First look at HWM budget for Worcester FY13

We're still awaiting a cherry sheet from DESE, but in the meantime, we've received this evening the following information from Mr. Allen (emphasis mine):

The House Ways and Means (HWM) budget was released today.  According to the state budget documents, our Chapter 70 state aid is the same amount that was included in the Governor’s budget in January at $210,364,137.   It is interesting to note that the HWM budget includes a $40 per pupil “minimum aid” to ensure that all communities receive some increase in Chapter 70.  There is no additional funds for Worcester resulting from this “minimum aid”.  The budget also provides funds to some communities to reduce their local contribution target share down to the statutory cap of 82.5% in accordance with changes made in 2007.  Again, this funding does not provide increases for Worcester.

There are a number of grants that are projected to be cut, but the district level detail is not known.  Grants subject to cuts in the HWM budget received by Worcester are:  Adult Basic Education, Connecting Activities, and MCAS Student Support Grants.

We are waiting for the Department of Revenue to post updated cherry sheet (local aid and assessments) so we can determine any change to charter school tuition assessments or reimbursement.  We anticipate an increase in the tuition assessment based on the report that the Administration provided the School Committee in last week’s Friday Letter.  However, we would also hope to see an offsetting increase in the reimbursement line item.  Once these numbers are known, we will provide an additional update.

The HWM budget does provide new funds for Homeless Student Transportation at $11.3 million. Federal law provides that homeless students living in temporary housing outside of a city or town where the family lived prior to becoming homeless may choose to remain enrolled in the school district of origin. The federal law requires that host districts fund transportation and school services for these children, and this new line item, not included in the Governor's budget, would help reimburse host school districts for the transportation-related portion of these costs.  We look forward to see how these funds will be distributed to communities, keeping in mind that we spend more than $400,000 annually on homeless student transportation.

The budget allocates funds for programs for English Language Learners in Gateway Cities at $2.6 million, which is $1.2 million below the Governor's proposal. This is one line item among four new education grant programs proposed in the Governor's FY 2013 budget for supporting students in Gateway Cities.  The other three programs are not funded in the HWM proposal.

The Special Education Circuit Breaker program at $221.6 million, an increase of $8.4 million over the Governor's budget, which proposed essentially level funding from FY 2012 levels.