Gov. Baker offers 7-year, $1 billion education plan

By fiscal 2026, according to the Baker administration, the governor’s plans would increase the total foundation budget by $1.1 billion in today’s dollars, or $3.3 billion after accounting for inflation.
Peyser said the administration believes it can reach that point with existing revenues. He said successful management of spending growth at MassHealth, the state Medicaid program, helped enable new investments in education.
Along with the state funding increases, municipalities would also need to step up their local school funding to reach the higher foundation budget level. Peyser said opting to expand the foundation budget beyond what Baker is proposing could create a situation where communities are faced with a burden they cannot fulfill.
Peyser said city of Lawrence, for example, would get between $9 million and $10 million in additional state aid in the first year of Baker’s reforms and would be required to come up with $1 million and $1.5 million in new local revenues for schools.
Baker’s plan would also give the state education commissioner new authority around underperforming schools, including the ability to withhold some state aid from districts where struggling schools are deemed not to be sufficiently improving and are not taking steps required under their turnaround plan. The funds, which would go into a new trust fund for future use in those districts, could not be withheld from schools or direct student services but could come from central office administration.
Baker’s budget would also create a Public School Regionalization Trust Fund that would provide grants to districts looking to collaborate, merge and share services. The money, Peyser said, would address the squeeze felt particularly by rural schools where declining enrollments can create a budget crisis.
Baker is also proposing to change the way school districts are reimbursed when students who live in their district attend charter schools. His budget seeks to move the formula to a three-year schedule, with 100 percent reimbursement the first year, 60 percent in the second year, and 40 percent in the third year.
Peyser said the current six-year formula has never been fully funded and the administration believes the three year version could be.
There would also be a new minimum reimbursement for communities that spend more than 9 percent of their net school spending on charter tuition payments.