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While it won’t plug a looming revenue shortfall, Haverhill could receive $5.3 million more in state education aid over last year if the House Ways and Means Committee gets its way.
The House last week proposed a formula that would give Haverhill $88 million in so-called Chapter 70 aid compared with $82.6 million in the current year. The amount is also $131,664 more than Gov. Maura T. Healey proposed in her draft budget.
“Changing our state education formula when I joined the House in 2017 was my top priority,” said Rep. Andy X. Vargas in response to questions from WHAV. “Passing the Student Opportunity Act was a herculean effort by many. It resulted in a much more favorable and equitable formula for gateway cities like Haverhill. While not perfect, it has resulted in millions more in education funding to Haverhill that we should be proud of.”
Much of Haverhill’s gain between Healey’s and the House’s numbers is attributed to a Student Opportunity Act provision that allows communities to document students the state overlooked that qualify as low income under the 185% federal poverty level standard.
According to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Supplemental Low-Income Data Collection was “created the to give school districts and charter schools the opportunity to claim the relatively small number of students who qualify as low income” not caught by a state review of databases.
Vargas said since the 2017 budget year, Haverhill has received 77% more than the $49.6 million in education aid it received then. “There’s more work to do, particularly in this challenging fiscal environment. I look forward to continuing to advocate for every dollar necessary to provide a quality public education in Haverhill,” he added.
Haverhill School Committee Vice Chairman Paul A. Magliocchetti and member Thomas Grannemann recently met with Vargas and other legislators on Beacon Hill to argue for more state aid. Grannemann maintains that if inflation had been accurately calculated, Haverhill should have received around $19.2 million more during the last two years.
Lawrence, Methuen, Greater Lawrence Technical School and Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School are also projected to benefit from recalculations of low-income families.