Editorial: School funding formula a clear and present danger for Malden and its financial future

There was a popular series of Harrison Ford-starring films in the late 1980s–early 1990s featuring the spy thriller character Jack Ryan. “Patriot Games” and “Hunt for Red October” preceded a third movie – “Clear and Present Danger,” in 1994, about busting up Colombian drug cartels.

The age-old maxim goes like this: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What if we are talking about the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Chapter 70? What if it is “broke” and we can’t fix it?

Does all of this mean we are looking at a scenario where the City of Malden could be looking at going broke – to coin a phrase – straight in the eye? Talk about a “clear and present danger.”

The status of school funding, including discussions of the “hows,” “whys” and “whens,” spins around the financial roulette wheel and, eventually, all finish up in the same slot – that would be “HOW MUCH?” “How much” as in, what will the state be providing to Malden in funding assistance to educate our public school students – this year and in the future? The recurring answer appears to be a broken record – “not nearly enough.”

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Chapter 70 formula, which determines how much money the state is going to provide to the cities and towns, has become a prime topic of discussion for as many years as we can remember around municipal budget time. This prime discussion does not dominate budget planning sessions only here in Malden, but in every community throughout the state.

Malden’s state Sen. Jason Lewis (D-5th Middlesex) said the very same last week when he and the Malden state delegation gave an extremely detailed and complete presentation on the status and content of Chapter 70 school funding at the Malden City Council meeting. “The surprise, the shock [over Chapter 70 funding] is taking place across the state, including other communities I represent,” said Lewis, whose 5th Middlesex includes Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield and part of Winchester.

At the April 9 meeting, to use baseball parlance, as City Council President Stephen Winslow did on a couple of occasions at last Tuesday’s meeting, the state delegation, led by Sen. Lewis, covered all the bases. The picture they painted was far from rosy. At times, it teetered on grim. Malden’s increase in its Chapter 70 funding from the state for this year’s FY2025 school budget – from FY2024 – is a far from whopping $681,000, or about 1.3%. The state’s Chapter 70 funding in all is some $63 million. In the grand scheme of the soon-to-be-finalized Malden Public Schools budget, $681K pays for about six teachers’ salaries in a district where the average teacher’s annual paycheck is approximately $91,000.

On the other end of this is that the state is calling for the City of Malden to increase its share of funding for the FY2025 school budget by approximately $3 million. This is no shocker for Malden City Councillors. The state’s school funding formula has been pointed to as a cause for concern for years, now, by every elected official in this city as well as by the city’s point man for “all things dollars,” Chief Municipal Strategic Planner Ron Hogan.

Ward 4 Councillor Ryan O’Malley was quite succinct with his analysis of the projected $3 million-plus, state-mandated, expected increase in city contribution each year for the school budget: “That $3 million will ruin our community.”

Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, in similar terms, opined, “The [Chapter 70] formula is broken for Malden.

Hopefully, there’s a moonshot in the works that will help us.

“Ron Hogan gave us a clear picture 2 1/2 years ago of this demise and we have been talking about it ever since. The formula is a function of residents’ income and assessed [property] tax. The more residential [development] that comes to us, it hurts us with this formula,” Spadafora said. “It’s math, it’s not policy. I f we don’t fix it? It scares me. It’s frightening. We are looking at other issues on top of [education costs]. Health insurance costs are way up, too.”

At one point Sen. Lewis did note that “it is important to acknowledge that the city’s tax rates are far lower than comparable communities, where the tax burden is higher…much higher.”

To that point Councillor-at-Large Carey McDonald said, “We are all committed to funding our school budget. We’re all trying to head to the same place.”

“Maybe Malden should raise their taxes? Have a Proposition 2 1/2 override? Only two communities ever have been successful doing that – Newton and Winchester,” McDonald said.

McDonald, Spadafora and O’Malley – correctly – all stated that it is not happening here, an override. Also, no one is voting to raise the parking meter rates in Malden Square from $1 an hour to $5 an hour anytime soon to pay our bills.

The state delegation pledged to help this city as best it can and outline some strategies they will pursue. Hopefully, some more money will come Malden’s way from the state. Whatever may come to pass, the danger signs have long been foretold, and they will be remaining clear and present.