Schools struggle with costs

Some get less help under new formula

Governor Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray answered questions from reporters after Patrick signed the 2009 state budget last Sunday at the State House. (Travis Dove for The Boston Globe)

For the third year in a row, a number of communities northwest of Boston received only small boosts in local aid for education, as the state continued to adapt to a new formula for distributing money to local school systems.

Officials in the affected communities - which had benefited more from the previous formula - protested last week that state aid has not kept pace with skyrocketing costs the last few years, and did not make up for it this year.

"When cities and towns get whacked like that in the face of ever-increasing costs, it really has a ripple effect throughout the succeeding fiscal years," said Shaun A. Suhoski, town administrator in Ayer, where aid to the town's schools rose only 3.9 percent for this fiscal year, starting July 1.

When the aid figures were announced last week, Ayer got a smaller boost than many communities with the new formula under Chapter 70, the state law governing aid to schools. The hikes in aid for area communities range from 1.7 percent to 47.3 percent.

Education funding easily represents the largest portion of local aid, which also includes state lottery money for general government and smaller grants for a variety of specific programs.

This is the third year of a five-year phase-in of the new Chapter 70 formula, under which all communities will eventually receive at least 17.5 percent of their school budget, adjusted for differences in property values and residents' personal income, according to Jonathan Considine, external relations coordinator for the state Department of Education. Most of the rest of the education funding comes from property tax revenue.

In the past, the formula gave more consideration to the communities with relatively lower personal income levels; now, to correct that disparity, local property values and personal income are given equal weight. That means that during the five-year phase-in, larger percentage increases are going to some of the communities with relatively higher property values, Considine said.

Education aid did not adequately cover the sharply rising costs of special education, bus transportation, and testing for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, said Anne Marie Stronach, a Tewks- bury selectwoman.

Stronach said even the price of school lunches has gone up by 25 percent because of state rules mandating more nutritional fare, like whole grains and fresh fruits, with no state money to pay for it.

"Education is what's driving our country, it's how our kids are going to compete, and it has a tremendous impact on our future," Stronach said. "The state can't just give lip service to it. It costs money."

Tewksbury received only a 1.7 percent increase in state aid to its schools, the lowest in the northwest suburbs. The aid is based in part on Tewksbury's average single-family home assessed value of $368,408 in 2008 and average per capita income of $27,031 in 1999 - figures developed by the state Department of Revenue and used in the new formula.

By contrast, Belmont, with a $767,676 average single-family home assessed value and an average per capita income of $42,485 in the same years, got a 19.3 percent boost.

Even so, Belmont schools Superintendent Peter B. Holland said he is just scraping by.

"It would be great if we were able to do something innovative," he said. "There are a number of things we'd like to do that we haven't been able to do."

Officials became concerned several years before the phase-in of the new formula, after former governor Mitt Romney slashed local aid. While many communities have cut services, laid off employees, and raised property taxes and fees, municipal officials say they have never truly recovered.

In Lexington, for example, total local aid for this fiscal year tops what the town received in fiscal year 2003, but just barely. This year, the town will receive $9.7 million, compared with $8.14 million six years ago, said Robert N. Addelson, the assistant town manager for finance. In addition to the rising costs of education, the money does not stretch far enough to pay for budget busters like healthcare, pensions, and energy. Addelson said it's a "responsibility of the state" to identify new revenue and deliver more local aid.

That is the view even in Wilmington, where a 47.3 percent bump in Chapter 70 aid has allowed the schools to avoid layoffs and other budget-cutting measures this year. Still, Wilmington school Superintendent Joanne M. Benton called on Governor Deval Patrick to recognize the financial strains communities face. "I'm concerned for next year," she said.

But some local officials say the current economy will not allow the state to expand local aid, and communities will have to wait until the economic climate changes.

In Lowell, where Chapter 70 money increased by only 1.7 percent, the city has just barely enough to pay its expenses, according to Mayor Edward C. Caulfield. "Could we use more money? Sure," Caulfield said. "But we can't expect the state to come up with money they don't have."

Connie Paige can be reached at connie_paige@yahoo.com.