Mayor to push for $35M in proposals to boost city schools

Mayor Martin J. Walsh wants to boost the city’s school funding by $35 million, and is pushing several major legislative proposals that include changing the funding formulas for charter school reimbursements, special needs programs and recapturing more revenues that are produced in Boston.

Walsh announced the legislative package last night at his State of the City address.

“I am committed to working with our partners on Beacon Hill to fix education funding formulas and getting every student on a pathway to success from pre-kindergarten through college and career,” Walsh said in a statement released before last night’s speech.

The legislation came out of Boston Public Schools’ longterm financial plan, released last fall, that proposed 10 “big ideas” for the school district’s budget — including advocating for major changes to the state’s education funding formula. The push for change comes as school costs continue to outpace revenue.

The city spends $1.3 billion a year on the schools, while it spent $154 million last year on charter school assessment. Meanwhile, the state contributes $234 million from Chapter 70 aid, said Chief Financial Officer David Sweeney. Among Walsh’s proposals are: • Let charter schools access funding for construction and renovation through the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which would save districts $35 million each year.

• Replace the charter school reimbursement model with a new three-year transition funding system that would ultimately require the state to pay directly to charter schools.

• Allow districts and charters to split transportation costs equally if busing schedule agreements can’t be reached, while barring charters from passing third-party costs on to districts.

• Improve pre-kindergarten offerings for city 4-year-olds, to be paid for with $16.5 million a year from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority fund.

• Adjust charter school perpupil tuition calculation to reflect full transition costs for students leaving BPS to attend charters.