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Romney vetoes education items in budget

On Thursday, June 30, Gov. Mitt Romney announced vetoes of several provisions of the FY06 state budget passed last week by the House and Senate.

At the same time as the governor said he was “pleased” to approve increases in funding for local aid, Chapter 70, regional school transportation, METCO and kindergarten expansion grants put in by the Legislature, he cut funding for education by more than $8 million.  The governor vetoed or reduced funding for several early education programs, a school funding reserve account and several higher education programs, including the following items:

Early Education (reduced by more than $2 million) 

• Head Start Grants -- reduced by $1.3 million 
• Parent-Child Home Grant Program -- reduced 50 percent from $2 million to $1 million 

K-12 Education (reduced by more than $4 million) 

• Education Reform Reserve Account -- (so-called “Pot-Hole” Account for school districts facing extraordinary expenditures, such as increasing enrollment) reduced by more than $4 million, down to only $2.5 million 

Higher Education (reduced by more than $2 million)

• Feasibility assessment on toxic alternatives at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell – vetoed
• Office of Dispute Resolution Operations, University of Massachusetts at Boston – vetoed 
• Salem State College Second Degree Nursing – vetoed
• North Shore Community College Public Policy Institute – vetoed

 

Veto Overrides

The Legislature is expected to take up the governor's vetoes and line item reductions possibly as soon as next week.  Please contact your legislators as soon as possible and ask that they vote to override the vetoes of education programs and funding.