Governor Healey’s first budget proposal (H.1) includes major increases in education and workforce development funding, making the significant connection between spending on education and college and career pathways and the state’s competitiveness. We know that these expenditures support both student equity of opportunity and the strengthening of the talent pipeline our businesses need for the future.

Proposed state education investments for this coming fiscal year have been bolstered by expected funding resulting from the surtax on personal annual income over one million dollars. The Governor’s proposal is aligned with the expectation that revenues from this new tax rate, expected this year to be at least $1 billion, be split between education and transportation. To accomplish this, the Governor proposes spending $510 million from the surtax on education initiatives, most of which focus on early childhood and higher education. This budget summary highlights education investments that are funded by this new surtax revenue as well as initiatives funded by existing state revenues.

K-12 Education Investments

With regard to investments in the K-12 Education space, the Healey/Driscoll budget fulfills commitments and makes strong progress in growing important pathways options and programs for students:

• The Governor proposes investing $10 million toward a flexible line-item to support the development of all High-Quality College and Career Pathways, funding that is squarely aligned with the agenda of the Pathways to Success Coalition that MBAE has convened. The Governor’s budget specifically mentions Early College, Innovation Pathways and STEM TECH Career Academies, an approach that places a spotlight on the need to expand pathways and that also recognizes that, as a work in progress, pathways development can and should continue to evolve.
• The Chapter 70 school funding formula is increased by 9.8%, which aligns with the next scheduled year of full funding of the 2019 Student Opportunity Act. The increase of $586,386,024 is the largest single year increase in Chapter 70 funding, representing the statutory SOA funding increase for high-need students as well as a 4.5% inflation adjustment and an expected increase in student enrollment of 1,488 students. The increase brings Chapter 70 state school aid to approximately $6.5 billion.
  • While MBAE appreciates and supports full funding of SOA, we will continue to press state officials to faithfully implement the language in the bill that accompanied the funding requiring it be used on evidence-based strategies to close achievement gaps.
• Governor Healey’s budget also increases funding in Early College line items by $4 million and in Innovation Pathways programs by $1 million.
  • As the budget process moves forward, MBAE will work to advocate to ensure that institutions of higher education have sufficient funding to cover the expected cost of college credit reimbursements for the coming year, which is a key factor in efforts to grow Early College to the full capacity envisioned for the coming school year.
• 1 continues to provide support, through level funding, for Connecting Activities (work-based learning opportunities) and the CTE After Dark program;
• The Governor’s budget proposal also:
• Increases school district reimbursement for transportation from 80% to 90% of costs and adds non-resident vocational school transportation to the formula;
• Provides a $63 million increase in state funding for the so-called “circuit-breaker account” to support school districts with extraordinary special education costs;
• Fully funds charter school reimbursement to districts, in alignment with SOA;
• Proposes $30 per student minimum aid increases for districts not getting Chapter 70 increases of that amount, increases Rural Aid to $7.5 million, and creates a new $10 million fund for communities having trouble meeting their target local contribution.
  • MBAE understands the intent behind these provisions but we are not generally supportive of these items as they grow the amount of non-needs based aid to communities, creating greater inequities amongst districts in serving high-needs students.

Higher Education Investments

Governor Healey’s budget includes historic investments in higher education initiatives that will greatly increase college affordability, provide needed supports for today’s postsecondary students, and boost efforts to narrow equity gaps in enrollment, persistence, and completion.

MassReconnect

• Governor Healey’s proposed MassReconnect program, which is designed to support the 1.8 million MA residents ages 25 and older who have a high school diploma but no higher education credential, is an important part of a larger strategy to help more people earn the postsecondary certificates and degrees that are increasingly necessary in today’s economy.
• The people who will be eligible for the MassReconnect program include disconnected workers who may need upskilling as well as “some college, no degree” individuals who accumulated some higher education credit but did not persist to completion. These people can make valuable contributions to our state’s regional economic needs if we provide them with the means to acquire the skills needed in today’s workforce.
• The $20 million in Governor Healey’s budget will create a program that allows any MA resident 25 and older to enroll in an associate degree or certificate program at a public community college and receive funding to cover all direct costs (tuition, fees, books, and supplies) for up to four years (or until degree completion).

SUCCESS Fund

• MBAE supports the investment in H.1 of $18 million for the Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) Fund, which helps students make progress toward completion by providing the type of “wraparound services” that meet the needs of today’s community college student population.
• The SUCCESS Fund allows each community college to run student support programs that can assist with common barriers to degree completion including childcare costs, transportation costs, unexpected healthcare issues, and more. These programs can help more students – especially students who are working multiple jobs, pregnant or parenting students, and students experiencing housing and/or food insecurity – secure the degrees and certificates that can allow them to earn a good job and support a family.

MassGrant Plus

• Governor Healey’s budget includes a historic increase for the MASSGrant Plus scholarship program that represents a major investment in higher education affordability.
• The $93 million that Governor Healey’s budget invests in MassGrant Plus will allow the program to reach more low-income students by expanding eligibility to all part-time students (including those at four-year institutions) and by covering the full share of direct costs incurred by participating students (including books and other supplies).
  • MBAE looks forward to learning more about the Healey administration’s detailed plans for how this funding will support higher education students in MA.

Early Childhood Education Investments

Early Education and Care line-items total $1.3 billion with some significant increases in funding for key programs.

• Governor Healey’s budget includes a significant investment of $100 million in the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) stabilization program, which provides grants to childcare providers to address pandemic and staff-shortage related disruptions;
• 1 also contains an increase of $25 million to provide subsidies that will allow an additional 2,200 children from the income-eligible waitlist to access child-care slots at programs that provide affordable care;
• The Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) also received a $15 million increase in Governor Healey’s budget, which will allow the program to expand the number of schools, particularly in gateway cities, that provide access to high-quality early education programs for 3- and 4-year olds through partnerships between school districts and local early education providers.

MBAE is looking forward to supporting the general thrust of these proposals and will work with the new administration and the legislature to arrive at a final Fiscal Year 2024 budget that  in the best interests of the state’s students.