Funding Our Schools
Full title: An Act to fix the Chapter 70 inflation adjustment (H.678 / S.388)
Lead sponsors: Rep. Orlando Ramos; Sen. Robyn Kennedy
Committee: Joint Committee on Education
The Issue
In 2019, Massachusetts passed a long overdue update to the state’s funding formula for aid to local public school districts (“Chapter 70”) via the Student Opportunity Act.
However, our public schools are losing out on the full benefits of increased funding due to a glitch in how the Chapter 70 formula treats inflation.
The funding formula caps inflation in calculating year-to-year funding increases at 4.5%. However, we have seen several years of high inflation. The costs for our schools are rising, but the state’s support is not keeping pace. Indeed, the gap in funding schools faced in FY 2025 was $465 million. Cuts mean fewer teachers, fewer counselors, fewer classroom resources.
This wasn’t how the formula was originally designed. When it was first passed in the early 1990s, the state would catch up with funding in low-inflation years to account for this discrepancy in high-inflation years. Our cities and towns could plan better, and our students could get what they need. But a technical change made a decade later eliminated that common-sense arrangement.
The Solution
These bills would fix the glitch in how the state’s education funding formula treats inflation, enabling funding to catch up again in lower-inflation years to make up for lost funding in high-inflation years. The cap would remain, but it would no longer be a roadblock to our teachers and students getting the resources they need to succeed.
Contact Your Legislators
Find your legislators’ contact information here.
Dear [Legislator],
Please support H.678 / S.388: An Act to fix the Chapter 70 inflation adjustment.
Our local schools are facing a severe funding crisis. Years of very high inflation, coupled with state policies that limit available revenue, have caused a serious budget crisis that threatens serious and lasting harm to our schools and students.
[Talk about your local school district]
One of the main causes of this crisis is how the state treats inflation in its calculation of aid to local school districts. Despite seeing years of high inflation (7 percent in FY2023, 8 percent in FY 2024), our state’s school funding formula still caps inflation at 4.5 percent. The costs our schools face don’t stay flat just because the state wants to ignore the full growth in cost.
As a result of this funding glitch, our schools got almost $500 million funding less last year than they should have.
These bills would update the funding formula so that funding to our school districts can catch back up in low-inflation years to account for the gaps in high-inflation years.
This will ensure that our schools can plan better, and that our students and teachers can get the supports they need to succeed.
- MA public school districts lost almost $500 million last year due to a glitch in the state funding formula. Let’s fix that and ensure that our students get the best.
- MA made a promise to our students with the Student Opportunity Act. But they aren’t getting the money promised due to how the state treats inflation. We can fix that.
- Schools have been laying off teachers and counselors because the state is shortchanging our school districts. Let’s fix that.
Write a Letter to the Editor
Adapt the template below! Or email us at issues@progressivemass.com for help!
Our local schools are facing a severe funding crisis. Years of very high inflation, coupled with state policies that limit available revenue, have caused a serious budget crisis that threatens serious and lasting harm to our schools and students.
[Talk about your local school district]
One of the main causes of this crisis is how the state treats inflation in its calculation of aid to local school districts. Despite seeing years of high inflation (7 percent in FY2023, 8 percent in FY 2024), our state’s school funding formula still caps inflation at 4.5 percent. The costs our schools face don’t stay flat just because the state wants to ignore the full growth in cost.
As a result of this funding glitch, our schools got almost $500 million funding less last year than they should have.
Fortunately, there’s legislation to fix this. New bills (H.678/S.388) from Sen. Robyn Kenendy and Rep. Orlando Ramos would update the funding formula so that funding to our school districts can catch back up in low-inflation years to account for the gaps in high-inflation years.
Our schools can plan better, and our students and teachers can get the supports they need to succeed.
Read More
- Jones, Colin and Roger Hatch. K-12 Funding Analysis by District: Challenges of Recent Inflation Limiting Investments From the Student Opportunity Act. MassBudget, 2024. https://massbudget.org/2024/06/18/soa-inflation-challenges/.
- Jones, Colin. Interactive Data by School District: Inflation Lessens SOA’s Equity Impact. MassBudget, 2024. https://massbudget.org/2024/11/08/interactive-school-district-funding/.
- Jung, Carrie. “Why Massachusetts Schools Are Having an ‘Extremely Difficult’ Financial Year.” WBUR. September 4, 2024. https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/09/04/massachusetts-public-schools-budget-shortfalls-cuts.
Talking Points & Sample Tweets