Archived Information

School Finance: School Choice

FY06 School Choice Tuition, June 2006

June 19, 2006

The school choice assessment and tuition amounts due to be incorporated into the June 30, 2006 local aid distribution have been finalized. On June 30, 2006 the State Treasurer's office will process the remaining portion of the assessments and tuition, net of the amounts paid in the December, 2005 and March, 2006 quarterly local aid distributions.

By the end of June, superintendents of sending and receiving districts will be able to obtain their final school choice rosters and tuition amounts for each pupil. The information will be placed in the DOE security portal's school choice claim form dropbox. These spreadsheets will show each school choice pupil's name, address, enrollment dates, program, tuition and other information.

A district summary shows the number of full-time equivalent pupils and tuition amounts for the 150 receiving districts and 267 sending districts involved in this program. During FY06 there were 9,738 full-time equivalent pupils participating, with total tuition amounting to $55,512,844.

School Choice Tuition Rates are calculated for regular and vocational programs. FY06 school choice tuition rates are set at 75 percent of the FY05 operating cost per full-time equivalent pupil for the receiving school district, with a cap of $5,000. In addition, the actual special education cost for each special education pupil is paid in full by the sending district. That amount is determined using the same rate methodology for specific services as is used in the special education circuit-breaker program.

Preliminary FY06 school choice tuition rates are set at the FY05 operating cost per full-time equivalent pupil, for the receiving school district. If a district's FY05 End of Year Pupil and Financial Report appears to be in question, its previous year's rate is used. In such a case, the FY05 rate will not be available on this site until June when the preliminary calculations are next published.

If you have any questions about this information, please contact Phyllis Rogers of the Office of School Finance, at (781) 338-6534 or via email at progers@doe.mass.edu.