“Governor Baker’s budget proposal charts a fiscally responsible
path for the Commonwealth by limiting spending increases to 1.5 percent over
projected Fiscal Year 2019 levels and depositing another $297 million to shore
up the state’s rainy day account. Both
steps are prudent given the downturn in revenue numbers we’ve seen so far for the
month of December and the first half of January.
Since taking office in 2015, the Baker-Polito
Administration has increased K-12 education funding by half a billion
dollars. This latest budget continues to
prioritize local aid for our cities and towns by providing $200 million in
additional Chapter 70 funding, bringing the total to $5.108 billion, and a $30
million increase in unrestricted aid to help pay for other essential municipal
services.
One of the biggest missed opportunities of the 2017-2018
legislative session was the inability of the House and Senate to come to an
agreement on revising the state’s education funding formula. With Governor
Baker’s decision to put forth a package of funding increases, new policy initiatives,
and stronger accountability standards in his budget and an accompanying bill, the
stars may now be aligning to implement meaningful reforms to the way education
is funded in Massachusetts. I am hopeful
the Administration and the Legislature can work together this session to break
through the impasse and develop a viable plan to correct the inequities that
exist in the funding formula and ensure that every student in Massachusetts has
the opportunity to succeed.
The Governor’s Fiscal
Year 2020 budget gives the Legislature a strong foundation on which to build
its own spending plan. I look
forward to working with my colleagues and with the Administration over the next
few months to develop a spending plan that will fund critical programs and services
for our citizens while also remaining accountable to the state’s taxpayers.”
