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Date: 7/31/2019
CHICOPEE – Elected officials and members of the School Committee and administration celebrated an increase in state funding for the district’s schools at a press event on July 29.
Although the $4.89 million increase in state educational aid (Chapter 70) for the city was welcomed, several elected officials stressed the funding is just for one year and permanent funding reform is still needed.
Mayor Richard Kos said the city based its school budget on the governor’s proposed FY2020 budget, which was increased over last year’s budget. The surprise was the $1.3 million above what was anticipated included in this year’s budget developed by the Legislature.
The School Department has struggled in the past several years with a deficit and Kos had convened the Chicopee School Budget Review Committee to develop a strategy for creating efficiencies in 2017. The group issued a report noting a number of proposals.
The mayor told The Chicopee Herald the city really needs three times the $4.89 million to close the funding gap.
State Rep. Joseph Wagner called the amount “a down payment” on future aid.
“We know there is work to be done,” Wagner said, referring to completing work on revising the Foundation Budget for schools and the funding formula.
State Sen. Eric Lesser said the $4.89 million was “one of the singles largest year-to-year increases in the history of Chapter 70.”
Lesser said the Commonwealth has not kept up with the needs of local school districts.
Lesser added the increase was a “team effort.” Chicopee has seven members of the Legislature making up its delegation.
Wagner added one of the challenges facing the school district are increases in the cost of health insurance.
“The budget is eaten up by health insurance costs,” he explained.
Christine Goonan, a schoolteacher working on behalf of the Fund our Future organization, said the increase on funding for Chicopee is “a good start.”
According to that organization’s information, under the proposed Promise Act Chicopee would receive $22.8 million in additional state funds over a seven-year phase-in.