Section 6. In addition to amounts appropriated for long-term debt service, school lunches, adult education, student transportation, and tuition revenue, each municipality in the commonwealth shall annually appropriate for the support of public schools in the municipality and in any regional school district to which the municipality belongs an amount equal to not less than the sum of the minimum required local contribution, federal impact aid, and all state school aid and grants for education but not including equity aid, for the fiscal year. Based on the amounts specified in section twelve, the allotments described in section thirteen, and the definitions and other provisions in this chapter, the commissioner shall estimate and report such amounts to each municipality and regional school district as early as possible, but no later than March first for the following fiscal year. The commissioner shall file with the house and senate committees on ways and means, not less than thirty days before said reports are transmitted to each municipality and regional school district, copies or a document reporting all of the information contained in said reports. Notwithstanding the terms of any regional school district agreements to the contrary, no new regional school district shall be required to submit a budget to its member municipalities before receiving the estimate by the commissioner concerning the amount of state school aid payable through the member municipalities to the regional school district for the following fiscal year. Notwithstanding the provisions of any regional school district agreement, each member municipality shall increase its contribution to the regional district each fiscal year by the amount indicated in that district’s share of the municipality’s minimum regional contribution in that fiscal year. The district shall appropriate the sum of the minimum regional contributions of its member districts as well as all state school aid received on behalf of member municipalities. The district may choose to spend additional amounts; such decisions shall be made and such amounts charged to members according to the district’s required agreement.
Beginning after June 30, 1998, no regional vocational school district shall have a required net school spending amount that exceeds 150 per cent of its foundation budget. If the required net school spending exceeds 150 per cent of foundation, then the minimum contribution, or contributions in the case of a regional school district, shall be reduced so that the required net school spending is not more than 150 per cent of foundation. In a regional school district, such reduction shall be done in proportion to the members’ enrollment share. If a community that receives a reduced minimum contribution to one of its school districts pursuant to this section belongs to any other district that is below foundation, such community’s minimum contribution to the below foundation district shall be increased up to the amount of the decrease authorized by this section or the foundation budget, whichever is less.
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