Archived Information

DOE Budget

Update on State Aid Appropriations for FY03

August 1, 2002

The Governor signed Chapter 184 of the Acts of 2002, the fiscal year 2003 state budget, on July 29. Here is a brief summary of the provisions with respect to the major state aid programs for K-12 education. Districts will be receiving information on the status of categorical grant programs under separate cover.

Chapter 70

The budget provides for a $40 million net increase in Chapter 70 aid to local districts. See Final Chapter 70 Aid and Net School Spending Requirements for FY03 on this website for more information.

Special Education Reimbursement

Implementation of the new circuit breaker program has been postponed until FY04. For FY03, funding has been provided to continue the residential cost-sharing and abandoned children programs. We are currently analyzing the expected costs of these two programs and considering possible options, including proration of entitlements, to ensure that payments will not exceed available funding. Additional information will be provided shortly.

A proposed change in the circuit breaker reimbursement formula, which would have eliminated the separate rates for in-district and out-of-district placements, was vetoed by the Governor.

Transportation Reimbursement

Transportation aid for local and regional districts was reduced by a total of $15 million below FY02 levels. For FY03, we estimate that local transportation entitlements will be prorated in the range of 19%, and regional transportation entitlements will be prorated in the range of 73%.

Section 197 of the budget allows school committees to sell advertising on school buses and to use the proceeds for educational purposes.

Charter School Tuition Reimbursement

Funding for the charter school tuition reimbursement program was vetoed by the Governor. No reimbursements will be provided in FY03. Students attending Commonwealth charter schools will continue to be counted in the foundation enrollment of the sending districts, for purposes of the foundation budget calculation.

School Building Assistance

The appropriation for on-going payments for SBA grants was underfunded by about $2.6M. We will be discussing with the Governor and the Legislature the possibility of a supplemental appropriation to allow us to make all scheduled payments during FY03. In the meantime, payments for a small number of projects will be reduced. Those municipalities affected by this action will be notified directly.

The budget authorizes the award of up to four projects from waiting list A (desegregation projects) and up to eleven projects from waiting list B (non-desegregation projects). The Board of Education is expected to take action on new grant awards at its August 27 meeting.

Section 80 of the budget also extends the time period for temporary borrowing for school construction projects from five to seven years. However, the total time period (temporary plus permanent) remains twenty-five years, so if temporary borrowing is extended to seven years, the permanent financing cannot exceed 18 years.