Fiscal Year 2015 Budget – Education and Local Aid

In case you missed it, today marks the first day of debate on the House Ways & Means Fiscal Year 2015 Budget.

As you may have heard, the House of Representatives recently unveiled their $36.2 billion state budget proposal. While the Democratic-majority set an unfortunate tone to this year’s budget debate by refusing to consider amendments relative to local aid, education spending, and welfare reform, the House Republican Caucus will not be deterred.

During this year’s budget debate, the House Republican’s firmly believe that the Legislature must make considerable strides in delivering a budget that is mindful of the economic times, while producing a spending plan that delivers an accountable and transparent state government which reflects the taxpayers’ priorities, and seeks to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

This afternoon’s debate will now focus on amendments relative to education and local aid. Below, you will find the amendments offered by House Republicans, along with a brief description of the amendment.

Amendment 16 - Cost-Benefit Analysis for PARCC (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS a new outside section directing the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to complete a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the state's adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with a full report due by June 30, 2015.

Amendment 36 - Limiting Scope of Curriculum Control (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS a new outside section requiring the express approval of the Joint Committee on Education and the General Court prior to the implementation of significant changes to the curriculum frameworks to be taught in the state’s public schools.

Amendment 52 - Pause PARCC (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS a new outside section prohibiting the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from expending funds for the development or implementation of the Common Core State Standards until a full assessment of the cost of the change in standards has been completed, with a report due by December 31, 2014.

Amendment 55 - Personal Financial Literacy (Durant, Peter) ADDS a new outside section instituting educational standards by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for personal financial literacy, including understanding loans, borrowing money, interest, credit card debt, balancing a checkbook, etc.

Amendment 60 - Special Education Services Delivery (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section directing Salem State University, in consultation with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, to analyze the existing and potential models for special education service delivery and possible improvements in delivery of said services in the Commonwealth.

Amendment 61 - Reimbursement for PARCC IT Upgrades (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS a new outside section directing the Treasurer to annually reimburse cities and towns for all funds expended for informational technology costs for compliance with the online assessments of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career.

Amendment 67 - An Amendment in Defense of Local Education (Lyons, James) ADDS a new outside section prohibiting the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from expending funds for the development or implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or the exams on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).

Amendment 95 - District-Wide Robotics Program (Wong, Donald) ADDS $30K by creating a new line item (7035-XXXX) in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a district wide robotics program in the Town of Saugus. Inserted after line item (7035-0035).

Amendment 96 - Full Day Kindergarten (Wong, Donald) ADDS $200K by creating a new line item (7030-XXXX) in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide staff and materials for free full day kindergarten in the Saugus Public School system. Inserted after line item (7030-1002).

Amendment 164 - Public School Military Mitigation (Vieira, David) ADDS $1.3M by creating a new line item (7061-0033) for aid to cities and towns negatively impacted by shortfalls in federal aid for the education of students in military families housed on military reservations within the towns. (Included in the FY14 GAA)

Amendment 192 - An Act relative to sanctuary cities and towns (Lombardo, Marc) ADDS a new outside section prohibiting any city or town which fails to enforce federal immigration laws from receiving unrestricted general government aid. The declaration of a city or town as a "sanctuary city" by its chief executive or legislative branch shall constitute failure to comply with federal immigration laws.

Amendment 193 - An Act relative to tuition for U.S. Veterans (Lombardo, Marc) ADDS a new outside section establishing that any veteran of the United States Armed Services be considered a Massachusetts resident for the purpose of admission and tuition expenses for any Massachusetts state or community college, or state university provided that the veteran completed one year of active service, designated Massachusetts as his or her intended domicile and successfully establishes residency within 1 year of enrolling in a Massachusetts public institution of higher learning.

Amendment 197 - An act relative to instate tuition (Lombardo, Marc) ADDS a new outside section prohibiting the Department of Higher Education from offering in-state tuition at public institutions of higher education to individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States.

Amendment 296 - Smart Growth Educational Reimbursement (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS $500K by creating a new line item (1233-xxxx) for reimbursements to cities and towns for additional education costs expended as a result of smart growth zoning changes.

Amendment 374 - Amendment to meet extraordinary increases in the minimum required local contribution of a municipality under the requirements (Ferguson, Kimberly) INCREASES the total appropriation for the Foundation Reserve One Time Assistance "Pothole" account (7061-0011) by $2M.

Amendment 461 - Innovation Schools (Dooley, Shawn) ADDS $4.6M by creating a new line item (7061-9011) for Innovation Schools, which was included in the FY14 GAA but omitted by the HWM FY15 budget.

Amendment 468 - Strike PARCC Funding (Dooley, Shawn) CHANGES the language for the MCAS account (7061-9400) by striking the $5M earmark for the development and implementation of the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness in College and Careers) exam. Does not decrease the overall appropriation.

Amendment 501 - Supplemental Municipal Aid (Jones, Bradley) INCREASES aid to cities and towns in section 3 by distributing an additional $50M as separate “supplemental municipal aid” using the same distribution calculation as that used for Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA).

Amendment 535 - Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University (Peterson, George) INCREASES the total appropriation for Tufts Veterinary School (7077-0023) by $1.5M.

Amendment 538- Excess Revenue for FY16 Local Aid (Beaton, Matthew) ADDS a new outside section requiring all excess tax revenues receipts for FY16, up to $100M, will be distributed as unrestricted aid to cities and towns.

Amendment 542 - Excess Revenue for Local Aid (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section requiring excess tax revenues receipts, up to $100M, will be distributed as unrestricted aid to cities and towns.

Amendment 543 - Transportation of Students Attending An Out-Of-District Vocation School (Lombardo, Marc) INCREASES the total appropriation for Transportation of Students to Out-of- District Vocational Schools account (7035-0007) by $2.3M.

Amendment 545 - Simplifying and Enhancing FY16 Local Aid (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid beginning in FY16. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be made up for from the General Fund.

Amendment 546 – Simplifying and Enhancing FY16 Local Aid (Settle) (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid beginning in FY16. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be supplemented by one-time settlements that would otherwise be deposited into the Stabilization Fund.

Amendment 550 - Simplifying and Enhancing FY16 Local Aid (X3) (Wong, Donald) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid beginning in FY16. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be supplemented by one-time settlements that would otherwise be deposited into the Stabilization Fund, withdrawal from reserves, and the General Fund.

Amendment 551 – Simplifying and Enhancing Local Aid (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be made up for from the General Fund.

Amendment 552 – Simplifying and Enhancing Local Aid (Settle) (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be supplemented by one-time settlements that would otherwise be deposited into the Stabilization Fund.

Amendment 555 - Simplifying and Enhancing Local Aid (X3) (Jones, Bradley) ADDS a new outside section establishing a floor for lottery-funded local aid. Any net profits over the floor are proportionately distributed to municipalities. Any amounts below the floor will be supplemented by one-time settlements that would otherwise be deposited into the Stabilization Fund, withdrawal from reserves, and the General Fund.

Amendment 563 - An Amendment Relative to In-State Tuition Fairness (Lyons, James) ADDS a new outside section prohibiting the offering of in-state tuition at public institutions of higher education unless the student is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

Amendment 615 - An Amendment to Provide Municipal Property Tax Relief (Lyons, James) ADDS a new outside section appropriating $250M for municipal property tax relief according to a specific distribution.

Amendment 619 - An Amendment to Increase Regional School Transportation Funding (Kuros, Kevin) INCREASES the total appropriation for the Regional School Transportation account (7035-0006) by $576K.

Amendment 628 - An Amendment to Increase Smart Growth Reimbursement (Kuros, Kevin) ADDS $525K by creating a new line item (1233-2401) for Chapter 40S Education Smart Growth Reimbursement Payments.

Amendment 649 - An Amendment to Increase School Lunch Match Program Funding (Kuros, Kevin) INCREASES the total appropriation for the School Lunch Program account (7053- 1909) by $271K.

Amendment 661 - An Amendment to Increase State Aid for Regional Public Libraries (Kuros, Kevin) INCREASES the total appropriation to the Massachusetts Public Libraries account (7000-9401) by $334K.

Amendment 681 - Adequately Supporting MMSI (Diehl, Geoff) INCREASES the total appropriation for a competitive bid program to increase participation and performance in Advanced Placement courses (7035-0035) by $2M.

Amendment 697 - Law Degree Incentives for ADAs (Diehl, Geoff) ADDS a new outside section establishing a tuition waiver program at the University of Massachusetts School of Law Dartmouth for in-state tuition applicants who commit to a minimum of 5 years in the office of a Massachusetts State District Attorney's office after obtaining a degree and passing the bar exam.

Amendment 698 - Mandate Waivers for Performing School Districts (Diehl, Geoff) ADDS a new outside section directing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to offer waivers for educational mandates to school districts that can prove proficiency in the areas relevant to the mandate.

Amendment 716 - An Amendment for Circuit Breaker Funding (Kuros, Kevin) INCREASES the total appropriation to the reimbursements for special education costs (Special Education Circuit Breaker) account (7061-0012) by $7.6M.

Amendment 747 - McKinney-Vento homeless assistance act (Poirier, Elizabeth) INCREASES the total appropriation for the Homeless Student Transportation account (7035-0008) by $7.55M, to meet the estimated claims of $14.9M for FY15.

Amendment 753 - PILOT Funding (D'Emilia, Angelo) INCREASES the total appropriation for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program account (1233-2400) by $3.53M.

Amendment 767 - An Amendment for Kindergarten Expansion Grants (Kuros, Kevin) INCREASES the total appropriation for kindergarten expansion grants (7030- 1002) by nearly $1.2M.

Amendment 771 - Foundation Budget Review Commission (O'Connell, Shaunna) ADDS a new outside section reviving the foundation budget review commission; decreasing the frequency of the report from every other year to every four years, with the initial report due on December 31, 2014.

Amendment 924 - STEM to STEAM (Vieira, David) CHANGES the STEM Advisory Council established in SECTION 5 to the STEAM Advisory Council to include "arts" within the Council's purview; adds the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council to the Advisory Council.

Amendment 987 - Commission to Study School funding (Durant, Peter) ADDS a new outside section establishing a special commission to study local contributions to public school districts, including the feasibility of limiting funding contribution increases to 2.5% above the previous year's funding level, with a report due six months after the commission's first meeting. Minority appointments included.

Amendment 1076 - Independent Common Core Curriculum Review (Orrall, Keiko) ADDS a new outside section establishing a special task force to conduct an independent review of the rigor of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) relative to the current Massachusetts curriculum standards, with a report due to the Legislature by January 1, 2015.

Amendment 1115 - Silent Spring Institute Research in Central Massachusetts and on Cape Cod (Frost, Paul) EARMARKS $1.1M from the University of Massachusetts account (7100-0200) for the Silent Spring Institute at UMass Lowell to conduct a two year study of environmental contaminants. Does not increase the overall appropriation.

Amendment 1148 - Equipment and Technology Grant for Schools (Frost, Paul) ADDS $20M by creating a new line item (xxxx-xxxx) in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a $20 per student grant to be used for educational materials, text books, and other learning materials. Inserted after line item (7009-9600).