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Chapter 70, the primary Massachusetts state aid program for public elementary and secondary schools, is supposedly designed to ensure equitable education funding across all districts. But the formula that allocates these funds can be unintelligible to the average person. When I first heard it casually referenced in a Regional School Committee (RSC) meeting, my brain instantly shut down.
The Amherst and Regional School Committees, the Amherst Town Counciland the Select Boards of the other towns in the region (Leverett, Pelham, and Shutesbury) are now sitting down to plan their budgets for FY 27. Those budgets depend on state aid, or Chapter 70 funding. This state aid accounted for $10,072,811 of the FY26 budget, with $4,169,898 in Foundation Aid (the state’s calculation of adequate funding for a district) and $5,902,918 in Hold Harmless funds (state funding that ensures school districts receive at least the same amount of state aid as in previous years, even if student enrollment declines), according to a Report by the district’s Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee in September of 2025. It is essential that residents of Amherst and surrounding towns understand how state aid to schools works in order to understand the budget process.
In this column I will not only try to explain the complex workings of Chapter 70 and its intentions, but also to convince you that learning the basics is the first step to advocating for more appropriate public school funding in the state, especially for rural areas like Amherst.
MassBudget Reference:
The current funding formula was introduced in the Education Reform Act of 1993 in response to lack of state financial support across the Commonwealth, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
