Though State Support is Up, School Aid Actually Marked for a Cut (MA)
April 28, 2011
In January, when Gov. Deval Patrick filed a $30.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, administration officials touted its proposed $3.9 billion in state aid for K-12 public education as “the highest level of state supported funding.”
Following suit, the House on Monday advanced a $30.45 billion budget bill that also includes $3.99 billion in the education aid account known as Chapter 70. House budget writers promoted it as a 3.1 percent increase over the fiscal 2011 “state contribution.”
In both cases, officials used the word “state” intentionally, declining to mention that schools across Massachusetts will actually see a reduction in aid next fiscal year because of a sharp drop-off in federal funding. The reduction, local officials and advocates say, will hamper efforts to address achievement gaps and make investments in the wake of several tough budget years.
“We’re saying that we’re increasing and protecting education funding when in fact we’re not,” said Linda Noonan, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. “At the district level the impact is going to be $81 million less in available funds. It’s going to get translated into less money into all the things the district funds – teachers, classroom materials – everything is going to be tight.”
According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, which monitors state spending, the House’s proposed Chapter 70 allocation represents a nearly $82 million cut from current spending levels.
According to the center, this year’s funding for Chapter 70 includes $221 million in federal funds that are not available to local and regional school districts next year. So while state funding for Chapter 70 could rise in fiscal 2012 by $140 million, and has already spurred House members to hit send on press releases touting the increase, less federal aid means schools statewide will feel an overall cut.
According to the alliance, the cut could be exacerbated if Beacon Hill fails to reach agreement on plans to help cities and towns curb health care cost growth, a plan that would spread more of the costs of health insurance to employees. The spending cut and municipal health reforms are both before the House during budget debate this week.
The alliance says rising employee health care costs have wiped out large increases in state aid for education approved between 1993 and 2000. Between 2000 and 2007, health care costs in school budgets grew by $1 billion, $300 million more than the increase in Chapter 70 aid, according to the alliance.
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer said that about $108 million from an allotment of $200 million in one-time education funds approved by Congress last year have not been requested by cities and towns and could be available for fiscal 2012.
But Widmer said 100 communities have already used up their share of those funds – about $92 million – and the Chapter 70 funding cut could hurt more in those cities and towns.
“Technically, I think what they’ve said is accurate and I think they’re right to highlight when there are cuts across the budget that they’ve been able to preserve most funding for Chapter 70,” Widmer said. “But the realities are always more complicated so no I don’t think there’s been the full realization and discussion about how significant the impact of this fiscal crisis has been on local schools despite the best efforts to prioritize Chapter 70 funding.”
Widmer said cuts in non-school aid from the state are further squeezing local budgets, leaving “large school budget gaps for most communities” and requiring most communities to reduce services and, potentially, lay off school personnel.
According to the Mass Budget and Policy Center, 73.3 percent of school districts are in line for reductions in Chapter 70 aid of between 5 percent and 7.5 percent, with no district scheduled for cuts that would bring spending below so-called foundation levels and cuts mitigated in communities that have not fully spent the one-time federal funds approved last year.
Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said the Chapter 70 funding cut is ameliorated to some extent by proposals from Patrick and the House to boost special education funding by $80 million, which he called “everybody’s number one wish list item.”
“The impact of a reduction in Chapter 70 is districts will have to swallow hard and continue to make further cuts,” Koocher said. “While that is a frustrating exercise, I’d say most of us over here are still counting our blessings that we fared better than most other human services providers and are less impacted by the economy in the next fiscal year. I don’t want to say everybody’s happy because nobody’s happy.”
The House later this week faces decisions on several Chapter 70-related amendments. Rep. Thomas Sannicandro (D-Ashland) is backing an amendment creating an Educational Resource Study Committee, fueled by a $600,000 appropriation, to determine the resources needed to meet the state’s education goals. Rep. Bradford Hill (R-Ipswich) has filed an amendment call ing for a $197 million Chapter 70 funding increase, and an amendment calling for a Department of Education study to be filed by Dec. 31, 2011 on the status of public education financing.