MTA analysis of the FY24 Senate Ways and Means budget
As the state Legislature moves through the budgetary process, it is an important reminder that after the governor submits her budget, the decision-making responsibility rests entirely with the House and Senate, until the final budget returns to her for vetoes and amendments. When the Senate finalizes its budget, the only two proposals that will debated will be from the House and Senate. The governor’s budget proposal is discussed below for purposes of comparison and to indicate how the governor may choose to advocate for her priorities with House and Senate leadership.
Policies Governing Usage of Fair Share Amendment Funds
The Senate Ways and Means budget released May 9, 2023 is aligned with the House budget passed in April, as well as the policies and principles advocated by MTA and recommended in Governor Maura Healey’s budget recommendation submitted in March.
In summary:
- Importantly, Senate Ways and Means, the House and the governor use Fair Share Amendment revenue in the FY24 budget only for new programs and expenditures. Regular annual increases for state programs, including a $595 million increase for Chapter 70 and more than $62 million for Special Education Circuit Breaker, are funded out of general state revenue – not Fair Share revenue. The House and SWM also double minimum aid to $60 per student, again out of the regular operating budget.
- The House and Senate both create a stand-alone state fund for public education and transportation into which all of the proceeds from the millionaire’s surcharge are deposited. Spending from the FSA revenue will be appropriated from that fund and unspent money will be able to accrue year to year without additional action by the Legislature.
- The Fair Share revenue is exempt from state laws that would divert its use to either stabilization funds, the rainy-day fund or to trigger Chapter 62F tax rebates – as happened last year. The FSA revenue will stay in its dedicated fund and will only be used for public education and transportation spending.
Public Higher Education Funding
The regular operating line items in the Senate Ways and Means' FY24 budget are largely identical to the House budget and Governor Healey’s recommendation, and represent an average increase of 3 percent for community colleges, state universities and UMass over FY 23 – though the percentages vary by campus. Of note, the SWM budget does include a $997,325 increase for Bridgewater State and a $486,761 increase for Bristol Community College, above the House recommendations. The state university and community college formula funding line items increased by 9.1 percent and 5.7 percent respectively in all three budgets. The state scholarship line item was level funded at $175 million, though there are substantial increases in scholarship aid proposed using Fair Share funding. The House and SWM budgets do not include a $4 million increase in the SUCCESS program proposed by Governor Healey, though the SWM budget does include $30 million for student support services in its Fair Share spending plan.
K-12 Education Spending
The SWM budget proposal is generally aligned with both the House budget and the governor. There are a few differences between the budgets, including the following:
- The SWM and the House budget increases Chapter 70 minimum aid to $60 per student which adds $7.8 million.
- The House budget provides $10.8 million more in funding for regional school transportation than either SWM or the governor proposed. The SWM and governor’s proposal is $14.9 million more than FY23 funding, the House budget would constitute a $25.7 million increase over FY23.
- The SWM budget provides $13 million less than the governor’s proposal in funding for charter school tuition reimbursements. The House budget also provided less aid, which may just be based on updated data on likely costs.
- The SWM budget provides the same amount of Special Education Circuit Breaker funding as the governor, the House budget included $2.3 million more than the governor or SWM.
- Neither the SWM budget or the House budget include a $10 million reserve included in the governor’s budget for districts where municipalities have been disproportionately impacted by increases in target local contribution.
Fair Share Spending
The governor, House and SWM all took different approaches to spending the Fair Share revenue in FY24. All three budgets propose spending $1 billion in FY24, with the governor proposing 51% of the funds be spent on public education and the House and SWM both splitting the funds evenly between education and transportation. The following page includes a table comparing the expenditures proposed by the House, SWM and the governor. SWM includes $310 million for public higher education and $125 million in preK-12 education spending (including $15 million for preschool planning and implementation grants). By comparison, the House budget included $174 million for public higher education and $261 million for preK-12 education, including $161 million for universal free school meals. The House and SWM both include Governor Healey’s proposal for MassReconnect, which provides free community college for adults over the age of 25 years. The SWM budget includes $30 million for student support services and $125 million for deferred maintenance and capital spending for public higher education campuses.The SWM budget also includes $100 million to supplement MSBA grants to school districts with significant cost overruns. The House budget included $100 million for clean technology infrastructure grants to preK-12 schools.
The Senate president includes a significant commitment to implement free community college in the FY25 budget, beginning with the fall 2024 semester. The SWM budget includes $15 million for detailed planning and preparation by the DHE and the community colleges to plan implementation of the free community college program. The SWM budget does not specify how much of student costs would be included in its program – meaning whether it will be truly debt-free college. But there is nothing in the SWM budget that prevents it either.
Other Change Included–Outside Sections to the Budget
In-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students
The SWM budget includes a provision that extends in-state tuition at public colleges and universities to all students who have attended a minimum of three years of high school and either graduated or received a GED. The provision is not included in the House budget. Governor Healey has expressed support for the SWM action to include this in the budget.
GIC coverage for state and municipal employees on day-one
The SWM budget includes a provision that provides GIC health insurance coverage on the first day of employment for all state and municipal employees who receive GIC health insurance. This provision is not included in the House budget.
MSBA Commission
The SWM budget includes a provision creating a commission to reform the process for reimbursing school building construction projects, including elements that strengthen the state’s commitment to clean energy technologies and other climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. MTA and AFT-MA are specified members of the commission.
Cost of Living Adjustment
Following the Governor and the House, the SWM budget recommendation includes a 3 percent COLA on the first $13,000 in pension benefits for retired members of the state and teachers’ retirement systems. The MTA will continue to advocate strongly to strengthen the COLA by lifting the base on which it is calculated from its current level of $13,000, which has not been raised in over a decade. The current COLA structure is woefully inadequate in providing economic support to retired educators who are facing skyrocketing costs of living.
Cost of Living Adjustment
Following the governor and the House, the SWM budget recommendation includes a 3 percent COLA on the first $13,000 in pension benefits for retired members of the state and teachers’ retirement systems. The MTA will continue to advocate strongly to strengthen the COLA by lifting the base on which it is calculated from its current level of $13,000, which has not been raised in over a decade. The current COLA structure is woefully inadequate in providing economic support to retired educators who are facing skyrocketing costs of living.
ConnectorCare Expansion that Could Help Provide Health Insurance for Adjunct Faculty and Some Education Support Professionals
The SWM budget does not include an expansion of ConnectorCare. The House budget creates a two-year pilot program (that could later be made permanent) that will expand eligibility for the state’s ConnectorCare program from 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) which is about $43,000 a year for an individual to 500 percent FPL which is about $73,000 a year. The exact details of the plan are not yet certain. But existing Connecter Care plans, on which it would be modeled, are high quality insurance. These plans generally have no deductibles, low co-pays, and reasonable out-of-pocket maximums. The new plans, which would be for people with incomes above current eligibility levels, would likely be similar to types 3A and 3B as seen in this summary. The cost will be a percentage of income, likely about 7%. That would mean that if you have an income of $65,000 the annual premium would be about $4,550 and the monthly premium would be about $380. Adjunct faculty who don’t have health insurance and have an income under the new limits would generally be eligible. Some Education Support Professionals would also be eligible. While in general people are not eligible if they have employer provided coverage, they are eligible if that coverage is not affordable – defined as more than about 10 percent of income.