Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Seventeen days into the new fiscal year, Gov. Charlie Baker signed his first full-year state budget into law, a $38.1 billion spending plan for fiscal 2016 that will increase overall expenditures by approximately 3.5 percent.
The budget act makes strong progress on many municipal priorities, including the $34 million increase in Unrestricted General Government Aid that was initially proposed by the governor and requested by the MMA.
The law adds $18.1 million to fully fund the special education circuit breaker, restores $7.5 million to regional school transportation, funds Chapter 70 minimum education aid at $25 per student, and adds $3.6 million to charter school reimbursements. In all, the governor approved more than $30 million for key municipal and education aid accounts and reimbursement programs above the amounts he had requested in his March budget proposal.
Using his line-item veto authority, the governor made $162 million in cuts to the budget sent to him by the Legislature on July 8, including a $17.6 million reduction in kindergarten development grants, leaving the program with just $1 million. The MMA and education advocates are calling on the Legislature to override this veto.
New municipal snow funding proposed
At the same time the governor signed the budget into law, he filed a fiscal 2015 supplemental budget to close the books on the year that just ended. The $358 million bill includes some very good news for cities and towns following a historic winter: $25 million for municipal snow and ice deficits, to be distributed statewide through the Chapter 90 formula. The MMA will be urging the Legislature to approve this funding.
• Download governor’s cover letter, listing each community’s share of proposed $25 million in snow and ice relief funding (892K PDF)
The following is a summary of the key municipal and school funding amounts included in the final fiscal 2016 state budget that Gov. Baker signed into law today:
Unrestricted municipal aid
The final budget provides $979.8 million for UGGA. The $34 million increase over current funding is the largest increase in discretionary municipal aid in nearly a decade. Every city and town will see its UGGA funding increase by 3.6 percent.
Special education circuit breaker
The final budget fully funds the special education circuit breaker program with $271.7 million, an $18.3 million increase above fiscal 2015. Every school district relies on this program to fund state-mandated services.
Regional school transportation reimbursements
The final budget restores $7.5 million to regional school transportation funding, providing a total of $59 million for the upcoming year. Last November, former Gov. Deval Patrick used his Section 9C emergency budget-cutting powers to reduce this program to $51.5 million.
Chapter 70
The final budget provides a $111.2 million increase in Chapter 70 education aid, with a provision providing every city, town and school district with an increase of at least $25 per student, an improvement over the $20 per student amount originally proposed in March. The appropriation is $5.9 million more than the recommendation in March, and the increase would be used to ensure the $25 per student minimum aid level and to slightly accelerate the implementation of the target share provisions enacted in 2007.
Kindergarten development grants
The kindergarten development grant program, which 177 communities and school districts depend on, faced serious challenges during the fiscal 2016 budget process. Gov. Baker’s original budget proposed no funding, and the Senate budget including just $1 million. The House budget maintained funding at the fiscal 2015 level of $18.6 million, the number that prevailed in the Legislature’s final bill. The MMA and cities and towns will be calling on their legislators to override the governor’s $17.6 million veto.
Charter school reimbursements
Cities and towns that host or send students to charter schools are entitled under state law to be reimbursed for a portion of their lost Chapter 70 aid. The state fully funded the reimbursement program in fiscal 2013 and 2014, but underfunded reimbursements by approximately $34 million in fiscal 2015. The final fiscal 2016 budget provides a $3.64 million increase, to $80.5 million, but this is still $50 million below full funding.
McKinney-Vento reimbursements
The final budget adds $1 million to increase fiscal 2016 reimbursements for the transportation of homeless students to $8.35 million. The account remains below the full reimbursement called for under the state’s unfunded mandate law, but this would be the first increase since fiscal 2013.
Payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT), library aid, METCO, Shannon anti-gang grants, vocational transportation
The final budget level-funds PILOT payments at $26.77 million and funds library grant programs at $18.9 million, a $400,000 increase above fiscal 2015 post-9C levels. METCO is funded at $20.14 million, a $2.23 million increase above fiscal 2015 post-9C levels. The final appropriation for Shannon grants is $7 million, the same amount proposed by Gov. Baker in March.
On vocational education transportation, Gov. Patrick wiped out all fiscal 2015 funding using his 9C powers, and the budget act would restore $1.75 million for fiscal 2016.
Community Preservation Act
During fiscal 2015, 156 cities and towns collected the local Community Preservation Act surcharge and are eligible for state matching grants in fiscal 2016. The Division of Local Services estimates that the balance in the state trust fund will be sufficient to provide a first-round match of only 18 percent of the surcharge levied by each city and town – the lowest state match in the program’s history.
The fiscal 2016 state budget calls for devoting up to $10 million of any fiscal 2015 year-end state budget surplus to supplement the fiscal 2016 state match, a significant boost for all CPA communities. The final amount available will depend on the final fiscal 2015 surplus, which will not be determined until later this autumn.