{ "about": "Lunenburg\u2019s net school spending against the minimum Chapter 70 requires, and against every other district in the same year.", "actual": [ { "above_required": 262120, "at_state_median": 6791182, "districts": 368, "fy": 1994, "p25": 1.0, "p75": 1.0434, "rank": 103, "ratio": 1.0392, "required": 6689502, "short_of_median": -160440, "spent": 6951622, "state_median": 1.0152 }, { "above_required": 87065, "at_state_median": 7533736, "districts": 349, "fy": 1995, "p25": 1.0077, "p75": 1.0487, "rank": 238, "ratio": 1.0118, "required": 7381674, "short_of_median": 64997, "spent": 7468739, "state_median": 1.0206 }, { "above_required": 24911, "at_state_median": 8134543, "districts": 354, "fy": 1996, "p25": 1.0132, "p75": 1.1055, "rank": 306, "ratio": 1.0032, "required": 7793201, "short_of_median": 316431, "spent": 7818112, "state_median": 1.0438 }, { "above_required": 993142, "at_state_median": 8400070, "districts": 354, "fy": 1997, "p25": 1.0203, "p75": 1.1264, "rank": 90, "ratio": 1.1252, "required": 7932077, "short_of_median": -525149, "spent": 8925219, "state_median": 1.059 }, { "above_required": 1077556, "at_state_median": 9071057, "districts": 357, "fy": 1998, "p25": 1.0246, "p75": 1.1505, "rank": 110, "ratio": 1.1273, "required": 8463386, "short_of_median": -469885, "spent": 9540942, "state_median": 1.0718 }, { "above_required": 1099357, "at_state_median": 9473597, "districts": 359, "fy": 1999, "p25": 1.0153, "p75": 1.16, "rank": 118, "ratio": 1.1243, "required": 8847214, "short_of_median": -472974, "spent": 9946571, "state_median": 1.0708 }, { "above_required": 971917, "at_state_median": 9967586, "districts": 357, "fy": 2000, "p25": 1.0129, "p75": 1.1415, "rank": 125, "ratio": 1.1039, "required": 9352211, "short_of_median": -356542, "spent": 10324128, "state_median": 1.0658 }, { "above_required": 1131699, "at_state_median": 10660755, "districts": 358, "fy": 2001, "p25": 1.0277, "p75": 1.1527, "rank": 127, "ratio": 1.1144, "required": 9893972, "short_of_median": -364916, "spent": 11025671, "state_median": 1.0775 }, { "above_required": 1154607, "at_state_median": 11811739, "districts": 356, "fy": 2002, "p25": 1.0392, "p75": 1.1859, "rank": 159, "ratio": 1.1069, "required": 10795850, "short_of_median": -138718, "spent": 11950457, "state_median": 1.0941 }, { "above_required": 1540351, "at_state_median": 12188596, "districts": 355, "fy": 2003, "p25": 1.0361, "p75": 1.2034, "rank": 131, "ratio": 1.1382, "required": 11142331, "short_of_median": -494086, "spent": 12682682, "state_median": 1.0939 }, { "above_required": 1056274, "at_state_median": 12878490, "districts": 353, "fy": 2004, "p25": 1.059, "p75": 1.2286, "rank": 221, "ratio": 1.0917, "required": 11521283, "short_of_median": 300933, "spent": 12577557, "state_median": 1.1178 }, { "above_required": 672839, "at_state_median": 13461374, "districts": 363, "fy": 2005, "p25": 1.0706, "p75": 1.2349, "rank": 289, "ratio": 1.057, "required": 11805116, "short_of_median": 983419, "spent": 12477955, "state_median": 1.1403 }, { "above_required": 1666004, "at_state_median": 14213626, "districts": 361, "fy": 2006, "p25": 1.0815, "p75": 1.2788, "rank": 210, "ratio": 1.1353, "required": 12310433, "short_of_median": 237189, "spent": 13976437, "state_median": 1.1546 }, { "above_required": 1768558, "at_state_median": 14845374, "districts": 364, "fy": 2007, "p25": 1.0691, "p75": 1.2809, "rank": 207, "ratio": 1.1382, "required": 12793325, "short_of_median": 283491, "spent": 14561883, "state_median": 1.1604 }, { "above_required": 1703945, "at_state_median": 15410158, "districts": 360, "fy": 2008, "p25": 1.0603, "p75": 1.2988, "rank": 212, "ratio": 1.1291, "required": 13199279, "short_of_median": 506934, "spent": 14903224, "state_median": 1.1675 }, { "above_required": 1450137, "at_state_median": 16271287, "districts": 362, "fy": 2009, "p25": 1.0787, "p75": 1.3293, "rank": 211, "ratio": 1.1465, "required": 13705599, "short_of_median": 1115551, "spent": 15155736, "state_median": 1.1872 }, { "above_required": 1920785, "at_state_median": 15496781, "districts": 368, "fy": 2010, "p25": 1.0336, "p75": 1.3116, "rank": 188, "ratio": 1.1417, "required": 13550875, "short_of_median": 25121, "spent": 15471660, "state_median": 1.1436 }, { "above_required": 2213448, "at_state_median": 15548567, "districts": 327, "fy": 2011, "p25": 1.0662, "p75": 1.3335, "rank": 165, "ratio": 1.166, "required": 13334963, "short_of_median": 156, "spent": 15548411, "state_median": 1.166 }, { "above_required": 2760941, "at_state_median": 15948810, "districts": 365, "fy": 2012, "p25": 1.0598, "p75": 1.3567, "rank": 165, "ratio": 1.2044, "required": 13504496, "short_of_median": -316627, "spent": 16265437, "state_median": 1.181 }, { "above_required": 2549929, "at_state_median": 16825182, "districts": 360, "fy": 2013, "p25": 1.0554, "p75": 1.3534, "rank": 171, "ratio": 1.177, "required": 14408823, "short_of_median": -133569, "spent": 16958752, "state_median": 1.1677 }, { "above_required": 2884212, "at_state_median": 17427633, "districts": 357, "fy": 2014, "p25": 1.0517, "p75": 1.362, "rank": 167, "ratio": 1.195, "required": 14787979, "short_of_median": -244558, "spent": 17672191, "state_median": 1.1785 }, { "above_required": 3472483, "at_state_median": 18235188, "districts": 356, "fy": 2015, "p25": 1.0627, "p75": 1.4006, "rank": 173, "ratio": 1.2318, "required": 14980028, "short_of_median": -217323, "spent": 18452511, "state_median": 1.2173 }, { "above_required": 3663177, "at_state_median": 19194972, "districts": 364, "fy": 2016, "p25": 1.0683, "p75": 1.4286, "rank": 186, "ratio": 1.2388, "required": 15341250, "short_of_median": 190545, "spent": 19004427, "state_median": 1.2512 }, { "above_required": 4323248, "at_state_median": 19890738, "districts": 364, "fy": 2017, "p25": 1.0767, "p75": 1.4765, "rank": 184, "ratio": 1.2782, "required": 15538425, "short_of_median": 29065, "spent": 19861673, "state_median": 1.2801 }, { "above_required": 4929248, "at_state_median": 21484466, "districts": 361, "fy": 2018, "p25": 1.1044, "p75": 1.5356, "rank": 181, "ratio": 1.2978, "required": 16554528, "short_of_median": 690, "spent": 21483776, "state_median": 1.2978 }, { "above_required": 4822070, "at_state_median": 22664120, "districts": 361, "fy": 2019, "p25": 1.1292, "p75": 1.5516, "rank": 195, "ratio": 1.2801, "required": 17216743, "short_of_median": 625308, "spent": 22038813, "state_median": 1.3164 }, { "above_required": 4327363, "at_state_median": 23394081, "districts": 361, "fy": 2020, "p25": 1.1063, "p75": 1.5392, "rank": 211, "ratio": 1.2411, "required": 17948505, "short_of_median": 1118213, "spent": 22275868, "state_median": 1.3034 }, { "above_required": 4434203, "at_state_median": 23739155, "districts": 358, "fy": 2021, "p25": 1.1199, "p75": 1.5648, "rank": 201, "ratio": 1.2423, "required": 18301715, "short_of_median": 1003236, "spent": 22735918, "state_median": 1.2971 }, { "above_required": 5187193, "at_state_median": 24254188, "districts": 361, "fy": 2022, "p25": 1.1149, "p75": 1.5944, "rank": 191, "ratio": 1.2769, "required": 18731996, "short_of_median": 334999, "spent": 23919189, "state_median": 1.2948 }, { "above_required": 4217083, "at_state_median": 25566186, "districts": 361, "fy": 2023, "p25": 1.106, "p75": 1.5653, "rank": 219, "ratio": 1.2103, "required": 20056630, "short_of_median": 1292473, "spent": 24273713, "state_median": 1.2747 }, { "above_required": 3313338, "at_state_median": 26578079, "districts": 362, "fy": 2024, "p25": 1.0952, "p75": 1.5721, "rank": 238, "ratio": 1.1598, "required": 20730114, "short_of_median": 2534627, "spent": 24043452, "state_median": 1.2821 } ], "best_rank": { "above_required": 993142, "at_state_median": 8400070, "districts": 354, "fy": 1997, "p25": 1.0203, "p75": 1.1264, "rank": 90, "ratio": 1.1252, "required": 7932077, "short_of_median": -525149, "spent": 8925219, "state_median": 1.059 }, "budgeted": [ { "above_required": 3835461, "at_state_median": 27976239, "districts": 339, "fy": 2025, "p25": 1.1056, "p75": 1.5791, "rank": 217, "ratio": 1.1777, "required": 21584939, "short_of_median": 2555840, "spent": 25420400, "state_median": 1.2961 }, { "above_required": 4521792, "at_state_median": 29601765, "districts": 340, "fy": 2026, "p25": 1.1186, "p75": 1.593, "rank": 217, "ratio": 1.2004, "required": 22564041, "short_of_median": 2515932, "spent": 27085833, "state_median": 1.3119 } ], "closes": "Nothing further is needed to measure this \u2014 DESE publishes it annually. What is not published is WHY a district lands where it does, which is a question about town meetings rather than about data.", "gaps": [ { "closes": "DESE\u2019s Chapter 70 district profile workbook for the year in which FY2025 moves into the actual column, published annually at educationtocareer.data.mass.gov; the district\u2019s own End of Year Financial Report to DESE for FY2025 is the filing that produces it.", "side": "money_out", "what": "What Lunenburg\u2019s net school spending actually was in the two most recent years", "why": "DESE publishes net school spending against the Chapter 70 requirement for thirty-three fiscal years, and the last two of them are BUDGETED rather than actual \u2014 the column carries a stage flag saying so. So the most recent MEASURED position Lunenburg has against the state is FY2024, and every statement about where the town sits NOW rests on a budget somebody voted rather than on money anybody spent. The two may not be differenced and are never drawn as one line, which is why /what-the-state-requires-us-to-spend carries them as separate series." }, { "closes": "the district\u2019s End of Year Financial Report as filed with DESE, whose schedules derive net school spending from the district\u2019s own accounts line by line; requestable from the Superintendent\u2019s office or from DESE.", "side": "money_out", "what": "How the district\u2019s own accounts add up to the net school spending DESE reports", "why": "Net school spending excludes debt service, capital, transportation and food service \u2014 stated in the town\u2019s own record, to the Finance Committee on 20 March 2024: \u201cThis is the minimum spending every school district must spend not including debt services, capital transportation, meals.\u201d Because of those exclusions no figure in the town\u2019s appropriation, the district\u2019s budget book or the MUNIS ledger equals the net school spending DESE reports, and nothing in this archive maps the district\u2019s line items onto DESE\u2019s definition. So a reader cannot get from a budget line they can see to the one number the state enforces." }, { "closes": "nothing published settles it; the nearest evidence is the district\u2019s own level-service request against the appropriation voted, year by year, which the archive holds for FY2024 onward only.", "side": "money_out", "what": "Whether spending less per pupil is a choice or a constraint", "why": "Lunenburg\u2019s total per-pupil spending has been below the statewide first quartile in every one of the seventeen years DESE publishes, and its net school spending is a smaller multiple of the required minimum than the median district\u2019s. Nothing in any of these documents distinguishes a town that decided to spend less from a town that could not raise more: the levy limit, two failed overrides, the district\u2019s proposed budget and Town Meeting\u2019s vote all resolve into the same single number, and the number is the outcome of all of them at once. This matters because the two readings imply opposite remedies." } ], "latest_actual": { "above_required": 3313338, "at_state_median": 26578079, "districts": 362, "fy": 2024, "p25": 1.0952, "p75": 1.5721, "rank": 238, "ratio": 1.1598, "required": 20730114, "short_of_median": 2534627, "spent": 24043452, "state_median": 1.2821 }, "minutes": { "held": 12015, "image_scan": 3096, "searchable": 8899, "searchable_share": 0.7407, "unsearchable": 3116 }, "not_established": [ "WHETHER THIS IS A CHOICE OR A CEILING. The levy limit, two failed overrides, the district\u2019s request and Town Meeting\u2019s vote all resolve into this one number, and nothing here separates them.", "WHAT THE MONEY WOULD HAVE BOUGHT. The gap to the median is arithmetic on a published median. It is not a costed programme and nobody has proposed it.", "THAT THE RATIO MEASURES EFFORT. It moves when the REQUIREMENT moves, and the requirement is recomputed each year from enrolment and municipal wealth. That is why the rank against other districts is carried beside it." ], "said": [ { "board": "Finance Committee", "cite": "/docs/meetings/text/finance-committee/2024-03-20-minutes-6481.txt", "date": "2024-03-20", "key": "average", "kind": "Minutes", "quote": "Evan Watters reiterates that the state is spending an average of 126% and asks how that works. Tammy Crockett states each school gets a different net school spending number. It changes from district to district and is a balancing act of what each town can afford. If you go below 95% you won\u2019t get the chapter 70 increases.", "town": "https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03202024-6481", "why": "THE QUESTION THIS PAGE ANSWERS, ASKED IN PUBLIC AND LEFT OPEN. A Finance Committee member asks where the state sits on exactly this ratio; the answer given is that it differs by district. It was asked during MONTY TECH\u2019s budget presentation, by its business manager, and no figure for Lunenburg Public Schools was put beside it. The 126% is a statewide AVERAGE as stated; every state figure on this page is a MEDIAN, which is a different statistic and is not compared to it here." }, { "board": "Finance Committee", "cite": "/docs/meetings/text/finance-committee/2024-03-20-minutes-6481.txt", "date": "2024-03-20", "key": "definition", "kind": "Minutes", "quote": "This is the minimum spending every school district must spend not including debt services, capital transportation, meals.", "town": "https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03202024-6481", "why": "WHAT NET SCHOOL SPENDING IS, said to the Finance Committee in the town\u2019s own record. The exclusions are the reason no line in the town\u2019s budget or the district\u2019s book equals the figure on this page \u2014 which is registered as a gap rather than reconciled here. The dollar amount in the same passage is MONTY TECH\u2019s requirement, not Lunenburg\u2019s." }, { "board": "Finance Committee", "cite": "/docs/meetings/text/finance-committee/2025-03-06-minutes-7008.txt", "date": "2025-03-06", "key": "discretionary", "kind": "Minutes", "quote": "Tammy Crockett con\ufb01rms that the above net school spending and capital are not mandated.", "town": "https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03062025-7008", "why": "THE WHOLE SUBJECT OF THIS PAGE IN ONE SENTENCE, said about another district: the amount ABOVE the required minimum is the part nobody has to spend. Every district\u2019s position in the ranking is made of that part." }, { "board": "School Committee", "cite": "/docs/meetings/text/school-committee/2024-01-24-minutes-6375.txt", "date": "2024-01-24", "key": "bottom", "kind": "Minutes", "quote": "According to Massachusetts State reports Lunenburg per pupil expenditure is listed 361 out of 401 districts in Massachusetts. This means that we're in the top 20% for school performance while being in the bottom 10% for spending", "town": "https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01242024-6375", "why": "THE STORY THE TOWN TELLS ABOUT ITSELF, in public comment during the FY2025 cuts. It is about PER PUPIL spending, which is a different measure from this one and is on /what-other-districts-spend. Against the measure the state enforces, the position is nothing like the bottom tenth \u2014 which is the correction this page exists to make, in the town\u2019s favour and not against it. Neither figure in the quote is checkable here: this archive holds no statewide MCAS distribution, and the 401 denominator is not the one DESE publishes for district finance." } ], "searched": [ { "documents": 3, "term": "net school spending" }, { "documents": 4, "term": "required minimum" }, { "documents": 7, "term": "foundation budget" }, { "documents": 2, "term": "per pupil expenditure" }, { "documents": 10, "term": "underfunded" }, { "documents": 16, "term": "levy limit" }, { "documents": 194, "term": "override" } ], "source": { "bytes": 3848346, "docs_url": "/docs/state-dese/dese-ch70-district-profile.xlsx", "filename": "dese-ch70-district-profile.xlsx", "note": "Required net school spending is the floor Chapter 70 sets. A district below it is out of compliance. This is the one spending measure the state enforces rather than observes.", "path": "sources/state-dese/dese-ch70-district-profile.xlsx", "publisher": "Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education", "sha256": "a0dc63bc9d515b28614c0ac5a0de70402a3e8a22dab1a4333e516808ad62df61", "table": "dese_ch70_formula and dese_ch70_statewide", "url": "https://educationtocareer.data.mass.gov/d/qt58-634r" }, "stage_warning": "nss_stage is ACTUAL for FY1994\u2013FY2024 and BUDGETED for FY2025\u2013FY2026. These are two stages of one quantity and are never differenced, never averaged, and never drawn as one line.", "years_at_or_above_median": 14, "years_measured": 31 }