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Date: 6/20/2023
SUNDERLAND — On June 12, the Selectboard endorsed a resolution and letter of support for H.3567, an Act to provide a sustainable future for rural schools, and the companion bill in the state Senate, S.2388.
The bills address the financial hurdles faced by rural school districts and member towns.
In introducing the letter supporting the rural schools bill Selectboard Chair Nathaniel Waring said, “This is a bill written by our legislative representatives for towns like ours…where [about] two-thirds of our budget goes to the schools.”
The measures contained in the bills were suggested in a final report issued by the Special Commission on Rural Schools, co-chaired by state Rep. Natalie Blais and state Sen. Adam Hinds. The suggested measures include a review of special education costs, transportation reimbursements for regional districts, help in job sharing, insurance reviews, direct aid and other assistance.
According to state Sen. Jo Comerford, Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 includes increases in some lines of rural school aid. That’s a move in the right direction. The bills, however, need lots of support.
“It’s one of my top priority bills because it would have the most seismic impact on the majority of my districts,” Comerford said. “People in these district schools have said, again and again, to do many of the components that are in the bill.”
Healey’s proposed FY24 budget includes at least two welcome increases in support for rural schools. The proposed budget boosts rural school assistance grants by 36% from last year, from $5.5 million to $7.5 million. The line item was first instituted in 2020 with $3.5 million in funding.
Regional school districts will benefit from higher transportation reimbursements. Towns were enticed into joining regional districts with promises that higher transportation costs would be reimbursed 100%. That level of reimbursement has never materialized. This year the proposed rate will be 90% reimbursement, a considerable increase from previous years, when the highest reimbursement was 78%.
“I’m glad for 90%, though 90% is not 100%,” Comerford said. “And it’s also not in statute.” Adoption into law would institutionalize budget line items. Sentiment on Beacon Hill, however, is that rural towns should foot some transportation costs, Comerford said, so, “I don’t know, pragmatically, if we’ll ever get higher than 90%.”
In the Senate, Comerford said, rural school aid saw a proposed increase to $15 million. The rural schools report found that parity for rural schools would require four times that level of aid, or $60 million.
Comerford praised Healey as the first governor to build in rural school aid, but noted that along with cash assistance, other provisions of the bills would also greatly benefit rural towns.
A low and declining enrollments fund is also proposed. Many districts face both difficulties, which differ. Districts with low census numbers are financially constricted in what they can offer, educationally, often due to bias in the Chapter 70 education funding formula. Those districts then face the further erosion of services when enrollments continue to ebb. That fund would be comparable to the rural schools fund.
Measures for establishing regional districts, repurposing old school buildings and softening the costs of special education are also featured. Section 12 of the Senate bill begins with a measure to amend the definition of instruction costs to include hiring part-time employees in specialized positions when only full-time applicants are available. The difference would be an acknowledged cost.
Other measures support paraprofessionals in becoming licensed special education teachers and support regular education teachers to retrain for special education duties. That would assist districts to develop more local talent. District efforts to tap into educational collaboratives will also be promoted.
A significant element of the rural schools bill calls for the creation of a legislative commission to review special education financing, along with a “special education funding system”. The funding system would seek to stabilize SPED funding to increase predictability, limit local responsibility for educating students with extraordinary needs, and provide for the transportation costs of special education students.
“Special education reform has been at the top of what I’ve heard from school districts,” Comerford said.
A review of the Chapter 70 funding formula and the Opportunity Act sidestepped special education, allowing the funding gaps in local support to widen. “We are falling behind in terms of the state’s obligation to educate students and to support districts.”
Comerford urged anyone in favor of the bill to follow the example of the Sunderland Selectboard: let her know, in writing, your support for the legislation. Residents should also contact Rep. Blais or Rep. Whipps to voice support.
The Sunderland Selectboard voted unanimously to submit its letter of support for House bill H.3567 and Senate bill S.2388. Board member Cristyl Drake-Tremblay said, “It’s written for towns like us.”