Kids
Declines in Spending on Early Education & Care in Massachusetts
Under pressure from the recession and the large revenue losses that followed the tax cuts of the late 1990s and early 2000s, spending on early education and care has fallen by 25% since 2001.
Youth and Work: in Massachusetts and Across the Nation
Here in Massachusetts, close to 1 in 7 young people is unemployed. Nationwide, 6.5 million “disconnected youth” are out of school and also out of work.
Breakfast and Lunch Participation in Massachusetts Schools
Are free and reduced-price school meals getting to all the kids who need them? That’s the question that motivated Breakfast and Lunch Participation in Massachusetts Schools—part of a joint project involving MassBudget, the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston, and the Mass Law Reform Institute, supported by the EOS foundation.
Funding for Dept. of Children and Families and Children at the Dept. of Mental Health, FY 2009 – FY 2013
Funding for children through the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Mental Health has been cut significantly since the beginning of the Great Recession in Fiscal Year 2009.
Child Poverty in Massachusetts Unchanged, Most Children Have Health Insurance
Children in Massachusetts fare better than in much of the rest of the nation, as child poverty in the Commonwealth remains unchanged and health insurance coverage is widespread.
Quality, Cost, and Purpose: Comparisons of Government and Private Sector Payments for Similar Services
We count on government to do many important things–things we can’t do alone–like provide good schools, protect our environment, promote public safety, and offer a safety net for those facing misfortune. In fact, we frequently take these essential functions for granted. Furthermore, we hope and expect that our investments in these shared priorities will be made as efficiently as possible. But are they? Occasional gross misuses of tax dollars often make the news–as they should. We need to hold government to a high standard and demand that waste is attacked and eliminated. But how can we really know whether our government is spending money wisely in general? (Click here to read the report.) And Read the related op-ed in the Boston Globe, “Look at what the state is doing right.”
An Unstable Ladder: How the Fiscal Crisis is Threatening Education and Work Support Programs for Many Women
State programs in higher education, employment training and child care enable residents to attain and keep quality jobs. While these programs are open to all, in each area women make up a substantial majority of those using these programs and services to improve their economic standing and support their families. This report examines state support of higher education, employment training and childcare–describing how these programs work, why they are important to the participation of women in the workforce, and the strains on both the programs and participants brought about by the economic crisis.