What is going on with the state funding formula?  

 The state funding formula does not match the needs of minimum aid districts (sometimes referred to as “hold harmless” districts), and hasn’t for some time. This has put an unremitting pressure on town budgets, especially towns with a low commercial/industrial tax base, as is the case with all six towns in the First Middlesex  District. Unfortunately, until 2024, there has not been an attempt to build a statewide coalition to amplify the districts’ voices.

Who is in the broad coalition?

In  June 2023, and on behalf of the First Middlesex legislative delegation,  State Representative Margaret Scarsdale brought together stakeholders from all six towns in the First Middlesex District to meet with representatives from the Department of Elementary and Secondary  Education (DESE) to understand the funding formulas better, and determine if there were any common issues that affected all of us.  Stakeholders at this meeting included Select Board Chairs, School Committee Chairs,  Finance Committee members, Town Administrators/Managers,  Superintendents, and constituents. That meeting made clear “minimum aid”  was a key factor in inadequate funding. 

As a next step, Representative Scarsdale worked with the MA Association of  Regional Schools (MARS) to understand if there were other districts in the Commonwealth similarly affected, and that is how the 211 districts were discovered (and hence the name “Project 211”). Coalition-building efforts began immediately, and other advocacy groups were brought on board, including the: 

MA Association of School  Committees (MASC)

MA Association of School Superintendents (MASS)

MA Association of School Business Officials (MASBO) and 

United for Our Future, 

which includes the aforementioned advocacy groups, as well as: 

Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA)

American Federation of Teachers 

Massachusetts Lawyers for Civil  Rights

Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance

 Children’s Mental  Health Campaign

Massachusetts School Counselors Association Massachusetts PTA

Massachusetts AFL-CIO

Citizens For Public  Schools

Boston Teachers Union, and the 

Association of Massachusetts  School Equity Leaders. Additionally, there are community leaders/ambassadors in all six towns.

Representative  Scarsdale also worked with MARS to convene a virtual meeting in  November 2024 of Project 211 Districts to begin the process of educating the statewide coalition and to brainstorm proposed solutions – both short- and long-term -- to the funding crisis.

What changes do we hope to accomplish?

A  group of stakeholders representing the Project 211 districts, and  including Representative Scarsdale, began meeting weekly, and in  February 2025,  proposed broad categories of funding and legislative requests to the “Project 211” representatives: 

• A supplemental budget totaling $323M in FY25 that covers increased funding for: 
  • Circuit Breaker
  • Regional School Transportation
  • McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Transportation
  • Out-of-District Vocational School Transportation
  • Rural Aid
  • Supplemental Funding to MSBA Capital Supports
• $436.6M in FY26 budget increases:
  • Reconvene K-12 Funding Review Commission in FY 2026
  • Inflation factor offsets
  • Maintain minimum per pupil aid at current $104/per
  • Rural Aid
  • Circuit Breaker
  • Regional School Transportation
  • McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Transportation
  • Out-of-District Vocational School Transportation

Once these proposals were finalized, Representative Scarsdale began meeting with interested community leaders in each of the six towns,  and they have become the main advocacy ambassadors for organizing and disseminating information, including through personal networks, the creation of dedicated webpages, and  Facebook outreach. 

Where do we go from here?

The initial group of community members from First Middlesex has grown into the Massachusetts Education Advocacy Group, a larger group of parents, teachers, school administration, and other community members from across the state. Together, these members are continuing to network as they attempt to inform residents in other affected "Hold Harmless" districts of the need for a change in the funding formula while also collaborating with those in other districts who may not be under "Hold Harmless" status but are still negatively impacted by the broken school funding formula. The proposed funding formula changes will need to be approved by the State legislature (both House and Senate), and this will only be accomplished by having community members from each affected district drawing attention to this funding crisis in their own communities and encouraging legislative action at the State House. 

Note: The  number of minimum aid districts can change every year based on  enrollment changes and other factors. When this coalition was first  formed, as noted, there were 211 districts. There  are currently 232, but it is not logical to change the name every year.  “Project 211” refers to all of the districts in the Commonwealth that are designated  “minimum aid.”  Additionally, Project 211 is comprised of both regional  and comprehensive schools.