he Massachusetts Senate on Thursday passed a bill updating the funding formula used to calculate public education costs.
If fully implemented, the updated formula would cost more than $1 billion above the state’s current education spending each year. The Senate bill would not set aside any money, but, if signed into law, would set the policy and leave it up to the Legislature each year to decide how much to appropriate.
“So many people tell us our system is groaning under the weight of being old and lack of investment, we’re about to lose our edge as a state, as a producer of a talented workforce,” Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Boston, said in an interview. “With so many people living in a state of real death by 1,000 paper cuts for so long, it’s important we act with urgency before the end of the session.”