Let's find some numbers...
November 17, 2004
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
Sometimes it can be fun to sit back and watch a Board of Selectmen's Meeting; especially when Superintendent Bob McIntyre addresses the group. He stated that over the years, chapter 70 money from the State has been decreasing. So, lets go to the Dept of Ed and see what they show: (see website for DOE CH.70 Finance)
fy99 = $16,599,931 for 5,484 students
fy00 = $16,681,147 for 5,564 students
fy01 = $17,589,556 for 5,655 students
fy02 = $18,629,321 for 5,890 students
fy03 = $18,684,258 for 5,860 students
fy04 = $18,751,051 for 5,918 students
fy05 = $18,993,204 for 5,836 students
That certainly looks like the chapter 70 funding has increased every year. In fact, while enrollment has increased 6.4% over that time, state money has increased by 14.42%. Perhaps the Superintendent was referring to some underlying numbers?
The formula for chapter 70 is rather complex. In simple terms, the enrollment is separated into many categories for kinds of education (elementary, high school, bilingual, SPED, etc..) and each category has a multiplier factor. It is anticipated that education per student for high school is more expensive than elementary; and that bilingual would be higher. [The DOE has a very large spreasheet calculator on the CH.70 page; however for simplicity, you can view the full B-R calculation right here.]
After all this math on costs, a grand total is determined by adding all the groups. [For fy05 this is $39,641,495 for 5,836 students, and is known as the Foundation Budget.] A different school system could have a cost much higher for the same number of students if they were in more expensive groups. Each community has a 'wealth' test, to determine how much it can afford to contribute as its Net Minimum Contribution. The balance is funded by the State as Chapter 70 Funds.
