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Rural school leaders urge board to fix Chapter 70 and provide direct aid
Summary
Leaders from rural districts told the board that Chapter 70 calculations assume larger districts and leave small towns without economies of scale; they asked for direct rural aid, technical assistance and regulatory flexibility.
Rural school officials told the board that Massachusetts’ Chapter 70 funding formula disadvantages small and geographically large districts and urged immediate steps to stabilize operations.
Jessica Corwin, a member of the Sunderland and Frontier Regional School Committees and co-chair of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees’ Rural Schools Committee, said small districts cannot realize economies of scale and face a ‘‘death spiral’’ when enrollment and local capacity shrink. Corwin asked the board to advocate with the governor and legislature for direct rural aid and practical technical assistance.
Martha Thurber, chair of the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee, described districts that serve very few students across large territories and said Chapter 70 provides only about 22% of her district’s budget. Thurber urged the board to stop what she called finger-pointing among state actors and to propose tangible options — including direct rural aid and regulatory flexibility — that reflect rural costs and transportation burdens.
Both speakers said a commission or legislative action is needed to recognize the unique fiscal challenges rural districts face and to provide the state-level technical assistance and incentives required for long-term survival.
Board members acknowledged the long-standing nature of Chapter 70 concerns and asked staff to bring more detailed options and technical-assistance descriptions to future board discussions.
