Sudbury Schools May Only See 2 Percent Bump In State Aid

SUDBURY, MA — Sudbury is on track to receive about $5 million this fiscal year under the state's new education funding formula, up just 2 percent from this year, according to preliminary estimates released recently by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed the Student Opportunity Act in November. The new law increases state aid for public schools in Massachusetts by $1.5 billion over seven years. Aimed at closing the so-called "opportunity gap," the law increases state funding for school districts serving higher proportions of students from low-income families.

The bill also revamped the formula the state uses to determine how much local governments need to contribute to public education spending to qualify for state funding, known as Chapter 70 Aid.

Under the new formula, Sudbury would need to contribute at least $22.2 million to education in Fiscal Year 2021, up from $21.3 million this fiscal year.

The final state education funding numbers will be finalized when the legislature completes the state budget.

Sudbury's proposed fiscal 2021 budget is $39.5 million, up by about $1 million from fiscal 2020. The district is projecting the budget will grow by about $1.3 million each year for the next three fiscal years from 2022 to 2024.

Patch editor Dave Copeland contributed to this report.