Archived Information

School Finance: Chapter 70 Program

Memorandum

I am pleased to provide you with detailed information on the FY97 Chapter 70 aid and net school spending requirements for each municipality and school district in the Commonwealth. This information is based on the appropriations and provisions enacted in the FY97 state budget (Chapter 151 of the Acts of 1996), which was signed by the Governor on June 30.

This package contains the following materials:

White pages -- Shows the detailed calculations for your community or district. A summary chart is also included showing all municipalities and districts in the Commonwealth.

Green pages -- Describes the assumptions and formula changes used to develop the school aid and net school spending requirements.

Blue pages-- Explains the components which make up the foundation budget, including the final dollar amounts assigned to each component for FY97.

Yellow pages -- Explains the calculations and formulas used to determine school aid, minimum local contributions, and total net school spending requirements.

Please note that some municipalities and districts are receiving extra Chapter 70 aid this year which will not be repeated in future years. We have included a new column on this year's report which shows your projected FY98 base aid. Please use this number rather than your actual FY97 aid in planning your FY98 budgets. Actual FY98 base aid, which will be determined as part of next year's state budget, will not be lower than this projected number but could be higher. See the green sheet in this package for more information.

A spreadsheet file containing the complete foundation program calculations for all municipalities and districts is available for downloading from the Department's website on the Internet (http://www.doe.mass.edu).

If you have any questions concerning these calculations, please contact our school finance unit at (617) 338-3300 x553, or by e-mail to sfinance@doe.mass.edu.