September 2006

Chapter 70 Funding Changes
Information about what the changes in the Chapter 70 formula will mean for Ashland and Framingham

FHS Drama Company

My campaign two years ago to represent Ashland and Framingham in the House of Representatives was based around the need for more equitable Chapter 70 funding for both communities -- communities that have traditionally been left behind in state funding. Since becoming your Representative I've found that the way to make changes isn't always as simple as taking up and down votes and filing legislation; in fact, the huge increases in Chapter 70 funding for Ashland and Framingham came in large part because of hours spent talking to my colleagues from all around the state in the State House halls and through phone conversations and meetings. The key to the changes was persistence -- so that whenever conversations about changes to education funding were taking place Ashland and Framingham would be fresh in the minds of every legislator when making Chapter 70 reform decisions.

The towns of Ashland and Framingham finally received the attention they deserve from the legislature during the FY07 budget creation and negotiations over the past several months. In addition to receiving $300,000 and $1.2 million increases, respectively, in uncapped lottery aid, Senator Karen Spilka, Representative Debby Blumer and I went to the mat for meaningful increases in Chapter 70 funding for Ashland and Framingham’s schools not just for this year, but for years to come.

Breaking down the numbers, we in the legislature increased Chapter 70 funding for cities and towns by $216 million in FY07, an increase of 6.6% across the state. Here in Ashland and Framingham we felt some of the sharpest increases not only in our Metro-West area but of any city or town in Massachusetts – Framingham received an increase of $2.1 million or 24% over FY06 Chapter 70 numbers and Ashland received an increase of $760,000, or 28% above its FY06 allocation. These numbers are just a part of the great progress we’ve made during my first term representing Ashland and Framingham.

The FY07 reforms simplify how a foundation budget is determined, a change that has been needed but left undone since the Education Reform Act of 1993. Now rather than using 18 categories to determine a foundation budget only eleven will be used, with new emphasis placed on districts with higher enrollments of English-language learners and low income students. Also included are more accurate measures of inflation that reflect the true costs being experienced by school districts rather than being artificially capped, as provided for in the Education Reform Act of 1993.

As the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center summarizes, there are other reforms on top of foundation budget calculations that will make a big difference for Ashland and Framingham. The FY07 budget created a “target local share” for each community in the Commonwealth by utilizing local property values and income levels to determine how much each municipality should be expected to contribute toward its public schools. The establishment of these targets will alter the way Massachusetts funds public education, much to the benefit of taxpayers in Ashland and Framingham in particular. For this fiscal year the legislature began the process of moving communities like ours towards a more appropriate level of state aid by closing 1/5 of the gap towards the new target level. Continuing to close this gap in coming years will produce continuing increases in state aid for communities like ours.

This really is great news for Ashland and Framingham. The countless hours of conversations I have had with Joint Committee on Education Chairwoman Patricia Haddad, House Ways & Means Chairman Robert DeLeo and my colleagues all around the state about education funding have certainly paid off in additional assistance to both communities. There is still work to be done in the next few years to ensure that our towns continue to receive meaningful increases in Chapter 70 funding – I am hopeful that we will be able to build upon the changes we made in the FY07 budget so that Ashland and Framingham can continue to receive the resources necessary to provide our kids with an excellent education.