Springfield Fund Our Future Resolution
WHEREAS, free public schools available to all students without exception are foundational to our democracy and are required by the state constitution; and
WHEREAS, all of our students, no matter where they live, deserve high-quality public schools that teach the whole child and provide them with a rich school experience that addresses their academic, social and emotional needs;
WHEREAS, the state’s foundation budget formula, which determines state aid to each district, has been woefully out of date for years, thereby underfunding our districts by more than $1 billion a year for essential educational services; and
WHEREAS, an updated foundation budget formula would bring Springfield Public Schools up to $94 million in additional state aid each year, allowing this district to provide all students with the education to which they are entitled as residents of the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature failed to pass any foundation budget legislation in the last session, leaving districts, educators and students to teach and learn yet another year without the funds needed to provide the kind of education they believe in;
THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Springfield School Committee endorses legislation to fully fund a new foundation budget formula to support public education pre-K through higher education to be passed before the end of the school year.
