Swampscott falls short in funds again

SWAMPSCOTT – District officials are disappointed with the Chapter 70 funds allocated in Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget, which was released on Wednesday afternoon.If the Governor’s budget were adopted, the district would receive $352,328 in additional assistance for the schools.Superintendent Matthew Malone said he was disappointed in the $2,701,925 the town is slated to receive in Chapter 70 funds.”I’m not happy about it,” he said. “It still doesn’t get us to the 17.5 percent (of foundation budget) other communities are getting. I was hoping we’d get up to the adequacy we deserve.”Swampscott School Committee Chairman David Whelan agreed the numbers are disappointingAccording to Whelan, the district is receiving much less in Chapter 70 school aid than it is entitled to. He pointed out approximately 80 percent of the school districts in the state are receiving 17.5 percent of their foundation budget in state aid, but for this fiscal year Swampscott is only receiving 14.3 percent – a difference of $557,000.Whelan explained the state calculates a foundation budget, which is based on enrollment and numerous other factors. The state then reimburses each community a certain percentage of its foundation budget.Two years ago, Swampscott was among only 69 districts in the state that were reimbursed less than 17.5 percent of their foundation budget. At that time communities receiving less than 17.5 percent of their foundation budget were told their rate would be phased in over a five-year period and at the end of that five years all districts would be at 17.5 percent.Whelan said the governor’s budget is inequitable because some communities that are already at 17.5 percent of their foundation budget received additional aid, yet communities like Swampscott did not even get brought up to 17.5 percent of their foundation budget.”Presently Swampscott is ranked 29th from the bottom in terms of reimbursement,” Whelan said.Malone said he is committed to working with all elected state and local officials to ensure Swampscott receives its fair share of Chapter 70 funds.”We need to ensure the governor’s budget is equitable,” he said. “Bring all communities up to 17.5 percent of foundation budget before increasing aid to other communities. I need $1.25 million between what the town has forecasted us to receive and my recommended budget. If we received 17.5 percent of our foundation budget it would help close that gap.”Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said Chapter 70 funding increased 8.6 percent over last year, which is an increase of approximately $214,000.”But what those numbers don’t show you is our charter school assessment increased significantly,” he said. “The town will be paying an additional $125,000 for students to attend charter schools.”Chapter 70 funding for the schools was a hot topic at Tuesday’s candidate’s forum in Swampscott. The five candidates jockeying for former state Rep. Douglas Petersen’s seat mentioned the need for additional funding for the schools.Democrats Cesar A. Archilla and Lori Ehrlich, Republicans John Blaisdell and Tanya DeGenova along with Independent Mark Barry all touched on the need for a more equitable Chapter 70 funding formula and their belief that state mandates, including special education, should be funded by the state.