Town officials question equity of funding formula
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - Some town officials have questioned if a recent change to Chapter 70 school funding has left Shrewsbury unfairly underfunded.

It's estimated that Shrewsbury's Chapter 70 aid will increase by 7.6 percent to $18.87 million for fiscal year (FY) 2009. The school department has requested a FY 2009 budget of $46.82 million, reflecting a 9.7 percent increase over FY 2008.

The current formula, presented by Department of Education Administrator Roger Hatch, is heavily influenced by the growth a community experiences in enrollment.

As Shrewsbury's enrollment slows down, so does the amount of money the town receives from the state, something Selectman John Lebeaux said fails to follow through with funding for students who entered the district during its high growth years.

"We appreciate the fact there was recognition of the growth in our community, but I'm suggesting we may be the poster child for a post-increased growth community and there may be some recognition built in for those types of communities," Lebeaux said.

Hatch said because the state applies the same percentages to each city and town's total income and property value to determine their funding level, the formula is as fair as possible.

However Town Manager Daniel Morgado said he doesn't believe fair and equitable go hand in hand.

"If you have a higher commercial industrial property [CIP] mix, your cost to provide services is much less than a town that has low CIP," Morgado said. "With 12 percent CIP, the service demands of $5 billion in property value is much higher in Shrewsbury than in a community with 40 percent CIP, and it's very unfair for that $5 billion to be looked upon with the same formula."

Officials said they also believe the formula, which funds Special Education at a flat enrollment of 3.75 percent of school population as compared to Shrewsbury's 17 percent requiring those services, falls short of providing adequate funding for these students.

Hatch said a set percentage was implemented to deter districts from classifying students as Special Education unnecessarily to increase funding.

The funding formula was also criticized by members of the Finance Committee, who are faced with the task of creating a balanced budget for FY 2009 with limited outside resources.