Funds disbursed through the Circuit Breaker Program are subject to annual legislative appropriation. When fully funded, the program reimburses districts for 75% of costs exceeding the annual per-student claim threshold.
Beginning with implementation of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA), the threshold increases annually by the Foundation Inflation Index and is capped at 4.5%. Per statute (M.G.L. Ch 70 Sect 2), the foundation inflation index rate is defined as the ratio of the current year's third-quarter inflation index to the prior year's third-quarter index. Prior to the SOA, the threshold was calculated as four-times the state average foundation budget per pupil.
1 Reimbursement for out-of-district (OOD) transportation was phased into the circuit breaker program over three years with implementation of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA). In FY2021, 25% of claimed OOD transportation costs above the threshold were considered for reimbursement at a rate of 75%. In FY2022, 75% of OOD transportation costs above the threshold were reimbursed at a rate of 75%. In FY 2023, 100% of OOD transportation costs above the threshold were reimbursed at 75%, which reaches the SOA maximum reimbursement.
2 The foundation inflation index metric became relevant with passage of the SOA and was not used to calculate the claim threshold prior to FY2021.
3 In FY2004, circuit breaker reimbursed costs in the year services were provided. In FY2005, the program was changed to a true reimbursement program, reimbursing for the previous fiscal year.
4 Additional federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) were provided to districts outside of the Circuit Breaker program in FY2009 and FY2008.
5 The SOA passed in FY2019 for FY2020. In FY2020, SOA was put on pause due to the COVID pandemic. Originally, the FY2020 threshold was intended to be as set in the SOA ($45,793) but this was later changed to maintain the former calculation of 4-times foundation ($48,352).
6 The FY 2021 SOA threshold ($46,704) was implemented as the foundation inflation index (1.99%) increase over the originally intended FY2020 SOA amount ($45,793).
Last Updated: March 13, 2024
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