Data shows $465 million inflation-driven gap in Bay State school funding

Education advocates are urging lawmakers to do something to address a funding “glitch” found in state law that has districts struggling to make ends meet while inflation remains high and which could leave Bay State schools hundreds of millions of dollars short for years to come.

According data found in a report due to be released later this week by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, inflation could cost Massachusetts schools $465 million over the course of the next year, money that is not factored into the state’s school funding formula.

Colin Jones, Deputy Policy Director at MassBudget, said Tuesday passage of the Student Opportunity Act in 2019 demonstrates that Bay State lawmakers care about education, “but now, failing to keep up with inflation threatens to undermine all that progress.”

As inflation has increased, it goes without saying that so too have the costs borne by schools. Everything — from utilities to transportation to office supplies — has ticked up in price, but state funding hasn’t kept pace, according to Jones. Massachusetts’ school funding formula contains a 4.5% inflation cap, while the two most recent fiscal years saw inflation soar past 7%.

That difference means that over 200 Bay State school districts are facing funding shortfalls of $1 million or more. The disparity is such, that eight of the Bay State’s 10 “Gateway Cities,” which are home to some of the most cash-strapped schools, stand to lose $10 million or more to inflation in the next fiscal year, according to the report.

As if news about next year’s school funding weren’t dire enough, according to the data examined by MassBudget, if lawmakers don’t update the law to keep pace with inflation and fix the glitch, “that loss will be repeated each year going forward.”

“The progress we’ve made under the Student Opportunity Act is under threat. Record inflation that isn’t being accounted for in the state’s school funding formula is causing budget cuts, layoffs, and canceled investments across the state. And once again, students and our communities are paying the price,” Executive Director of the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance Vatsady Sivongxay said.

Thomas Grannemann, a Haverhill School Committee member, said Tuesday that his district is looking at a $7 million budget gap next year due to inflation, just as the district was starting to make real progress.

“With Student Opportunity Act funding Haverhill has been closing the gap in resources, moving our per-pupil spending from 81% of the state average in FY 2019 to 92% of the state average in FY 2022. However, the inflation index “glitch” has set back our school spending for each year by about 6% and will have real negative impacts on our ability to help our high-needs student population,” he said.

The full report, Jones said, will be released on Thursday.

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