support targeting English learners and low-income students will help close achievement gaps and bring more equity to our education system.”

“This was truly a collaborative process, one that demonstrates the House’s commitment to public education,” said Representative John J. Lawn (D-Watertown). I’d like to thank Chair Peisch, Chair Michlewitz and Speaker DeLeo for their leadership, as well as all the stakeholders in the education field who provided feedback on the bill. With passage of this legislation, our students now have the tools they need for academic and post-secondary success.”

If approved, the Waltham School District is projected to receive an additional $4.3 million dollars in Ch. 70 education funding over current funding levels each year by Fiscal Year 2027. Total annual Ch. 70 funding would change from $14,846,143 today to $19,212,071. Waltham Public Schools will also receive an additional $730,000 next year to help with special education costs, a 20% increase over current funding.

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 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 will now go to the Senate.

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