School Districts face a “Dreadful” Situation Fiscal 2021

School districts across the commonwealth face a "dreadful" situation with regard to their fiscal year 2021 budget, legislators were told on Wednesday.

The Joint Committee on Education took more than four hours of testimony from state education officials, school administrators, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in an virtual oversight hearing on "Remote Learning and the Status of K-12 Education."

Although much of the testimony centered on the commonwealth's and districts' efforts to implement remote learning plans on the fly in the wake of March's closure of school buildings, the conversation frequently strayed to looking at the road ahead for public schools.

It was clear that much is unknown about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on school finances, but two things are known: Recovery from the virus will increase districts' costs, and the stunted economy will reduce districts' revenues.

Read more of the Stephen Dravis article on iBerkshires.com now,