It Is Past Time To Fully Fund Our Public Schools

The Massachusetts Legislature has, once again, gone past its July 1st deadline for passage of a state budget. One of the largest unresolved issues remains state aid to local public schools. In part this is because of continued legislative wrangling over how best to increase Chapter 70 aid – aid provided by the state to each public district based on a formula first put in place in 1993. The problem? 1993 was also the last time it was updated – and our schools, like my hairline, have changed dramatically since then. Estimates suggest that the failure to update the formula is costing our schools as much as $2 billion annually.

Several current pieces of legislation address the Chapter 70 shortfall were introduced in the Massachusetts House this session, but so far none have been brought to a vote. The biggest disagreement focuses on how the state should account for low income student populations. Economically disadvantaged students have additional learning needs – including social-emotional support, counseling, medical needs, and more – that other students may not require. Experts suggest that economically disadvantaged students may need almost twice the resources of students from more well-off households in order to access the curriculum in an equitable way.

Right now, local districts are attempting to meet those costs, but often struggling given the other mandates and costs they face. But failing to provide the resources our students need harms everyone in our system, and districts with larger populations of low-income students are increasingly unable to meet those needs. While Woburn has an economically disadvantaged population below state average, it has been growing steadily: when the Chapter 70 formula was first instituted, just over 14% of Woburn students were classified as Low Income. Today, over a quarter of our students fall under that line.

These are our kids, in our schools, who have needs that we are struggling to meet. While our current school administration and our School Committee have been working hard to build support for our students’ needs, we simply don’t have the resources to do it right. A full revision of the Chapter 70 formula would help us meet those needs, along with the needs of students with learning disabilities and students who are learning English – two groups of students who would also be covered under a formula revision.

We need strong advocacy from our State Representatives Richard Haggerty and Michelle Ciccolo, as well as our State Senator Cindy Friedman, to make sure that the legislature passes a Chapter 70 revision that doesn’t leave some students and some districts out in the cold. All three have been supportive of a full revision, co-sponsoring the PROMISE Act, which offers the most comprehensive fix. But they need to know we support their efforts. So I urge you to call your representatives today to tell them that you support a funding formula that takes all our kids into account, and fully funds our local schools. My kids, and all of our kids, depend on it.

Andrew Lipsett
Parent, Teacher, and Candidate for Woburn School Committee