Every tax is a pay cut.  Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Massachusetts Association of School Committees Monday, November 10, 2003
   
The resolution will be voted on at the upcoming Mass Assoc of School
Committee Conference this week.  To my knowledge, the Framignham SC supports
all the resolutions, including this one.

RESOLUTION 1 School and Municipal Finance
Sponsored by the Arlington School Committee
WHEREAS the state has cut Chapter 70 aid for most MA municipalities for FY04,
        and

WHEREAS the state has reduced other grants and funding for MA public schools,
        and

WHEREAS municipalities are constrained on methods to raise revenues, and

WHEREAS the property tax levy is constrained under Proposition 21/2, and

WHEREAS the costs of maintaining level services often exceeds the funds
        available under the constraints of the Proposition 21/2 levy limit, and

WHEREAS the decline in state revenues, increased federal and state mandates,
        and constrained local funding make it difficult to adequately fund
        a public school system, and

WHEREAS the funding of schools is at the discretion of a local appropriating
        authority, and

WHEREAS the state has established an implicit tax rate as a minimum that a
        municipality can afford to contribute as a basis for minimum local
        contributions and state aid allocations, and

WHEREAS 27 school districts received appropriations in Fiscal Year 2002 that
        were below the minimum local contribution established by the Education
        Reform Act,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Massachusetts Association of
School Committees advocates for substantive reforms in the structure of
school and municipal finance, and urges the enactment of appropriate laws
and regulations that may include, but are not necessarily limited to:

- Legislation that would automatically increase the municipal levy limit
  in the amount of any decreases in local aid accounts or increases in minimum
  local aid contribution, provided that amount was appropriated for use in
  the public schools.

- Legislation that would permit the school committee to place a
  Proposition 2 1/2 override on the municipal ballot.

- Legislation that would expand the authority of municipalities to raise
  revenues through means other than the property tax and the vehicle excise tax.

- Legislation that would divert funds from other local aid accounts to
  the Chapter 70 account for municipalities that fail to meet state mandated
  minimum local contributions.
        

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