State Budget Finalized On Time With Major Gains for Educators
State Budget Finalized On Time With Major Gains for Educators
Greetings, MTA members,
We are writing from Portland, Oregon, as the National Education Association Representative Assembly kicks off tomorrow.
Shocker of shockers – the Massachusetts Legislature finished its budget on time for the first time in years!
There’s good news in the budget – and some frustrating news.
First, the good: Because of your work to win passage of the Fair Share Amendment, the Legislature had $2.4 billion in additional dollars to spend just for education and transportation. This year’s increase in the Student Opportunity Act will be fully funded. There will be $150 per student in “minimum aid” – the most ever, and five times what the law requires, which will help many districts across the Commonwealth, including many middle-income districts. There is $50 million to help with special education costs that exceeded the budget last year, and nearly $200 million for this coming year, well above what we have had. (Of course, there is a worrisome trend. Fair Share funds should be in addition to what is usually spent. In this budget, all of the special education funds from the state are paid for with revenues from the Fair Share Amendment.) Free regional transit and RTA buses are now in law; free community college and tuition-free access for working-class students to state universities and UMass continue. Universal school meals are available for every student. There is about two hundred million dollars more for capital, in K-12 and higher ed. For higher ed members (and all other state workers), we stopped the governor’s proposal to increase health insurance premiums for long-standing members. These are major accomplishments, made possible by our years-long effort to win passage of Fair Share.
(And a quick reminder – Fair Share revenues are busting through all estimates. And the millionaires and billionaires have not left the state. Indeed, there are more of them than ever, and they are richer than ever. Read more in this report.)
The bad news: Almost all of our locals are suffering under a structural fiscal crisis and this budget only takes us a small way toward solving that crisis. The Legislature did include a commission to examine the formula for determining how much municipalities must contribute to schools. But we need a fix to the entire school funding formula – there have been too many pink slips and too many painful cuts this year.
We have also not received a guarantee to protect our public higher education colleagues from significant cuts if the federal government moves forward.
Despite passionate advocacy from many of you – including over 200 local leaders who signed a joint letter with AFT – the Legislature did not include a fix to the RetirementPlus injustice. This is another frustrating bump on the road to eventual victory. We now return to a focus on passing R+ as a bill.
Here are all the details on the state budget.
MTA Events, Opportunities and Solidarity Actions
Countering Democratic Backsliding: The Role of Unions
When: Monday, July 14, at 4 p.m.
Where: Virtual
U.S. democracy is rapidly backsliding, with growing impacts on people in cities and towns nationwide. Programs and institutions that once seemed stable are changing quickly, and it is challenging to figure out where, when and how best to respond. Yet, democratic backsliding is not a new phenomenon. It has occurred in countries around the world and received significant attention, and a growing body of knowledge can help us identify effective options to meet this moment. In particular, labor unions can play a powerful role in pushing back against rising authoritarianism. This session will share key research findings and practitioner insights that can help people strategize. Register here.
Summer Conference
When: July 27-30
Where: UMass Amherst
Registration deadlines are swiftly approaching for the MTA Summer Conference! Don’t miss out on everything Summer Conference has to offer, including all of the workshops, three amazing keynote speakers, and social events including trivia, movie night and karaoke. Registration is FREE for all members until July 10, and online registration will close on July 15. Housing and meals are available for only $130/night. Register today.
Get Ready to Take Action on Labor Day, September 1
Please mark your calendars for Sept. 1, which is Labor Day this year. Just as April 5, May Day and June 14 (No Kings!) turned into nationwide actions to fight back against the actions of Congress and the president, Labor Day will be our day as union members to stand up to the cruelty and illegality of so much that has happened in these six months. Soon, we will be sharing our allied plans with labor across the state and nation.
Save the Date for the EMAC Conference
The Ethnically Marginalized Affairs Committee is hosting its annual conference on December 5-6 at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center. Be on the look out for requests for workshop proposals.
Update on our Fiscal Crisis Campaign
The MTA continues to urge legislators to fully fund our public schools by implementing our key priorities that will support school district budgets across the Commonwealth. As part of that work, the MTA launched a statewide postcard campaign giving educators and community allies an opportunity to share their personal stories with key legislators to highlight the local impacts of the fiscal crisis. Thanks to the hard work of our members, we delivered more than 1,000 personal messages, making the case for additional state funding to our public schools to legislators serving on the FY26 budget conference committee as well as the co-chairs of the Education Committee.
Honor Our Own Award Nominations
Do you know an outstanding MTA Retired member who deserves recognition? Nominate them for the Honor Our Own award. This annual award is open to members who worked in preK-12 or higher education. The guidelines and nomination form are available at massteacher.org/honorourown.
Actions Taken at the June Board of Directors Meeting
Actions taken by the MTA Board of Directors at the meeting on June 13, 2025 can be found here.
Political Education
July is a time to turn toward things other than your classrooms – summer member organizing, vacation, work, family – but I do hope you’ll take time to read deeply into the authoritarian world we are facing in our own country.
Here are a few suggestions:
Tim Snyder, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century”
This is a very short book that shows how the echoes of terrible authoritarian and fascist regimes of the last century are too loud to ignore. You can also hear a reading of the lessons by actor John Lithgow.
Jason Stanley, “How Fascism Works”
This book takes the story a bit deeper and links to the American past. The Board will be reading and discussing this book at our summer conference retreat.
Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine, “In Search of Deeper Learning”
This is a forward-looking book. Because of your victory in Question 2, we now have an opening to revise high school graduation requirements to move firmly away from deadening test-and-punish education to authentic “deeper learning." This, the authors posit, is when you are able to educate your students using your full professional and creative selves, and thereby inspire our young people to love learning and love school.
In solidarity,
Max and Deb