Betrays Hard Work : HB 616 formula does not take into account special education students or the hard work of teachers, parents and students. This formula punishes school districts that have: Good to high test scores High graduation rates High percentages of students accepted at two and four year colleges

The Issues With House Bill 616 :

• Removes all reference to funding an adequate education – only exception it defines adequate education as simply the amount the state determines to spend on targeted aid grants.
• A sponsor of the HB 616 admitted at the Senate Hearing that the amount of money selected for funding was “arbitrary.”
• Based on the above, it is extremely doubtful that the Court will accept this as a definition for adequate education, thus rendering HB 616 unconstitutional.
• If a district’s test scores, graduation rates and percentage of students going to post-secondary institutions are low, you get more money.  If you then use that money to improve the above, you lose that money in subsequent years – thus making it more difficult or impossible to sustain that improvement.
• The formula does not take into account special education students.  Thus, if you develop “in-house programs” for students and save the state money on catastrophic aid, you get punished.  The federal government has and continues to under fund special education.  The formula compounds that impact by not taking into account special education students.
• The formula compounds the impact of income by using median family income, free and reduced lunch counts and ESL students – thus loading a property tax based on redundant income indicators.
• The formula does not take into account income based on a per student ratio – thus skewing the income figure and penalizing communities that are “kid rich.”
• The formula does not take into account the difference in the cost of living between and among different parts of the state.

• Many individuals in the Southern Tier work in Massachusetts and are required to pay Massachusetts income tax.
• The sponsors claim that HB 616 is about equality and accountability.  It is neither.  It is a policy designed and funded to promote mediocrity and reduce state support for education.  The proponents keep on saying don’t look at the spreadsheets, but the spreadsheets are the fiscal picture and engine for its implementation!  How can districts who will see over $5.00 per thousand tax increases sustain existing programs?
• An adequate education funding bill means fair for all.  A child in the Southern Tier should be valued the same as a child in any other part of the state.
• This bill (HB 616) is inadequate and based on faulty constructs to prove a made up and false conclusion.