Amendment #65 to H4200

Chapter 70 Target Share Equity

Representatives Walsh of Framingham, Sannicandro of Ashland and Gentile of Sudbury move to amend the bill in Section 3 by adding the following section:

XXXX-XXXX For a reserve to: (i) provide extraordinary relief to school districts experiencing substantial shortfalls between chapter 70 aid and target chapter 70 aid in section 3 of this Act; provided, that districts eligible for funding under clause (i) shall fall below their target chapter 70 aid by more than $1,250,000 and their target chapter 70 aid percentage by more than 2 percentage points, as set forth in said section 3; provided further, that funds distributed from this item, under clause (i), shall be considered prior year chapter 70 aid for fiscal year 2017; and (ii) to mitigate costs for districts experiencing significant and sustained student enrollment growth; provided further, that districts eligible for funding under clause (ii) shall have experienced, between October 2012 and October 2014, two consecutive years of positive enrollment growth averaging 300 additional students per year and 2 per cent yearly growth in enrollment, while receiving less than $8,750 per student in chapter 70 aid under said section 3;  provided further, that funds distributed from this item, under clause (ii), shall not be considered prior year aid and the funds shall not be used in the calculation of the minimum required local contribution for fiscal year 2016; provided further, that not less than $1,000,000 shall be expended for the purposes of clause (i); provided further, that not less than $1,000,000 shall be expended for the purposes of clause (ii); provided further, that only municipalities with target local shares less than 82.5 per cent in said section 3 shall be eligible for funding from this item; and provided further, that the department shall make at least 80 per cent of the total funds available for awards on or before October 15, 2015............$2,000,000