State Budget News

House Ways and Means Budget

State leaders crafting the FY27 budget need to do all they can to alleviate the impact of this historic fiscal crisis

Our public schools and colleges are grappling with a historic fiscal crisis which threatens to undermine the quality of the finest public education system in the nation. As educators who testified at recent public hearings made clear, state leaders crafting the Commonwealth’s FY 2027 budget need to do all they can to alleviate the impact of this crisis, which is connected to local and federal spending, as well.

More than 100 members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association provided in-person and written testimony to the committee, detailing the challenges they and their students face every day because of lack of funding. The budget proposal released by the House Committee on Ways and Means acknowledges the financial pressures bearing down on school districts and campuses and proposes several important partial solutions, including fulfilling the Student Opportunity Act, matching and exceeding minimum student-aid increases from last year, adding funds for special education, setting up reserves to address potential funding losses attributable to declines in enrollment of English language learners, and bolstering funds for student support programs at community colleges and state universities.

Despite these laudable proposals, the House budget will not resolve the fiscal crisis hitting our public schools and colleges. We urge the governor, representatives and senators to establish a budget that ensures equitable access to a high-quality public education, from preK through 16.

We strongly urge legislators to draw on all of the Commonwealth’s resources to mitigate the fiscal crisis and to protect our public schools and colleges from the federal administration’s attacks on education, which means using rainy day funds, Fair Share revenue, and funds that would come from passing corporate “fair share” legislation.

We strongly urge legislators to draw on all of the Commonwealth’s resources to mitigate the fiscal crisis and to protect our public schools and colleges from the federal administration’s attacks on education, which means using rainy day funds, Fair Share revenue, and funds that would come from passing corporate “fair share” legislation. In addition to advocating for necessary funding for public education, the MTA will continue to work toward the launch of another school funding commission — the last one convened in 2014 — to address the harmful shortcomings of the existing school financing system. The explosive growth in the number of communities seeking Proposition 2½ overrides makes clear that structural problems with our state funding process have left our cities and towns struggling to fully fund their schools.  

Finally, the House budget is built too cautiously, in part as a reaction to the possibility of two tax-cutting ballot initiatives, which represent the most destructive fiscal proposals in years. The ballot proposals advanced by the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Massachusetts Competitiveness Partnership already are leading budget makers to take more cautious steps in supporting our public schools and colleges. If those initiatives pass, the $7 billion in cuts they would require would be catastrophic for public education and so much else that makes Massachusetts an outstanding place to live and work.

PreK-12 Education

The House Committee on Ways and Means proposed budget for FY27  includes the following new funding:

• A $296.5 million increase for the final year of the Student Opportunity Act. The House Ways and Means committee increased the minimum per-student aid to $160, more than twice the $75 recommended by Governor Healey.
• A $130.3 million increase for the special education circuit breaker. This is a substantial increase, which appears to be full funding, and is likely due to powerful advocacy by MTA members and allies. A portion of this comes from the Fair Share supplemental budget filed by the House. While this is meaningful progress, the state also should adjust the formula to increase the share of costs paid by the state.
• Level funding for Rural Schools Aid, for a total of $12 million. A $2 million share of the funding comes from the Fair Share supplemental budget.
• A $13.8 million increase in student transportation funding, which remains short of full funding, at 87 percent. This increase is the same as in the governor’s proposal.
• A $1.4 million increase in reimbursement for districts paying charter school tuition, the same amount as in the governor’s proposal.
• A new $10 million to offset lower state aid due to unexpected declines in enrollment of English Language Learners.  

Higher Education 

The budget contains increases in higher education line items, but not enough to address the needs of our students, faculty and staff in higher education. The House Ways and Means committee proposal includes: 

• A $33.5 million increase for the University of Massachusetts system, which includes new funding of $10 million for the UMass SUCCESS grant program.
• A $12 million increase for the MassEducate and MassReconnect Scholarship programs, which provide free tuition to students at community colleges. Other scholarship programs are essentially level funded.
• A $4 million increase each for the State University and Community College SUCCESS programs, which provide student supports.
• A $2.6 million increase for the Tomorrow’s Teachers Scholarship program. The funding comes from the Fair Share supplemental budget. The Tomorrow’s Teachers program provides generous scholarships to students at public colleges and universities who commit to teaching in Massachusetts public schools, as well as debt relief for public school educators.   

Other Items

• The House recommended $7 million for an immigrant legal defense fund, a $2 million increase from the $5 million the state appropriated for the first time last year.

House 2

Governor's budget doesn't go far enough

Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy released the following statement regarding Governor Maura Healey’s proposed FY27 state budget:

More than 1,000 municipal officials and union leaders signed a letter last year demanding action from Governor Healey and the Legislature to better support public schools. Despite this, the measures in the governor’s proposed budget don’t go far enough to address a fiscal crisis hammering cities and towns across the Commonwealth.

While boosting state funding for rural schools, transportation and special education is essential, the governor should be fighting with us for fully staffed and resourced schools, in part by raising revenue by properly taxing corporations that are avoiding paying their fair share.

We are glad the Student Opportunity Act that MTA members fought for is fully funded in its final year of implementation, and that revenue from the Fair Share Amendment continues to make public higher education affordable for more people. But as the federal government slashes spending on education and cities and towns struggle to balance budgets, the governor needs to be willing to tap the state’s rainy-day fund and use more of the available Fair Share funds to support public education. We join our other public sector unions in insisting the governor fully fund the Group Insurance Commission and avoid devasting hikes in health insurance copays and deductibles for working families devoted to the common good. The governor’s GIC recommendation appears to assume $100 million in “savings” by shifting costs to public employees, making their health insurance more expensive by raising copays and deductibles.

PreK-12 Education

The governor's proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2027 includes the following new funding:

• $241 million for the final year of the Student Opportunity Act. This is a smaller increase than FY26 because enrollments have declined, particularly in districts with large numbers of immigrant students. The governor could have counteracted that decline by fixing the way the formula adjusts for inflation but did not do so. She also halved the minimum per-student aid from the FY26 level of $150 to $75.
• $127 million increase, which appears to fully fund the special education circuit breaker. This is a substantial increase, likely due to powerful advocacy by MTA members and allies. In FY26 this account was not fully funded. While this is meaningful progress, the state also should adjust the formula to increase the share of costs paid by the state.
• $10 million increase for Literacy Launch, which supports some positive investments in literacy, but also allows the purchase of DESE-approved curriculum that has often not proven to be helpful.
• $10 million for a new program called Accelerating Achievement, which is focused on rapidly improving student outcomes in Massachusetts’ lowest-performing schools. It is unclear if this will be meaningful support for districts or another type of DESE intervention that has not proven effective in the past.
• $8 million increase for Rural Schools Aid, for a total of $20 million.
• $13.8 million increase in student transportation funding, which remains short of full funding.
• $1.4 million increase in reimbursement for districts paying charter school tuition.
• $16.5 million increase for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative to expand pre-kindergarten opportunities to children eligible for kindergarten within two school years.

Higher Education

The budget contains increases in higher education line items, but not enough to address the needs of our students, faculty and staff in higher education. The governor’s proposal includes:

• $9 million more for community colleges to cover existing costs, but no funding for an account that is used to provide increases based on a needs-based formula.
• $11 million more for state universities to cover existing costs, but like community colleges, no funding for the needs-based formula for new funding.
• A $51 million increase for the University of Massachusetts system, which includes new funding of $10 million for the University of Massachusetts SUCCESS grant program.
• A $17 million increase for the MassEducate and MassReconnect Scholarship programs, which provide free tuition to students at community colleges. The governor does not fund Targeted Scholarships for in-demand professions. Other scholarship programs are essentially level funded.
• Level funding of the State University and Community College SUCCESS programs.
• The governor’s proposal does not fund Tomorrow’s Teachers — a program that provides generous scholarships to students at public colleges and universities who commit to teach in our public schools, as well as debt relief for public school educators.

Impact of Fair Share Funding in PreK-12 and Higher Education

The governor’s budget utilizes revenues collected by taxing very high-income individuals, through the 4% Fair Share tax that MTA members fought so hard to enact. The governor’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2027, and a supplemental budget bill that spends surplus Fair Share funds from FY26, propose spending a total of $1.33 billion in Fair Share funds on education. This includes several preK-12 and higher education initiatives:

• $32 million for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative to expand pre-kindergarten or preschool opportunities.
• $25 million for Literacy Launch.
• $198 million for universal school meals.
• $6 million for mental health supports and wraparound services to meet the needs of our students.
• $550.5 million in Chapter 70 funding.
• $62 million for reimbursements for school transportation costs.
• $150 million for the Special Education Circuit Breaker, which covers a portion of the expense for special education services when per-pupil costs exceed about $53,000.
• $11.2 million for reimagining high school, prioritizing college and career readiness.
• $75 million for capital/grants for career technical education schools.
• $240.3 million for scholarship programs, like MassReconnect, MassEducate and MassGrant, which provide financial assistance to students in public higher education institutions. These scholarships help provide tuition-free community college and make four-year schools free for lower-income students.
• $14 million for the State University SUCCESS program, which provides support services for students.

Revenue in the Governor's Proposed FY27 Budget

• The budget assumes the state will, as the governor has proposed, make the wise choice to reject over $400 million in state corporate tax cuts that could be automatically triggered as a result of the federal “Trump tax cut” law. Unfortunately, while the governor proposed rejecting the tax cuts for this year, she calls for them to be adopted for future years, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
• The budget does not adopt corporate fair share tax reforms that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars by making it harder for corporations to avoid paying taxes by hiding profits overseas.
• Even though the state is facing the type of fiscal crisis for which the rainy-day fund exists, the governor does not propose using those funds to protect essential services. Her budget does, at least, use some other reserve funds to avoid making further cuts.