School spending fix sought

LYNN – State legislators are trying to untangle complicated school spending problems facing Lynn and other communities, even as state education officials threaten the city with financial penalties and a potential $7 million cut in school money if a solution cannot be found.?We?re working to try to find a solution,” state Rep. Robert Fennell said.At the heart of the problem is a formula calculating how retired teachers? health insurance costs are counted toward “net school spending” – a basic calculation outlining a city or town?s contribution to how much money public schools receive.Lynn is not permitted under state law to include retiree insurance costs toward net spending, state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester noted in a Feb. 14 letter. The excluded costs play a role in net spending calculations with Chester, in his letter to School Superintendent Catherine Latham, stating that Lynn has fallen $8.6 million below its net spending requirement.?Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the loss of Chapter 70 aid, delays in the approval of your municipal tax rate by the Department of Revenue, and/or enforcement action by the Attorney General,” Chester wrote.State aid to public schools, known as Chapter 70 money, covers most local education costs, with state tax dollars providing Lynn schools with $126 million in 2013 combined with a required $42.2 million local contribution that fell short, according to an October 2013 report provided by state education officials.Fennell on Thursday said spending legislation under review in the state Senate seeks to map a way out of the net spending complication for Lynn. But he said legislators must also weigh net spending problems facing other communities with an eye on fair resolutions for all.?Some are in worse predicaments than the city of Lynn,” Fennell said.Language in the state supplemental budget allows Chester to phase in retirees? insurance costs as a contribution to net school spending over a four-year period. That solution is aimed at solving a problem, in Lynn?s case, that dates back 20 years. It also includes language allowing state officials to waive penalties “associated with deficiencies in net school spending.”Another Senate bill offers a more straightforward solution to Lynn?s spending problem by proposing that “the commissioner shall not include deficiencies in net school spending requirements ? when calculating state school aid distribution reductions.”School Committee member and legislative aide John Ford said city officials, including Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, are waiting to see how legislators resolve the net spending problem.?She?s basically waiting to hear from the Senate,” Ford said.City Council President Daniel Cahill this week said he is not worried about financial fallout from the net spending discussions as long as Fennell and local legislators are working on a solution.?Hopefully, they will find a fix,” he said.