Foundation budget numbers

The foundation budget formula established by state law requires that each district spend a certain minimum amount on schools. For Worcester, that number is:

$254,566,025

The Worcester school budget for the current year (fiscal year 2008) is:

$255,180,349

The difference is $614, 324. That is 0.2% over the minimum amount we are required to spend by state law. Most school systems spend much more than that; the Massachusetts Teachers' Association believes the state average is 118%.
That spending puts us at 269 out of the 283 school systems that have submitted numbers. That's the bottom 5%.