Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
On Jan. 23, Gov. Deval Patrick filed an ambitious $36.5 billion state spending plan for next year that includes hundreds of millions in new revenues, mainly to fund enhancements to education programs from early education through college, including K-12, and for a comprehensive, long-range transportation finance program.
State spending would grow by $2.3 billion, or nearly 6.9 percent.
The governor’s plan would increase Chapter 70 education aid by $226 million, to $4.4 billion, to help pay for the state’s basic obligation to ensure that all municipal and regional school districts can reach the foundation budget level of spending. The plan would also update parts of the foundation budget, fully implement delayed equity reforms, and provide each district with at least $25 per student in new aid.
The proposed changes to the foundation budget include a $10,000 increase in the rate for out-of-district special education placements – to $35,848 – and removal of the enrollment cap on pre-kindergarten regular education students. These changes would result in higher total foundation budgets for all districts than would otherwise have been calculated. The new enrollment allowance for pre-kindergarten students would be helpful to some of the 52 percent of school districts that saw an overall decline in enrollments.
Some 151 school districts would receive the minimum aid amount of $25 per student.
The governor would level-fund the Cherry Sheet Unrestricted General Government Aid account at $899 million, but add $31 million to fund a new Cherry Sheet municipal aid account to be allocated using a formula based on income and property wealth factors. The plan calls for formula factors to be updated annually and for the full aid amount to be reallocated each year.
Beginning in fiscal 2015, one-quarter of this new aid account would be transferred to a state reserve account to pay for an incentive aid program administered by the governor’s budget office.
The governor’s budget bill would level-fund the Cherry Sheet payment-in-lieu-of-taxes account at $26.3 million and library aid at $16 million.
The revenue side of the governor’s budget includes a major, multi-year restructuring of how the state raises revenue for the operating budget as well as capital programs.
The governor has proposed raising the personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent, reducing the sales tax and use tax rates from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent, indexing the gas tax to inflation, and making changes to business taxes. The governor would also limit or eliminate various income tax exemptions and credits and increase the income tax personal exemption in order to make the state’s tax system more progressive. The cigarette excise rate would increase by $1 to $3.51 per pack.
The tax changes would raise an estimated $779 million in fiscal 2014 and $1.9 billion when fully in effect.
To jumpstart his education and other initiatives next year, the governor would use revenue anticipation notes that would enable the state to use in fiscal 2014 $400 million in new tax revenues that would be collected in fiscal 2015 and 2016.
A number of new revenues dedicated to transportation programs include a schedule for increases in MBTA fares, turnpike tolls and Registry of Motor Vehicle fees that, together with gaming and other revenues, would provide $25 million for transportation programs in fiscal 2014, growing to $270 million by fiscal 2017. (See related story.)
The budget bill also features increases for a number of school programs linked to the governor’s goal of closing the so-called achievement gap as a way to ensure that the nation-leading quality of Massachusetts public education extends to all students and to improve the competitiveness of the state’s workforce.
The governor’s budget would add $132 million for expansion of early education programs and another $4 million for English language learning programs as part of the goal to reach universal third grade student proficiency in reading. The bill would add $5 million for expanded learning time in middle schools in high-need districts, provide $11 million for programs in the state’s 24 “gateway cities,” and add $173 million for the state’s public universities and colleges.
The special education “circuit breaker” program would be level-funded at $231 million, reflecting the fiscal 2013 funding level after the cut of $11.4 million imposed last December as a budget-balancing measure – meaning that fiscal 2014 funding would be an estimated $15 million below the state’s statutory target.
The appropriation to cover the mandated cost of transporting homeless students under the federal McKinney-Vento program would be level-funded at $6.1 million, reflecting the $5.2 million mid-year cut from the estimated full funding amount.
Reimbursements for student transportation at regional school districts would be funded at $44.5 million – the fiscal 2013 level after mid-year cuts.
Reimbursements to public school districts to offset a portion of school aid lost to charter schools as tuition payments would increase by $8.8 million to $80.3 million.
In a companion supplemental budget bill, the governor proposed to allow cities and towns to extend the room occupancy excise to transient accommodations that now avoid taxation. The idea was first proposed by local governments on Cape Cod and is supported by the MMA.
House and Senate leaders have not taken public positions on the governor’s revenue and spending proposals ahead of public hearings on the budget bill, which are expected to begin in late February and continue into March. The House’s state budget proposal is expected to be released in early April and voted on by the end of the month. The Senate is expected to complete its budget process by late May.
• Link to the governor’s description of local aid in his budget