The Mass Business Alliance for Education along with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce today released a report about the shares of state funding that go to districts that aren't in need, presenting this as a contributing to the growing gap among districts, and one we can ill-afford during the pandemic. You can read WBUR's coverage here and State House News Service's here.
The funding streams here being discussed are hold harmless and minimum aid, the 17.5% minimum state contribution towards district foundation budgets, and below effort gap funding (which is both less of an issue and mainly ends up being progressive, so less here about that).
To take these entirely out of order: the 17.5% minimum aid I have always heard argued as "this way everyone has some skin in the game." But, here's the deal:
Of these 157 municipalities, 104 can fully meet their foundation budget obligations from local revenue; the other 53 can fund between 82.5% and 100% of their foundation budget from local revenue, according to the state’s calculation
As I have discussed when we have talked about Boston before, there are districts--add here Cambridge and Somerville--that are both well-resourced and have lots of children in need. As I note in that post, contrary to the footnote in the report, the needs of the district are included in the calculation of the foundation budget just as they are for every other district, so to calculate from that is the calculate from an equitable place.
That's the one that's a little more straightforward, to my mind, that the other big one here, which is hold harmless and minimum aid. As I mention in the above post, there's no district that is a greater beneficiary of that than Boston (not a surprise: it's the largest district, but also not a poor one). It's also, though, what has been keeping many smaller, rural (and not as rural) districts with declining enrollment afloat. I've shared this slide from Granby before:
There isn't a neat and tidy answer to this--and anyone who thinks there is may not realize quite how much space some of our districts in western Mass already occupy. There is, of course, the report due (do we know if any of that work is actually still happening?) that looks at rural schools as part of the Student Opportunity Act.
I do, though, want to issue a preliminary warning to any who would argue that you can't possibly operate only on a foundation funded budget that some of us already do, which is not to say I recommend it.
The main point here, of course is that:
- Massachusetts prides itself on a progressive funding system for schools.
- These are not progressive funding streams.
- The state says it doesn't have enough funding for education (or anything) right now.
- These are luxuries we as a state can't afford.
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