Malden council endorses bill to study Chapter 70 local share, updates resolve to S400

The Malden City Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolve endorsing S400, legislation to create a commission to study long-term issues with the Chapter 70 school funding formula, including whether the wealth and income measures used to set local capacity and the fixed 59% local share should be revised.

Councilor David McDonald, sponsor of the resolve, said the council did not dispute foundation budget calculations but objected to how the formula determines a municipality's ability to pay, noting limits on local property tax revenue and the effect of Proposition 2½. He asked the council to formally endorse the bill to build statewide support for legislative change.

Councilors discussed outreach to other cities and the school committee and agreed to update the bill number in the text. Councilor McDonald moved to replace the cited bill number in the resolve with S400; the amendment passed. Councilor Simonelli moved to pass the resolve; Councilor McDonald seconded. The resolve passed unanimously.