Of all of the services that cities and towns provide, education is the one that is most commonly seen as a local issue.  Many view local administration of schools as the essence of a community, creating potential local resistance to efforts to regionalize schools. Massachusetts has a history of locally controlled school districts and currently there are 327 school districts for the Commonwealth’s 351 cities and towns.   

Education is primarily funded on the local level by property tax receipts.  This can provide disincentives for communities with differing abilities raise local funds to work together.  Additionally, Massachusetts’ system for funding education creates barriers for regionalization efforts. When considering regionalization of schools many factors must be taken into consideration including student outcomes, geography, and the culture of the communities.

Nonetheless, regionalizing school districts or sharing school services has the potential to expand central office capacity to support instruction, to increase academic opportunities and program choice for students and parents, and to lower operating and administrative costs through economies of scale.  Analysis by the Executive Office of Education found that larger districts spend a smaller percentage of their budgets on administrative costs and spend a greater percentage of their budgets on teacher salaries and benefits.   

Regionalization of schools can take many forms, including shared services and joint-purchasing.  For example, through the Readiness Project, Governor Patrick proposes regional Readiness Centers, that would be multi-purpose, collaborative hubs for content and professional development as well as school improvement.  Additionally, the Readiness Project calls for providing incentives for regional purchasing and service delivery partnerships though out the educational system.  The Project suggests beginning this initiative with the passage of legislation to provide full funding for districts that participate in regional partnerships for procurement of transportation for special education students.  Promoting creative means of collaboration across regions must be an essential element of any effort towards regionalization.

22.a    The Commonwealth should continue and expand funding for grant programs encouraging regionalization of school services.   

22.b    The Legislature should pass legislation that would direct the Board of Education to develop a method to include regional school transportation funds in the Chapter 70 formula, and to file legislation to update Chapter 70 accordingly.

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