Medfield Must Submit Spending Plan for New Funds by April 1

If Medfield Public Schools were to receive $76,000 to close achievement gaps in one year (with more to come), how might it best be spent?

Based on the recently enacted Student Opportunity Act, Medfield stakeholders and constituents are required to have a say in the plan that must be approved by Medfield School Committee and submitted by the superintendent to the state by April 1, 2020, according to a recent, detailed memo released by Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC).

It is unclear if the Jan. 30 Medfield Public School Budget Hearing will be used for the purposes of reviewing the plan for Student Opportunity Act funds, but it could very well be too soon in that process. MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher stated in his Jan. 10 MASC memo, "We are still awaiting information from DESE (MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) on how actual additional funding will be calculated." (For any public hearing, once legal notices are published in a designated newspaper they will appear online at masspublicnotices.org. The newspaper for Medfield legal notices is The Press, formerly Medfield Press.)

The $76,000 Medfield estimate for Student Opportunity Act funds to be received in fiscal year 2021 (and a total of $529,000 over a seven-year period) is based on initial statewide projections published by Massachusetts Teachers Association.

In addition to the April 1, 2020 deadline for superintendents to submit the Chapter 70 spending plan for FY 2021-2023, the MASC memo helps to clarify additional requirements and recommendations related to the planning steps:

• Key stakeholder groups, parents and community members must be consulted "to inform the process."

• Spending plans for new and additional Chapter 70 monies "must be approved by the school committee as part of its policy-making function and budgeting authority under the law." Koocher states that school committee approval is "unambiguously clear."

• How stakeholder/constituent feedback is obtained "is left to the districts" although MA-DESE is providing recommendations, such as use of public input periods at school committee meetings, and use of "readily accessible survey programs" to help reach citizens unable to attend meetings.

• Specifically referencing engagement of district educators in the process, Koocher stated that school committees have the authority to create "as many opportunities to seek feedback as they wish."

• It is expected that school committee budget decisions "will involve new or expanded programs that represent policy, new positions and job descriptions, or matters that could impact collective bargaining." Koocher noted that examples of ways new funds might be spent include extended learning time, common planning time for teachers, social-emotional or physical health services, hiring of personnel, early education/Pre-K, workforce diversification, curriculum alignment, and college/career readiness initiatives.

The additional district K-12 funds are a result of the Student Opportunity Act signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker on Nov. 26, 2019. It has been projected that by fiscal year 2027 a total of $1.5 billion in new monies (above inflation) will be distributed across the Commonwealth to help close achievement gaps, with the neediest districts targeted to receive the most funding. Need will be based on such factors as student poverty levels, economic risk and percentage of English Language Learners, according to MASC.

Koocher explained that Student Opportunity Act provides for not only new/increased Chapter 70 funds, "but also additional reimbursements from the Special Education Circuit Breaker (including transportation costs), Charter School Mitigation, and transportation that will be phased in over the next few years."