Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy released the following statement on the HouseCommittee on Ways and Means’ FY2027 state budget proposal:
Our public schools and colleges are grappling with a historic fiscal crisis which threatens to undermine the quality of the finest public education system in the nation. As educators who testified at recent public hearings made clear, state leaders crafting the Commonwealth’s FY 2027 budget need to do all they can to alleviate the impact of this crisis, which is connected to local and federal spending, as well.
More than 100 members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association provided in-person and written testimony to the committee, detailing the challenges they and their students face every day because of lack of funding. The budget proposal released today by the House Committee on Ways and Means acknowledges the financial pressures bearing down on school districts and campuses and proposes several important partial solutions, including fulfilling the Student Opportunity Act, matching and exceeding minimum student-aid increases from last year, adding funds for special education, setting up reserves to address potential funding losses attributable to declines in enrollment of English language learners, and bolstering funds for student support programs at community colleges and state universities.
Despite these laudable proposals, the House budget will not resolve the fiscal crisis hitting our public schools and colleges. We urge the governor, representatives and senators to establish a budget that ensures equitable access to a high-quality public education, from preK through 16.
We strongly urge legislators to draw on all of the Commonwealth’s resources to mitigate the fiscal crisis and to protect our public schools and colleges from the federal administration’s attacks on education, which means using rainy day funds, Fair Share revenue, and funds that would come from passing corporate “fair share” legislation.
We strongly urge legislators to draw on all of the Commonwealth’s resources to mitigate the fiscal crisis and to protect our public schools and colleges from the federal administration’s attacks on education, which means using rainy day funds, Fair Share revenue, and funds that would come from passing corporate “fair share” legislation. In addition to advocating for necessary funding for public education, the MTA will continue to work toward the launch of another school funding commission — the last one convened in 2014 — to address the harmful shortcomings of the existing school financing system. The explosive growth in the number of communities seeking Proposition 2½ overrides makes clear that structural problems with our state funding process have left our cities and towns struggling to fully fund their schools.
Finally, the House budget is built too cautiously, in part as a reaction to the possibility of two tax-cutting ballot initiatives, which represent the most destructive fiscal proposals in years. The ballot proposals advanced by the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Massachusetts Competitiveness Partnership already are leading budget makers to take more cautious steps in supporting our public schools and colleges. If those initiatives pass, the $7 billion in cuts they would require would be catastrophic for public education and so much else that makes Massachusetts an outstanding place to live and work.
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