Page 16 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE–Wednesday, November 27, 2019 MCGONAGLE | FROM PAGE 7 Chair Peisch for her leadership on this legislation, and Chair Lewis for his hard work, and the conference committee especially Representatives Tucker and Ferguson. This was a collaboration among the House and the Senate, and I appreciate Senate President Spilka’s partnership as we make this historic investment.” The Student Opportunity Act fully implements the recommendations of the 2015 Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) in order to support the “educational programs and services necessary to achieve the Commonwealth’s educational goals” as stated in the Commission’s mission. The bill provides an estimated $1.4 billion in new Chapter 70 aid over and above inflation when fully implemented over the next seven years. The bill modernizes the K-12 education funding and policy landscape in four areas: • Estimates school districts’ employee and retiree health care costs using up to date health insurance trend data collected by the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC). • Increases special education enrollment and cost assumptions to more accurately reflect district enrollment. • Increases funding for English learners (EL) and differentiates funding by grade level to reflect the greater resources required to educate our older EL students. • Addresses the needs of districts educating high concentrations of low-income students by providing additional funding based on the share of low-income students in each district; districts educating the largest percentage of low-income students will receive an additional increment equal to 100 percent of the base foundation; and returning the definition of low-income to 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, as opposed to the 133 percent level used in recent years. In addition to implementing the FBRC’s recommended formula changes, the Student Opportunity Act provides an additional $100 million in state financial support in several categories to help public schools and communities deliver a high-quality education to every student. Those fiscal supports include: • Increasing foundation rates for guidance and psychological services in recognition of the growing need for expanded social-emotional support and mental health services; • Committing to fully funding charter school tuition reimbursement, which provides transitional aid to help districts when students leave to attend charter schools, within a three-year timetable; MCGONAGLE | SEE PAGE 17
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