Bill Would Increase State Aid For MA Schools By $1.5 Billion

BOSTON, MA — State lawmakers unveiled a long-awaited school funding bill Thursday that would increase state aid for public schools in Massachusetts by $1.5 billion over seven years. Aimed at closing the so-called "opportunity gap," House Speaker Robert DeLeo said the increases in state aide were possible without increasing taxes. Public debate on the bill could come within two weeks, when the bill is introduced on the Senate floor.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, however, cautioned that the bill could be costly. While calling the bill a "promising step forward," the center said lawmakers needed to provide more specifics on the proposal.

"It's important to remember that these crucial investments in our young people will require substantial revenue," Marie-Frances Rivera, president of MassBudget said. "Enacting this goal may require raising new revenue to maintain other state services at high quality as we invest more in our schools."

DeLeo, Senate President Karen Spilka and Gov. Charlie Baker have all said coming up with a better way to give state aid to public school systems is a top priority. The bill was introduced after months of backroom negotiations and addresses many of the concerns raised by education advocates and officials in low-income school districts.

Among the bills highlights:

• Increased state aid for school districts serving higher proportions of students from low-income families.
• More state money for out-of-district transportation for special education students.
• Timelines to reimburse districts that lose students to charter schools.
• Creation of a system for school districts to report student outcomes and how they spend the state funding.

Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, said the union was "optimistic about what this act will do for communities across the Commonwealth" after an initial review of the details.

"The allocation of this funding through the recently introduced Student Opportunity Act represents a major win for the grassroots coalition of parents, students, and unionized teachers who have fought long and hard for these critical reforms," Tang said. "We applaud the legislature for hearing and responding to the overwhelming number of voices across the state calling for updates to the statewide funding formula."

If passed, DeLeo said at a briefing Thursday, the bill would represent the biggest overhaul of the state education funding formula since 1993 when lawmakers passed the Education Reform Act. While that act offered huge increases in state funding for public education, a panel concluded in 2015 that the act had not kept pace with cost increases in employee health care costs, special education services, and English language learner services.