Funding for higher education has been cut 31% since 2001. As part of a multi-year effort to restore a significant portion of those cuts, the Governor has proposed a large increase in support for scholarships along with additional funding for UMass, State Universities, and Community Colleges.
To help cities and towns support police and fire protection, parks, and other core local services, the state provides funding through General Local Aid. Since 2001, that funding has fallen by 46%. Under the Governor’s FY 2014 proposal, general local aid would be increased for the first time in five years, albeit by a relatively small amount.
Quality Early Education & Care can help prepare children for success in school and in life–while also giving parents the flexibility they need to find and keep jobs. This brief discusses the different ways our Commonwealth invests in Early Education & Care.
In his budget proposal for FY 2014, the Governor introduced three major policy proposals: 1) increased support for education; 2) fixes and improvements to strengthen our transportation system; and 3) new revenue to fund these and other priorities.
In his FY 2014 budget, the Governor funds new investments in education and transportation and reduces cuts to other programs using revenues generated through a series of changes to tax rates, income tax deductions, and business taxes.
This budget brief describes the Governor’s budget proposal for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other subsidized health coverage programs. It is the first in a series of FY 2014 fact sheets that will be published by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) and produced by MassBudget in partnership with the MLRI.
The Governor’s proposal invests in early education in two broad ways: by expanding access to early education options and by seeking to improve the quality of programs offered.
Education and Transportation receive significant new funding in the Governor’s budget. To pay for these, and other things, the Governor has proposed broad changes to the tax system, including raising the income tax and lowering the sales tax.
In recent days, the Governor has proposed: 1) increased funding for education; 2) fixes and improvements to our transportation system; 3) a revenue plan to pay for these initiatives. We analyze how they would affect Early Education & Care, K-12, Higher Ed., Transportation, the Sales Tax, and the Income Tax.
Squeezed by the weak national economy and the tax cuts of the late 1990s, Massachusetts will once again face a significant budget deficit in FY 2014. $1.2 billion is the conservative estimate we develop in our new “Budget Preview.”