The school choice assessment and tuition amounts due to be incorporated into the June 30, 2015 local aid distribution have been finalized. On June 30th the State Treasurer's office will process the remaining portion of the annual assessments and tuition, net of the amounts paid in the monthly local aid distributions over the first eleven months of the fiscal year.
A district summary workbook lists all receiving and sending districts' full-time equivalent pupils and tuition amounts for the year. There were 185 receiving districts and 314 sending districts. Tthere were 15,635 full-time equivalent pupils participating, with total tuition amounting to $94,900,055. After incorporating $30,213 of adjustments to FY15 tuition, the net tuition statewide is $94,869,842.
School Choice Tuition Rates are calculated for regular and vocational programs. FY16 school choice tuition rates are set at 75 percent of the FY15 operating cost per full-time equivalent pupil for the receiving school district, with a cap of $5,000. All districts are now at that cap. In addition, the actual special education cost for each pupil with an individualized education plan 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.
In prior years the district summary showed a monthly breakdown of payments and assessments. However, a new report is available from the Division of Local Services which shows the monthly amounts for school choice and all other programs that are included in local aid distribution. The report can be found at Division of Local Services: Monthly Local Aid.
Sending and receiving district staff should review their final school choice rosters and tuition amounts for each pupil. The information has been placed in the DESE security portal's school choice claim form dropbox. These spreadsheets show each school choice pupil's name, address, enrollment dates, program, tuition and other information. School staff should contact DESE if they feel any of the information is not completely accurate, so that follow-up can be done and, if necessary, adjustments can be made during FY17.
If you have any questions about this information, please contact Roger Hatch of the Office of School Finance, at (781) 338-6527 or via email at rhatch@doe.mass.edu .
Last Updated: June 20, 2016
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
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