North Attleborough School Committee motion to object to town’s handling of Chapter 70 funds fails

At a recent North Attleborough School Committee meeting, members debated whether the town is misinterpreting and reassigning parts of the state Chapter 70 education allotment and a motion to register a formal objection failed in a symbolic vote.

Committee members said the town has retained Chapter 70-related dollars that the schools expected to flow to operating budgets. "In since 2019 after the override ... the town has received $911,246 in chapter 70 funds that we have not seen as the schools," Speaker 1, a member of the North Attleborough School Committee, said. Speaker 1 said that, in their view, the town has treated Chapter 70 as a slice of a larger pie and redirected some of those funds into capital or other town accounts rather than expanding school operating budgets.

The issue arose during discussion of the school budget request. "Wouldn't that be a violation of chapter 70 funds as they are given to towns,…