Archived Information

School Finance: Chapter 70 Program

Final Chapter 70 Aid and Net School Spending Requirements for FY05

June 25, 2004

The FY05 state budget, which was signed by Governor Romney on June 25, includes a $72.2 million or 2.3 percent increase in Chapter 70 aid to school districts. Aid rises from $3,110,796,259 in FY04 to $3,182,954,601 in FY05.

The following links provide summary charts showing proposed foundation budgets, Chapter 70 aid, required local contributions, and net school spending requirements for school districts and regional school members . The detailed calculations are available by downloading the formula spreadsheet .

Summary of the formula for FY05

• No district's required spending level is allowed to drop below its "foundation budget." The foundation budget is an estimate of the minimum funding level needed to provide an adequate educational program.

• Each operating district is guaranteed at least the same amount of aid it received in FY04. Its FY05 required local effort is raised by the school share of the increase in local revenue capacity under Proposition 2 ½. If the new required effort plus last year's aid is insufficient to reach the foundation budget, a district receives enough additional aid to fill the gap. One hundred twelve of the state's 328 operating school districts receive Chapter 70 increases; the remaining 216 are level-funded.

• Foundation budgets rise by an average of 2.96 percent. They reflect an annual inflation adjustment of 2.83 percent. Statewide foundation enrollment decreased from 963,771 to 959,291, a decline of 0.5 percent.

• All limited-English pupils now receive the bilingual program rate in order to reflect the additional costs associated with immersion programs. In previous years only pupils enrolled in transitional bilingual programs were credited this higher rate. The number of limited-English pupils is 48,247 this year, compared with 27,994 transitional bilingual program pupils counted in FY04 foundation budgets.

• A new methodology allocates communities' total required contributions among the school districts to which they belong. The goal is to equalize the contribution as a percentage of foundation budget for each of a city and town's local and regional districts. This change will be phased in over a four year period.

• For nineteen non-operating districts (towns that are fully regionalized or that rely upon tuitioning to educate their pupils) chapter 70 is capped at the districts' foundation budgets.

• The "excess debt" provision is not used in FY05.

• The net school spending requirement remains in effect, as does the requirement that districts expend at least half of their combined regular and extraordinary maintenance foundation budget amounts upon those functions. There is no spending requirement for professional development.

Questions about the Chapter 70 program should be addressed to either: