Hundreds gathered in Chicopee Saturday, demanding the state fund public schools the nearly one billion dollars they are underfunded.
Western Massachusetts school officials are blaming that situation on the state’s antiquated foundation budget, which hasn’t been updated in more than two decades.
The term “foundation budget” refers to the state education funding system, which basically works in the following way: it identifies the cost of education, for each child in the district, calculates how much the community can contribute, and then makes up the difference.
Bellamy Middle School Reach teacher Beth Coyle said, “I think in some ways its actually gotten worse.”
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