School Funding Reality: A Bargain Not Kept

Soaring costs for school employee health care coverage have drained school budgets and undermined the historic bargain that was central to education reform in Massachusetts in 1993. These increases have crowded out funding for other portions of the school budget that directly affect students. In consequence, gains made as a result of the state’s increased aid to poorest districts in the early years of reform have largely been nullified in the past decade, and per-pupil spending for students in those districts today stands significantly below spending levels for students in the state’s wealthiest districts.