Legislative Alert: FBRC Implementation

At the 2016 Delegate Assembly, MASC once again called for implementation of the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission. Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, who jointly chaired the Commission, filed a bill in this session, SD1905 - An Act Modernizing the Foundation Budget for the 21st Century which would implement the recommendations with a multi-year phase-in.

Highlights of the proposed legislation include:

• A more realistic accounting of districts’ health care costs so as to more accurately determine insurance costs and inflation rates.
• An upward adjustment of assumed sped enrollments in-district and an increase in the out-of-district cost rate.
• Modernizing the ELL and low-income components to provide critical services to students and families and factoring in the increased costs borne by districts with high concentrations of poverty.
• Support new strategies to improve use of school data to better guide policy decisions.

The summary of the bill is available here. We urge our members to review the summary and bill and advise their legislators of the urgent need to implement the FBRC recommendations. We've developed a simple, quick way for members to show their support - get started here.

We would also recommend members consider attending the MASC Day on the Hill legislative advocacy event on April 25 in Boston to learn more about the legislation and meet with your elected officials to show your support.