Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Her Excellency Maura Healey
Governor of the Commonwealth
State House, Boston
Dear Governor Healey,
On behalf of all cities and towns across the Commonwealth, I write today to express our support for the Legislature’s proposed fiscal year 2026 investment plan, H. 4240. In the midst of tremendous uncertainty brought on by federal policy actions, the Legislature has put forward a stable budget that will help our Commonwealth maintain critical programs and invest in our communities to support essential services.
With property taxes tightly capped by Proposition 2½, municipalities rely on state revenue sharing to provide municipal and school services, ensure safe streets and neighborhoods, and maintain vital infrastructure. These services are fundamental to our state’s economic success and competitiveness and are more important than ever as residents look to city and town governments to safeguard their well-being.
We are deeply grateful for your leadership and partnership, as your budget proposal in January set the tone for a process that has prioritized many local aid investments. As you review the conference report enacted by the Legislature, we respectfully ask that you support the important investments in cities and towns highlighted in this letter.
Appropriations
Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) | 1233-2350
H. 4240 proposes $1.32 billion for Unrestricted General Government Aid, a $14 million, or 1.1%, increase over fiscal 2025. The appropriation represents a compromise between your H.1 proposal to increase UGGA by 2.2%, which the Senate adopted, and the House’s proposed level-funding. This discretionary local aid helps cities and towns maintain local programming and deliver vital services that residents rely on every day. This increase is modest but nevertheless critical in the midst of unpredictable economic impacts of federal policy changes. We respectfully ask you to support the UGGA funding level included in H. 4240 while looking to future opportunities to expand on this critical support.
Chapter 70 Education Aid | 7061-0008; 1596-2438
The Legislature’s proposal would fund Chapter 70 aid at $6.86 billion, an increase of $497 million over fiscal 2025. We applaud the continued commitment to the Student Opportunity Act funding schedule while also recognizing the challenges facing “minimum aid” districts. The Legislature has also proposed increases to minimum per-pupil aid to $150 for fiscal 2026. Three-quarters of school districts — 245 out of 318 — would benefit from this increase. We respectfully ask you to support these critical investments in education aid that benefit students and school districts across the Commonwealth.
Special Education Circuit Breaker | 7061-0012
We strongly support the $485 million included in H. 4240 for the Special Education Circuit Breaker, which reimburses school districts for the high cost of educating students with disabilities. This proposed investment is a critical support that builds on the recently approved $190 million investment found in the surplus surtax supplemental budget. We respectfully urge you to support this much-needed support that is critical to ensuring all students receive a high-quality education.
Charter School Mitigation Payments | 7061-9010
We strongly support the proposed $199 million for charter school mitigation payments, which is expected to fully fund the state’s statutory obligation for charter school mitigation payments as outlined in the Student Opportunity Act. We respectfully urge you to support the funding level in H. 4240.
Regional and Out-of-District Vocational School Transportation | 7035-0006; 1596-2451
The Legislature’s budget includes a total of $103.7 million for two accounts to support school transportation costs: $53.7 million for regional school transportation, and $50 million to support both regional school and out-of-district vocational transportation (historically funded separately through line item 7035-0007). In addition, $8.1 million was included in the recently signed surplus surtax supplemental budget to support fiscal 2026 regional school transportation needs. We respectfully urge you to support this critical funding for school districts.
McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Transportation | 7035-0008
H. 4240 proposes $28.6 million for reimbursements for the transportation of homeless students under McKinney-Vento. According to updated cost projections from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the funding in H. 4240 represents 58% of anticipated claims for fiscal 2026. While falling short of estimated full funding, we urge you to support this funding proposal that helps to ensure vulnerable homeless students are not uprooted from their community schools.
Rural School Aid | 7061-9813
We strongly support the continuance of Rural School Aid, which helps schools facing the challenge of declining enrollment identify ways to form regional school districts or regionalize certain school services to create efficiencies. The $12 million included in H. 4240 will continue to make a difference in rural communities and continue the Commonwealth’s progress toward regional equity. We respectfully ask you to support the proposed Rural School Aid funding.
Universal School Meals | 1596-2422
The Legislature’s budget includes $180 million for the Universal School Meals program, which allows all Massachusetts students to eat for free at school, regardless of household income. We strongly support this initiative, which is a proven tool to combat hunger and ensures students are set up for success in the classroom.
Green School Works | 1596-2424
H. 4240 includes $10 million to support the continuance of the Green School Works grant program. The program was established in fiscal 2024 to provide financial support to public school districts to install or maintain clean energy infrastructure. As federal clean energy initiatives are threatened, programs like Green School Works become more important than ever. We urge you to support this funding.
PILOT Funding | 1233-2400
We strongly support the increased funding for Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) for state-owned land included in H. 4240, bringing the line item to $54.5 million. This funding boost holds communities harmless from recent property valuation changes. We respectfully urge you to support the funding level in H. 4240.
Outside Sections
In addition to appropriations, H. 4240 contains several policy provisions of interest to cities and towns. We urge you to support the following initiatives that benefit the well-being of the Commonwealth’s municipalities and residents.
Chapter 70 Local Contribution Study | language included in 7010-0005
Implementation of required local contributions dictated in the Student Opportunity Act, paired with inflationary pressures, has had unintended consequences on municipal budgets. MMA members report considerable hardship in reaching required contributions, especially given local revenue constraints. H. 4240 directs the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to study the formula for determining a municipality’s required local contribution under Chapter 70. We strongly support this initiative to investigate required local contributions and associated conditions and implications.
Disaster Relief and Resiliency Funding | Section 122
The fiscal 2025 budget established a permanent Disaster Relief and Resiliency Fund to assist municipalities impacted by extreme weather events. H. 4240 would direct the state comptroller to transfer $14 million from any consolidated net budget surplus from fiscal 2025 to the state’s Disaster Relief and Resiliency Fund. The MMA strongly advocated for the creation of this fund, which will support rapid-response efforts by cities and towns as they incur emergency response costs from extreme weather. We greatly appreciate your historical support for this fund, and we respectfully encourage your support of the proposed surplus transfer.
Alcohol License Conversion | Section 51
The Legislature’s budget includes a provision allowing, at local option, any onsite consumption licensee currently selling wine and malt beverages to trade its license in for a license to sell all alcoholic beverages. We strongly support this proposal, which allows flexibility to existing licensees by way of local option.
Summary
This is a pivotal time for cities and towns. Many years of inflationary pressures, alongside the constraints of Proposition 2½, have squeezed local operating budgets and impacted key municipal and school services. Now, cities and towns face the unpredictable impacts of federal policy changes that threaten direct and downstream impacts on our communities.
We are grateful for your partnership with all 351 cities and towns, your understanding of the importance of state revenue sharing with municipalities, and your desire to invest in the programs and initiatives that will ensure the Commonwealth’s well-being for generations to come. With this in mind, we urge you to support the investments found in H. 4240 that directly support our municipalities.
If you have any questions or need additional information regarding any of the municipal priorities highlighted above, please do not hesitate to have your office contact me or MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Adrienne Núñez at any time. Thank you very much for your dedicated partnership with cities and towns.
Sincerely,
Adam Chapdelaine
MMA Executive Director and CEO
cc:
The Honorable Kimberley Driscoll, Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth
Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz , Executive Office of Administration and Finance
Senior Deputy Commissioner Sean Cronin, Division of Local Services