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October 17, 2006...Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) today delivered some welcome news to the students, teacher and staff of the Blackstone Millville Regional School District and to the towns of Douglas and Northbridge. Each will receive supplemental education aid from the Massachusetts Department of Education. The funds, $147,000 to Blackstone-Millville, $28,000 to Douglas, and $77,000 to Northbridge are from the state’s Foundation Reserve Account. Commonly known as the “Pothole Program,” they are awarded to help the school district and towns with a variety of unexpected and extraordinary education expenses.
“Pothole funding is one of the many ways we must continue to support our schools and municipalities,” said Moore. “Though this year the Legislature added well over $200 million in general Chapter 70 money, we must also be able to help schools with the unexpected expenses that this general aid might not cover”.
The foundation reserve program was established by the Legislature in 1995 to supplement Chapter 70 Local Aid funding and to assist school in meeting extraordinary and unanticipated costs. For fiscal year 2007, the Legislature overrode a Governor Romney veto to appropriate $4,500,000 for the program.
Applications were evaluated in ten separate categories ranging from “extraordinary increases in required local contributions” to “assistance for regional school districts with five consecutive years of enrollment decline and increased transportation costs.
“All the recipients deserve a lot of credit,” said Moore. “They saw an opportunity for funding and were able to overcome a very competitive field to receive these grants.”
For more information on the Foundation Reserve Program, visit the Massachusetts Department of Education’s School Finance website at http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/
For more information on Senator Moore and his wok in the State Senate, visit his official policy website at http://www.senatormoore.com/
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