BOSTON – With another school year under way and still no action from the Massachusetts Legislature on equitable school funding legislation, the Fund Our Future campaign has announced that more than 100 democratically elected school committees and other local governing boards across the state, including the Wareham School Committee, have passed resolutions asking the state Legislature to pass legislation that fully implements the recommendations of the bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission. That legislation, known as the Promise Act, would increase state funding for preK-12 schools in Massachusetts by more than $1 billion annually, according to a press release.

“School committees all across Massachusetts support the Promise Act because it’s the only proposal that fully implements the Foundation Budget Review Commission’s recommendations, and the only proposal that will truly deliver equal access to great public education in every community,” said Lynn School Committee member Lorraine Gately. “Because it provides millions of dollars more for the highest-poverty districts whose students have the greatest needs, the Promise Act would allow communities like Lynn to give our students the same great public education that's available in wealthy suburban districts.”

When fully implemented, the Promise Act would give local school districts $1.41 billion more in state education aid than the status quo and $946.3 million more than Governor Baker’s education funding plan, with the biggest difference coming from the additional resources the Promise Act directs to low-income students in the highest poverty schools. It does this by funding the “low-income increment” at the maximum rate recommended by the FBRC: 100 percent of the base rate in the districts with the highest concentrations of low-income students.

“This year’s state budget was a critical down payment on comprehensive school finance legislation, but our students need action on that long-term fix to our broken funding system,” said Fall River School Committee member Tom Khoury, a retired Fall River educator. “With the $11.3 million in new state Chapter 70 aid we received this year we were able to hire 70 new staff, including classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, adjustment counselors, attendance officers and custodians. That's a great start, but imagine what we could do for our students with the $53 million increase in funding our district would receive under the Promise Act.”

The Promise Act also provides relief to districts that lose significant funding to charter schools, by guaranteeing that state aid would never fall below the target set by the Foundation Budget for each community. According to the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Wareham School District would get an additional $192,218 per year under the Promise Act.

Parents, students, and educators have attended dozens of local school committee meetings this year to ask school committees to voice their support for the Promise Act.

“I’m glad my school committee passed this resolution and supports the Promise Act, because if the Promise Act is passed, my child will have smaller classes, more music and art, more counselors and librarians, and all the other things that students in wealthy communities take for granted,” said Ivelisse Caraballo, a parent with one child in the Brockton Public Schools. “All parents want a great education for their kids, and the Promise Act is how we make that happen for students in every community. It’s time for the legislature to listen to students, parents, teachers, and school committees and pass the Promise Act!”

A full list of school committees and other local governing boards that have voted to support the Promise Act includes:

Abington School Committee

Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee

Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee

Amesbury School Committee

Amherst School Committee & Town Council

Amherst-Pelham School Committee

Andover School Committee

Athol-Royalston School Committee

Ayer-Shirley School Committee

Bay Path Regional Vocation (Southern Worcester County Regional) School Committee

Belmont School Committee

Berkshire Hills School Committee

Berkley School Committee & Selectmen

Beverly School Committee

Blue Hills Regional School Committee

Boston School Committee & City Council

Bourne School Committee

Brockton School Committee

Burlington School Committee

Cambridge School Committee

Carver School Committee

Chicopee School Committee

Clarksburg School Committee

Danvers School Committee

Dennis-Yarmouth School Committee

Easthampton School Committee

Everett School Committee

Fairhaven School Committee

Fall River School Committee

Farmington Rivers Regional School Committee

Fitchburg School Committee

Framingham School Committee

Gateway Regional School Committee

Grafton School Committee

Granby School Committee

Greenfield School Committee

Groton-Dunstable Regional School Committee

Hampshire Regional School Committee

Harvard School Committee

Hatfield School Committee

Haverhill School Committee

Holbrook School Committee

Holyoke School Committee

Hull School Committee

Lawrence City Council

Lee School Committee

Leicester School Committee

Lexington School Committee

Littleton School Committee

Lowell School Committee

Lunenburg School Committee

Lynn School Committee

Lynnfield School Committee

Malden School Committee & City Council

Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee

Marlborough School Committee

Marshfield School Committee

Maynard School Committee

Mendon-Upton Regional School Committee

Middleborough School Committee

Millbury School Committee

Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee

Monomoy Regional School Committee

New Bedford School Committee

North Adams School Committee

Northampton School Committee

Northborough School Committee

North Middlesex Regional School Committee

Norton School Committee

Old Rochester Regional School Committee

Orange School Committee

Palmer School Committee

Petersham School Committee

Pittsfield School Committee

Quabbin Regional School Committee

Revere School Committee

Rochester School Committee

Rockland School Committee

Salem School Committee

Scituate School Committee

Seekonk School Committee

Shrewsbury School Committee

Southampton School Committee

Southborough School Committee

Southbridge School Committee

Springfield School Committee, City Council & Springfield Empowerment Partnership Board

South Hadley School Committee

Taunton School Committee

Uxbridge School Committee

Wachusett Regional School Committee

Ware School Committee

Wareham School Committee

Watertown School Committee

Webster School Committee

Westford School Committee

West Springfield School Committee & Town Council

Weymouth School Committee

Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee

Worcester School Committee

Background

The Fund Our Future campaign was formed to end the generation-long underfunding of local public schools and public colleges and universities in Massachusetts and is endorsed by the following members: Act on Mass, AFT Massachusetts, Alliance for Brookline Schools, Asian American Resource Workshop, Boston Democratic Socialists of America (BDSA), Boston Education Equity Coalition, Boston Education Justice Alliance, Boston Teachers Union, CEPA at UMass Amherst, Citizens for Public Schools, College Dems of MA, Hampshire Franklin Labor Council, Interfaith Worker Justice, JALSA, Jewish Labor Committee, La Communidad, La Voz de la Comunidad – Framingham, Local 26 Unite Here, Lowell Education Justice Alliance, Mass COSH, Massachusetts Communities Action Network , Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Massachusetts Voter Table, Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council, MNA, NAACP New England Area Conference, North Shore Labor Council, Pioneer Valley Labor Council, Pioneer Valley Street Heat, Progressive Massachusetts, Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM), PUMA Parent Union of Mass, QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student), Revere Youth in Action, SEIU 888, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Tikkun Olam Congregation Bnai Israel Northampton, Union of Minority Neighborhoods, Women Encouraging Empowerment, and Youth on Board.

The Fund Our Future campaign supports passage of two pieces of education funding legislation:

The Promise Act would implement the recommendations of the bipartisan Foundation Budget Review Commission and result in more than $1 billion in additional state funding for preK-12 schools in Massachusetts. It would deliver the bulk of new resources to the most economically disadvantaged communities, while also guaranteeing meaningful minimum aid increases for all districts, and providing relief to districts that lose significant funding to charter schools, by guaranteeing that state aid would never fall below the target set by the Foundation Budget for each community. When fully implemented, the Promise Act would give local school districts $1.41 billion more in state education aid than the status quo and $946.3 million more than Governor Baker’s plan, with the biggest difference coming from the additional resources the Promise Act directs to low-income students in the highest poverty schools. A map showing the additional state funding each school district in Massachusetts would receive under the Promise Act can be found here.

The Cherish Act would implement the core recommendation of the state’s Higher Education Finance Commission and result in more than $500 million in additional state funding for public higher education in Massachusetts. The legislation would require in statute that the Commonwealth fund public higher education at no less than its FY01 per-student funding level, adjusted for inflation, and freeze tuition and fees for five years.