When education funding breaks down, you need someone who understands the system. This year, Sen. Sal DiDomenico has stepped into that role for Massachusetts communities like Chelsea, which have struggled with funding formulas for the past three years.
The Senate Budget proposal—now headed to the House for approval—includes a comprehensive resolution to the education funding formula crisis that has devastated communities such as Chelsea. According to DiDomenico’s announcement this week, the proposal addresses a longstanding problem in how students are counted for funding purposes.
“fblikebutton_button” “This is a big deal,” he said on Tuesday. “This is the fix that is going to solve all our problems that we’ve been dealing with over the last several years with school funding…This was the simple fix we’ve been hoping to get for a long time and there was hesitation to do it. I want to thank Senator Karen Spilka for doing this change. It’s a big deal for Everett and Chelsea and 14 other communities in the state. It’s a major policy shift and a major win for our communities.”
Three years ago, both federal and state governments switched to counting economically disadvantaged students using federal benefits as a metric, abandoning the previous system based on free and reduced lunch applications. This created a significant gap: many low-income and immigrant families do not receive federal benefits and therefore go uncounted, despite their financial hardship. The Senate’s new proposal would restore the original method of using free and reduced lunch forms to identify economically disadvantaged students.
Local school districts have borne the financial burden as the state delayed fixing this methodology. Now, after passing through the Senate, this provision could become law if both the House and Gov. Charlie Baker approve it. The measure was included as an outside section in last week’s Senate Budget.
To advance the proposal, DiDomenico has reached out to House allies including State Reps. Joe McGonagle (D-Everett), Dan Ryan (who represents Chelsea), RoseLee Vincent (who represents Revere and Chelsea), and Speaker Bob DeLeo.
“I believe at the end of the day he’ll be receptive to it,” DiDomenico said, expressing confidence that the governor would review the change favorably if it reaches his desk.
Implementation would begin in Fiscal Year 2020, with funding flowing to districts in September 2019. School districts must begin counting students under the new method by October 1, 2018, ensuring the updated funding allocation takes effect for the 2019-2020 school year.
“We wouldn’t have to worry about how our students are being counted ever again,” he said. “I can’t underestimate how important this is. This is everything for the School Department right now…I want to thank all of the administrators and teachers for the hard work they’ve been doing while they’ve gotten less than their fair share of funding.”
DiDomenico emphasized this as a major Senate priority, which he believes will help secure its inclusion in the final budget this spring.
MORE GOOD NEWS IN EDUCATION FINANCE
Last week brought additional momentum when Senator Sal DiDomenico and his colleagues unanimously passed a sweeping education reform bill designed to modernize the state’s 25-year-old funding formula.
The legislation gained strong backing from superintendents including Chelsea’s Mary Bourque. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz sponsored the bill with DiDomenico serving as co-sponsor.
The Foundation Budget formula, created by the 1993 Education Reform Act, was intended to guarantee every Massachusetts student a quality education. Yet after 25 years with minimal updates, the formula has become outdated and inadequate for modern educational needs.
“Today, too many of our students are receiving their education in schools that face crushing fiscal challenges,” said DiDomenico. “Our teachers and administrators do everything they can to provide their students with the best possible education, to lift them up, and put them on a path to success. Yet that job has become increasingly difficult, as year after year, schools have been forced to make difficult cuts as a result of state funding that fails to keep up with their needs. I am very proud to support this bill that will help to ensure that all of our students, regardless of their zip code, have access to the high quality education that they deserve.”
A bipartisan commission established in 2015 reviewed the Foundation Budget and recommended changes. The Foundation Budget Review Commission discovered that actual costs for health care and special education have grown far beyond what the original formula anticipated. The original formula also significantly underestimated resources needed to help low-income and English Language Learner students close achievement gaps.
“While Senate Bill 2506 represents a seven-year fix to the Foundation Budget for school districts across our State it also represents far more,” said Supt. Mary Bourque. “Senate Bill 2506 more importantly represents who we are as a Commonwealth and what we stand for and what we value. The passage of this bill says that children and their education, children and the opportunities we can provide, children and their future are important to us; we prioritize our children and their education. Senate Bill 2506 is about defining and supporting the future of our Commonwealth; but most of all, passage of Senate Bill 2506 is simply the right thing to do!”
The commission concluded that Massachusetts underestimates education costs by $1-2 billion annually. This shortfall has forced severe cuts to classrooms and programs, contributing to one of the nation’s worst achievement gaps. Gateway Cities in the Commonwealth, particularly Senator DiDomenico’s communities of Everett and Chelsea, have faced the most severe budget pressures.
By implementing the commission’s recommendations, the bill would update the Chapter 70 education formula to distribute state resources more accurately and equitably across Massachusetts schools.
The unanimous vote reflects months of sustained advocacy by education groups statewide. School committees representing more than 50 districts have approved resolutions backing these reforms, and Brockton Public Schools has announced plans to sue the Commonwealth for failing to meet its constitutional funding obligations.