Above: Gov. Maura Healey addressed reporters at the State House. Yawu Miller photo
Gov. Maura Healey last week proposed a supplemental budget that would send local school districts $100 million in state aid, funding that would partly offset cuts that have affected nearly every district in the state.
Relying on expected revenue from the so-called millionaires tax, Healey’s legislation would distribute funding to districts across the state on a per-pupil basis, delivering approximately $11 for each student enrolled in a district.
“Cities and towns across Massachusetts are facing serious financial challenges,” Healey told reporters gathered at the State House last Wednesday. “They’ve been made even harder by a president, a federal administration that continues to take away federal funding and programs that our communities rely on.”
Although the Legislature in 2019 passed the Student Opportunity Act, which adjusted the state’s Chapter 70 funding formula to provide more aid to school districts, the law maintained a cap on inflation adjustments set at 4.5 percent. In recent years, as costs of healthcare, utilities, and labor have surpassed 4.5 percent, school districts have struggled. Although the federal government provided Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding during the 2020 pandemic, that flow of money has expired, leaving districts like Boston wrestling with substantial budget cuts.
Woburn Teachers Association President Christy Nickerson underscored the challenges facing districts while urging lawmakers to pass Healey’s supplemental budget appropriation.
“While $100 million is significant, it will not be enough to fully counterbalance the challenges that our communities face,” she told reporters. “Spiraling costs for healthcare and special education, and the outdated limitation that Proposition 2.5 place on municipality, are forcing cities and towns into making decisions that are not in the best interest of students.”
Boston Public Schools have sent layoff notices to 568 staff, including teachers, teaching assistants, and counselors. The estimated $10 million in funding Boston would receive would restore dozens of jobs — a small dent in the overall layoffs number.
Boston Teachers Union President Eric Berg urged lawmakers to pass Healey’s legislation.
“It’s a great step in the right direction, and it will have real effects for kids,” he said during Healey’s announcement. “It means students will get more individual attention in smaller classes. It means more pre-K classes for our youngest learners. It means a student with autism will have access to support from a paraprofessional when they may need to take a break. It means an English learner will have access to small room construction from an ESL teacher. It means student struggling with reading will have the opportunity to work with a reading specialist.”
Healey acknowledged the funding she’s seeking will only soften the deficits many districts are facing. She noted that her administration has ordered a commission to examine the current Chapter 70 funding formula.
“We look forward, as an administration, to working with the Legislature and funding commission, looking at the formula,” she told reporters. “And today we can’t wait. We know that cities and towns are having to make some real time decisions now for the fall.”
