School Funding Basics- State Funding 101

The way we fund our school district's budget is very complex, and as we all know in recent years, increasingly more difficult.  I am well aware of the fact that in years past, the Regional School Committee and district administration have made many efforts to explain various terms, regulations, and mandates that dictate both revenues and expenditures.  As there are so many aspects of this, it would be difficult to cover and explain all of it in one session.  Hence, School Committee Chair Heather Applegate recently had the idea to use the next two or three months (before the budget season gets into full gear) to explain some aspects of school funding to the public.  A great idea!

Hence, below is the brief 8-slide PowerPoint presentation that I gave at last Monday night's School Committee meeting.  This presentation is the first in a series that I will be giving. As the cover slide notes, it is on the basics on the funding we receive from the state through its Chapter 70 Program.  In my presentation I was also careful to detail between the terms "foundation budget" and "net school spending," two terms that very much detail the minimum we (and every district in the Commonwealth) must spend on education.  I hope my presentation is clear... If you have any questions, please post them below.