This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Finance Chairman Says Lobby Legislators For More Education Funding

The town Finance Committee chairman spoke at Wednesday's School Committee meeting.

 

Finance Committee Chairman Michael McClung asked the community for help in lobbying state legislators to raise the commonwealth's annual contribution to to the mandated 17.5 percent.

At stake is about $800,000 per year, he said at Wednesday's School Committee meeting.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 McClung told the committee that his committee had met with its counterparts from Saugus and Nahant and with state Sen. Tom McGee, D-Lynn, state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, and Rep. Steven Walsh, D-Lynn, to discuss how to persuade the state legislature to treat Swampscott and other towns and cities fairly in education funding.

McClung said Swampscott is funded from the state at slightly more than 13 percent of its budget, well below the 17.5 percent required by a legislative agreement.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He estimated that the state has short-changed the district by $800,000 this year and $4.6 million over the last six years.

Out of 374 school districts in the state, Swampscott is 24 from the lowest funded. Its 2,149 students are funded at $1,193 per year by the state. Nahant students are funded at $1,231; Saugus students at $1,378 per year.

Marblehead, which has expressed some interest in joining in its neighbors' fight for more revenue, ranks 54th among the towns and cities in funding. Its students are funded at $1,405 per year.

School Committee Chairman Jacqueline Kinney said, “It comes down to a fairness issue.”

An argument for keeping the funding levels as they are has been that affluent districts like Swampscott should not take money away from less affluent districts.

McClung said he was skeptical about that argument since several other similar communities to Swampscott are receiving higher funding.

“It is difficult to explain why Lynnfield gets more than $1 million in state funding than we do,” McClung said.

Each of Lynnfield's 2,231 students get $1,703 from the state. The Lynnfield district receives $3,799,686 from the state, as compared to Swampscott's $2,564,463.

State Rep. Lori Ehrlich has introduced a bill to equalize the education funding. McClung urged the school committee to work with other school committees 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?