On January 23, 2018, Governor Baker submitted his House 1 budget proposal for FY20. The House 1 budget is based on An Act to Promote Equity and Excellence in Education, a comprehensive school finance bill. The bill implements the major recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) and incorporates other enhancements to the Commonwealth's school funding framework.
In addition to changes to the Chapter 70 program, the Governor's bill proposes significant changes to the charter school tuition and reimbursement program:
Return to a 3-year, 100%/60%/40% schedule for transitional aid.
Transitional aid is more closely tied to real growth.
Supplemental aid is provided to districts with high charter tuition costs and relatively low Chapter 70 aid, to ensure a minimum level of state support for charter tuition.
House 1 proposal is a $16 million increase over FY19 and represents the first year of a planned 3-year phase-in to full funding of the reimbursement program by FY22.
The facilities component of the charter school tuition rate is increased to $938 per pupil in FY20, the first such increase in more than a decade. The rate would be indexed to inflation in subsequent years.
Below you will find the most recent calculation of preliminary FY20 charter school tuition and reimbursements based on this proposed framework. These amounts will be used by the Department of Revenue in their preliminary cherry sheet estimates.
These estimates are subject to change as the House and Senate deliberate on the budget and as we update our enrollment projections for next fiscal year. Our purpose in providing these estimates at this time is to assist cities, towns and regional school districts in their budget preparations for FY20.
Preliminary FY20 Charter Tuition Payments and Reimbursements for sending districts is an MS Excel spreadsheet of each district's projected total enrollment at all charter schools; the local tuition assessed (including facilities); and the Commonwealth's reimbursement to districts for facilities tuition, increases in tuition, and supplemental aid.
Questions regarding charter school tuition and reimbursements may be addressed to Hadley Cabral in School Finance at (781) 338-6586 or hcabral@doe.mass.edu .
Last Updated: January 24, 2019
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
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