BOSTON (AP) - The Massachusetts Senate has voted unanimously to approve a bill updating the state’s 25-year-old education funding formula.
The Senate adopted the recommendations of a committee which found the state’s foundation budget formula is drastically underestimating education costs. Critics say that has forced cuts to classrooms and programs.
Democratic Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, co-chair of the Legislature’s education committee, said Thursday that for years, schools have been suffering what she called “death by a thousand paper cuts.”
Established by the 1993 Education Reform Act, the foundation budget was designed to ensure every Massachusetts student was provided a quality education.
Critics have long argued that the formula has failed to keep up with rising costs like health care and special education.
The bill now heads to the Massachusetts House.
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