Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Senate this evening passed a fiscal 2027 state spending plan that includes a $53 million increase for Unrestricted General Government Aid and minimum new education aid of $160 per pupil.
After four days of deliberation and the consideration of more than 1,100 amendments, the Senate passed a budget bill totaling $63.4 billion.
The Senate bill includes language to create commissions to study distribution formulas for the two main local aid accounts: Chapter 70 education aid and UGGA.
MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine said the Senate’s bill reflects “an important focus on the partnership between state and local government through a critical program — Unrestricted General Government Aid — with investments that help to reinforce that partnership, at a time when we need it most.”
Like the House proposal, the Senate budget does not include language that had been proposed by the governor to significantly change the collection process for overdue motor vehicle excise taxes and parking tickets.
Both budget bills are intended to be paired with proposed funding from a fiscal 2026 supplemental budget that is currently under negotiations by a conference committee.
The Division of Local Services will soon be updating Cherry Sheet estimates for each city, town and school district based on the Senate’s budget bill.
Local accounts
The following are key components of the Senate bill for cities and towns:
• UGGA: The Senate plan would raise total UGGA funding to $1.376 billion for fiscal 2027. The $53 million increase over fiscal 2026 would be distributed to municipalities based on their proportional share of the statewide population, with no municipality receiving more than 4% of the total new funding.
• Chapter 70: With $7.66 billion for K-12 public education aid, the Senate bill would continue implementation of the 2019 Student Opportunity Act to fulfill the sixth and final year of the funding schedule. Like the House, the Senate proposal would boost per-pupil support for minimum aid districts from the statutorily obligated $30 per student to $160 per student — $10 more per student than was provided for the current year.
• Special Education Circuit Breaker: The Senate bill proposes $652.7 million for the Special Education Circuit Breaker program. This amount would be paired with additional aid proposed in a fiscal 2026 “Fair Share” supplemental budget that is moving through the legislative process simultaneously. Both the House and Senate versions of the supplemental budget bill would complement the fiscal 2027 state budget to satisfy the state’s funding obligation for this important program.
• Charter schools: The Senate budget would fund the charter school reimbursement account at $200.4 million, intended to meet the state’s statutory obligation to mitigate Chapter 70 losses to charter schools.
• Rural school aid: For eligible towns and regional school districts, the Senate bill would fund rural school aid at $16 million — $4 million more than fiscal 2026. The proposal would maintain current eligibility requirements. Additional funding for rural school aid is also proposed in the fiscal 2026 Fair Share supplemental budget bill.
• Regional school transportation: The Senate proposal would provide $114.2 million for regional school transportation reimbursements, which, according to the administration, would represent 90% of anticipated eligible regional school transportation costs.
• Out-of-district vocational transportation: The Senate budget proposes $1.4 million for out-of-district vocational transportation, which would fund 25% of anticipated costs. Additional funding for regional and out-of-district vocational transportation is proposed in the supplemental budget bill.
• McKinney-Vento: Reimbursements for the transportation of homeless students under the McKinney-Vento federal mandate would be funded at $35.2 million, representing 58.2% of anticipated claims for fiscal 2027.
• PILOT: Payments in lieu of taxes would be funded at $55.4 million, an increase of 1.6% over fiscal 2026, which is intended to hold communities harmless from updated valuation changes.
• Universal school meals: The Senate bill includes $180 million to continue the universal school meals program, allowing all Massachusetts students to eat for free at school, regardless of household income.
Outside sections
The Senate budget bill’s several outside sections include the following:
• UGGA Commission: The bill would establish a commission to review the distribution of Unrestricted General Government Aid, including current and historic distribution processes, local conditions including population and ability to generate revenue at the local level, and the feasibility of supplemental incentive payments for municipalities with policies that support or promote the Commonwealth’s housing and energy goals. The commission would make recommendations to maximize the equity of the distribution of future UGGA increases, and its report and recommendations would be due by July 1, 2027.
• Foundation Budget Review Commission: The Senate recommends reconvening the Foundation Budget Review Commission to examine the current K-12 public education funding formula. The commission would assess new ways to address rising costs and the allocation of school resources statewide.
• Massachusetts School Building Authority Commission: The Senate bill would create a special commission to study and make recommendations regarding the capacity of Massachusetts School Building Authority to meet current and future school facility needs, and to ensure that the authority’s grant funding formula allocates resources responsibly and equitably.
• Local Permitting: Several provisions focused on housing production would “streamline” local permitting processes. The provisions aim to simplify rules for homeowners, municipalities, and developers regarding “non-conforming” properties built under older codes, timelines for projects to proceed under existing zoning rules, and modifying the variance standard.
Next steps
With state budget plans passed in both the House and Senate, the next step is for a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences in order to produce a final fiscal 2027 state budget proposal.
The conference committee’s bill must then be passed by both chambers before it can be sent to the governor for her consideration, with the goal of finalizing a budget before the start of the fiscal year on July 1.