Mass. educators and municipal leaders urge legislature to fix Chapter 70 inflation cap to avoid more school cuts

At a public hearing before the Joint Committee on Education, state and local school leaders, teachers and municipal officials pressed lawmakers to correct the Chapter 70 foundation budget’s inflation adjustment, saying a technical cap on annual increases has left many districts facing layoffs, larger classes and cuts to student services.

Supporters described the proposal variously as removing “an arbitrary cap” and restoring funding that was intended by the Student Opportunity Act. They urged the committee to report bills favorably that would either eliminate the 4.5% cap going forward or require the state to make up the shortfall created when inflation exceeded the cap.

Why it matters: witnesses said the cap erased gains provided by the Student Opportunity Act and created an ongoing, compounded funding shortfall for hundreds of districts. “The inflation cap cut these investments off at the knees,” Chelsea School Committee member Sarah Neville told the committee, saying Chelsea has lost roughly $7 million a year and about $1,200 per pupil because of the gap.

Advocates from large urban districts and small regional and rural districts gave similar testimony about consequences. Brad Duncan of AFT Massachusetts said the nation’s highest‑need districts are “struggling to sustain the environment that our students need to learn and thrive.” Colin Jones of MassBudget told lawmakers that making up the missing inflation adjustment would amount to roughly $465,000,000 per year statewide in his organization’s simulation.

Local impact examples cited at the hearing included a Bridgewater official who said class sizes are rising and staff layoffs have occurred; a North Middlesex superintendent who described 40 full‑time position reductions over two years; and multiple regional and rural committee members who warned they have no room left to cut without destabilizing towns’ budgets and core services.

Several speakers pressed for immediate fixes and for a parallel study of the broader funding formula. “This work must start, and it must start now,” Groton‑Dunstable School Committee chair Lacey McCabe told the committee, describing multiple years of layoffs and the prospect of more cuts unless the formula is corrected.

What advocates asked lawmakers to do: a range of bills were cited in testimony, including language to (1) eliminate the 4.5% inflation cap going forward, (2) require the state to restore funding lost during the high‑inflation years over a multiyear period, and (3) create a commission to study the adequacy and equity of the Chapter 70 formula and the municipal contribution calculation.

Discussion vs. action: testimony at the hearing was advisory; no formal vote was taken. Multiple speakers asked the committee to “report favorably” on bills including H.678 / S.388, S.345 and S.400 so the full Legislature can consider remedy language and funding offsets.

Voices at the hearing: union leaders and school committee members emphasized that the problem is statewide. Johnny McGinnis, political director for the Boston Teachers Union, said Boston needs sustainable funding for charter and transportation reimbursements and for large capital projects such as vocational school renovation. Superintendent Brad Morgan of North Middlesex described cuts that would push class sizes toward 40 if further reductions are required.

Lawmakers and local officials at the hearing repeatedly noted that fixing the inflation adjustment alone will interact with the formula’s local contribution calculation; several witnesses and legislators said any statutory change should be accompanied by a comprehensive review of municipal shares and the foundation budget’s components.

Background and next steps: the Student Opportunity Act fundamentally reformed Chapter 70 funding in 2019. Witnesses said the technical design of the inflation adjustment — including the 4.5% cap — has produced an unintended, ongoing shortfall after two years of historically high inflation. Advocates recommended a two‑track approach: (1) immediate legislative fixes to make districts whole for the past high‑inflation years and (2) a commission or statute to modernize the formula so the state and towns can predict and budget for future needs.

Ending note: speakers from gateway cities, rural regional districts and major urban systems framed the problem as systemwide and solvable only through state action. “The resources exist in the Commonwealth to solve the problems you just heard about,” said one union representative. The committee did not take public action at the hearing; sponsors asked members to move related bills to subsequent legislative stages so fixes can be considered during the current budget cycle.