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State lawmakers brief North Reading committee on budget outlook and push for chapter 70 reform
Summary
Representative Jones and Senator Tar told the North Reading School Committee the commonwealth’s House 2 budget proposes modest per-pupil increases but includes likely reimbursement for special-education circuit breaker; they urged local coalition-building to press for structural reform of the chapter 70 funding formula.
Representative Jones and Senator Tar told the North Reading School Committee on April 13 that work on the state’s fiscal 2027 budget is underway and that local advocacy will be crucial to winning lasting changes to the school funding formula known as chapter 70. "We are running currently about $650 million above benchmark for the year," Representative Jones said, noting March revenue moves were favorable but April collections remained a key variable.
Jones and Tar said the governor’s House 2 proposal includes a $75 per-pupil minimum-aid figure and that they expect reconciliation to include money to reimburse circuit breaker special-education costs at the full statutory rate. "One thing that's important about that is money to make sure that we reimburse at the full statutory rate for circuit breaker," Jones said, adding that both chambers will need to reconcile competing priorities.
Both legislators urged the committee and community advocates to organize beyond town lines. They recommended working with statewide groups — including the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and municipal organizations — and encouraged personalized, regionally coordinated outreach to the House Ways and Means chair. "Trying to connect with like-minded folks on school committees in the region and across the state is really important," Tar said, stressing that common themes and personal stories make advocacy persuasive.
Committee members raised local concerns tied to chapter 70: the formula’s treatment of commercial tax base, housing affordability, and the growing reliance on user fees when minimum per-pupil aid is low. Jones said the student opportunity act’s phase-in and a newly required periodic foundation budget review create momentum for revisiting chapter 70; he also noted state-level reviews of the local-contribution component are underway.
The legislators stopped short of promising a specific final per-pupil amount but said they expected improvements from current House and Senate positions once reconciliation occurs. They offered to help produce a one-page explainer for local use and suggested the committee coordinate regional meetings with Ways and Means to present targeted amendment requests. The session closed with an admonition from both sides: local, sustained, personalized advocacy matters when pressing for structural funding changes.
