I’m looking for input on Senate Resolution 772 which would respond to the Citizens United case which removed limits on corporate spending to influence elections.
Author Archives: Will Brownsberger
Thousand Home Challenge
In 2010, we did a deep energy retrofit on our home in Belmont. We tracked energy use in 2011 and found that we were 85% below the New England per person average. In so doing, we helped meet the “Thousand Home Challenge.” Check out the Thousand Home Challenge website and read about the challenge and …
Basing Aid on the 2006 Reform
The 2006 education aid reform was designed to allocate aid based on a better model of community ability to pay. It was intended that the new model would be phased in over 5 years. Since 2009 (Fiscal 2010), as a response to the financial crunch, we have made formula modifications that have tended to preserve …
The 2006 Education Aid Reform
Starting in Fiscal 2002, the state moved away from reliance on the statutory Chapter 70 formula, distributing education aid based on annually changing formulas written into outside Section 3 of the annual general appropriations act. It was increasingly recognized that, although Chapter 70 had been fairly successful in reducing disparities in education spending, it was …
Education Aid in the Financial Crunch
During the financial crunch, the state abandoned some formula elements that were designed to better match aid to community ability to pay. The result over the past four years has been an erratic pattern of aid increases which does not treat communities of similar wealth in similar ways. An additional feature of the erratic pattern …
What’s wrong with Chapter 70?
The three pages linked to at the bottom of this page explore the implementation of the education aid reforms of 2006 through the financial crunch and consider alternative implementations for FY2013 and beyond. Education aid was formerly distributed to communities pursuant to Chapter 70 of the General Laws and “Chapter 70” is still shorthand for …