Senate OK’s supplemental budget with spending for education, transportation

The Senate yesterday approved a $1.3 billion supplemental budget bill that would primarily allocate surplus surtax funds from fiscal 2024, designating $617 million for education investments and $670 million for transportation.

Collections from the state surtax on annual incomes over $1 million exceeded the estimate used in the fiscal 2024 state budget, and by statute these funds can be used only for education and transportation programs.

The Senate’s bill (S. 2512) includes important transportation and education investments under a theme of “regional equity.” For cities and towns, the bill includes supplemental funding for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge maintenance program, the Special Education Circuit Breaker, and school construction cost relief.

The following are highlights:

Municipal infrastructure
• $190 million for shovel-ready transportation improvements, which includes:
– $165 million for supplemental funding for Chapter 90, with half of this distributed through the current formula, and half distributed based on road mileage
– $25 million for municipally owned small bridges and culverts

Regional equity in transportation
• $105 million for regional transit initiatives, which includes:
– $50 million for capital improvements for regional transit authorities
– $25 million for RTA workforce recruitment and retention
– $20 million for ferry infrastructure improvements
– $10 million for micro-transit shuttles and Last Mile grants to support a multi-modal transit system
• $200 million for the MBTA deficiency fund

Special education
• $248 million for Special Education Circuit Breaker reimbursements ($190 million to complement funding in the fiscal 2026 state budget and $58 million for needs in the current fiscal year, using funds from the Student Opportunity Act Trust Fund)

School construction
• $50 million to support cities, towns and school districts experiencing extraordinary school project increases due to inflation

The proposed funding for municipal governments would either require compliance with the MBTA Communities Act or add preference to municipalities taking “meaningful steps to produce new housing.”

On April 3, MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine testified before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which heard testimony from invited stakeholders about how the state should leverage the $1.3 billion in surplus surtax revenue from fiscal 2024. He highlighted several key opportunities for investment, including local roads, bridges and culverts, as well as needs within school districts.

The House passed its own version of a surplus surtax supplemental budget in April, and it’s expected that the House and Senate bills will head to a six-person conference committee to reconcile the differences. Because various uses of these funds would be effective for fiscal 2026, this supplemental budget bill is likely to follow a similar time frame as the fiscal 2026 state budget over the next couple of months.