rural school aid

Commission wants $60M for rural school districts

Posted on Monday, July 18th, 2022 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Matt Martinez, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 7/12/2022
Link: Complete Article

A state commission called Tuesday for a major funding increase of at least $60 million for rural school districts, money its members say is needed to address issues with transportation, declining enrollment, and costs related to school choice and special education. The recommendation, adopted at the Special Commission on Rural School Districts’ final meeting, would… [Read More]

Driving Through Mud: How Rural Mass. Schools Are Coping With Rising Transportation Costs

Posted on Friday, April 12th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Carrie Jung, WBUR
Date: 3/12/2019
Link: Complete Article

It’s hard for rural schools in Massachusetts to get kids to and from class every day — especially now, in muddy season, when the snow has melted and the rain begins. “This is mud and ruts and a mess,” says bus driver Joanne Deady as she points to the narrow, unpaved road on her route… [Read More]

Students to ask state for more education funds

Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Grace Bird, Max Marcus, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 2/11/2019
Link: Complete Article

Students and educators from seven Pioneer Valley school districts are going to Boston on Feb. 28 to ask state lawmakers to increase funding for rural schools. The students were supposed to go this week, but the trip was postponed due to inclement weather. The group has one main request: that legislators add a “rurality factor” to… [Read More]

Rural School Aid awarded to local districts

Posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2018 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Diane Broncaccio, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 11/6/2018
Link: Complete Article

DALTON – State Sen. Adam G. Hinds and state education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley announced that 33 rural school districts will receive part of a new $1.5 million appropriation to help cash-strapped rural schools in sparsely populated communities. In Franklin County, the largest aid sums went to Ralph C. Mahar, Mohawk Trail and Pioneer Valley regional school… [Read More]

Rural School Aid in State Budget

Posted on Friday, July 27th, 2018 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Bob Salsbert and Steve LeBlanc, Greenfield Recorder/Associated Press
Date: July 26, 2018
Link: Complete Article

BOSTON — Massachusetts’ new budget includes $1.5 million for a new “rural school aid” account championed by Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield. Nearly one month into the state’s new fiscal year, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed the $42 billion spending package into law Thursday, ending the state’s status as the only one in the nation without… [Read More]

State Senate OKs rural school aid for county districts

Posted on Friday, May 25th, 2018 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Diane Broncaccio, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 5/24/2018
Link: Complete Article

After years of state, school and town officials beating the drum for rural school aid, rural districts, including Mohawk, Frontier, Pioneer Valley, and the 19 member-town Franklin County Technical School District, could see $100 per student in rural school aid from the state. Sen. Adam G. Hinds, D-Pittsfield, said Wednesday that the state Senate adopted… [Read More]

Urban legislators don’t get the struggle to fund large, rural bus routes

Posted on Thursday, July 13th, 2017 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Greenfield Recorder Editorial Staff, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 7/13/2017
Link: Complete Article

Maybe someone should arrange a school bus ride across the 530 road miles of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District for state legislators from those geographically tiny Boston metro cities and towns. Seriously. How else will the majority of state lawmakers, who hail from urban areas, truly understand the scale of the fiscal problem districts… [Read More]

Mohawk supt. seeks ‘rural school aid’

Posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2016 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Diane Broncaccio, The Recorder
Date: 8/9/2016
Link: Complete Article

BUCKLAND, MA — Saying that 50 school districts and about 100 rural towns “will soon face the equivalent of bankruptcy,” Mohawk Trail Regional School Superintendent Michael Buoniconti has drafted a proposal to establish rural school aid as part of the state’s Chapter 70 educational aid formula. Part of the plan is to support state legislation… [Read More]