Rep. Stanley Requests $100K for Lincoln to Educate Hanscom Retired-Military Families in State Budget

June 22, 2016

 

The Honorable Brian S. Dempsey

Chair, House Committee on Ways & Means

State House, Room 243

Boston, MA  02133

 

Re:          Line Item 7061-0033 House Language

$100,000 for Lincoln to Educate Hanscom Retired-Military Families

 

Dear Chairman Dempsey:

Hope this note finds you well.  I am writing to express my gratitude for the inclusion of $100,000 in funding for the Town of Lincoln to help offset the costs of educating the children of retired-military families living on the Hanscom Airforce Base in the House FY17 Budget.  The Town is thrilled to have the House’s support and requests for the Conference Committee to keep the House’s language in line item 7061-0033 in the Conference Committee report; specifically “that not less than $100,000 shall be made available to the town of Lincoln to mitigate the costs of educating the children of retired-military families.”

Since the 1950’s, Hanscom (The Base) has encompassed close to 400 acres of land within Lincoln’s municipal boundary, all excluded from municipal real estate taxes as it is considered a “federal enclave”.  Ten years ago, the federal government decided to privatize housing at Hanscom and a private company now leases approximately 730 housing units, most of which goes to the families of active-military personnel and civilian employees of the Department of Defense.  However, close to 4.5% of this housing is leased to retired-military families.  The federal government owns the on-Base prek-8 school buildings and contracts with Lincoln to operate these schools.  Lincoln is paid a fixed amount based on the enrollment of the children of active-military and DOD families, but receives no compensation for education the children of military-retirees living on the base.  Despite not receiving any federal or state aid to provide education to these students, the Town has willingly accepted them into the on-Base preK-8 school.

The number of non-active, retiree families is projected to keep growing over time and will be unsustainable in the near future for Lincoln.  The Town will also be required by state law to educate non-active retiree high school students who, up until this year, had been attending Bedford High School through a previous arrangement between the federal government and the Town of Bedford.  These students will now be attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, located in Sudbury, in the fall of 2016.  Lincoln will be assessed by Lincoln-Sudbury for each student, just as the Town is assessed for all Lincoln residents who attend the high school.

Lincoln is facing a unique situation, not shared by many other Commonwealth municipalities, with their unfunded financial burden for the preK-12 education of retired-military residents of Hanscom Airforce Base.  The Town has long been a supporter of The Base, a significant generator of jobs and economic activity for the Commonwealth, and its mission, but the educational expenses of non-active retiree children are becoming too big of a burden for a small municipality with limited resources.  Therefore, I hope the Conference Committee is able to include the House’s language of line item 7061-0033 with respect to the $100,000 allocated for Lincoln in the final FY17 state budget.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Stanley

CC: Members of the FY17 Conference Committee