City's been overcharging the schools on grants

The Worcester Public Schools have been awaiting a legal decision from the state regarding the city's indirect charge on grants received on behalf of the schools by the city. The charge had been 1%, as voted by the school committee. Three years ago, the city unilaterally raised that to 3%.
The state has now come back with this legal decision. It finds the following:

• the maximum allowable charge is 2.65% (as set by DESE)
• further, "...it would be contrary to purpose of establishing principles of allowable costs for federal funds if the indirect cost rate proposed to and accepted by the USED could be ignored."
• "The school committee, which applies for and receives subgrants of federal funds from ESE, possesses the exclusive authority to decide whether and to what extent it will charge indirect costs to subgrants."

The School Committee will take up "whether and to what extent" the city's indirect costs will be during the budget.