State Budget News

PreK-12 Education

The governor's proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2027 includes the following new funding:

• $241 million for the final year of the Student Opportunity Act. This is a smaller increase than FY26 because enrollments have declined, particularly in districts with large numbers of immigrant students. The governor could have counteracted that decline by fixing the way the formula adjusts for inflation but did not do so. She also halved the minimum per-student aid from the FY26 level of $150 to $75.
• $127 million increase, which appears to fully fund the special education circuit breaker. This is a substantial increase, likely due to powerful advocacy by MTA members and allies. In FY26 this account was not fully funded. While this is meaningful progress, the state also should adjust the formula to increase the share of costs paid by the state.
• $10 million increase for Literacy Launch, which supports some positive investments in literacy, but also allows the purchase of DESE-approved curriculum that has often not proven to be helpful.
• $10 million for a new program called Accelerating Achievement, which is focused on rapidly improving student outcomes in Massachusetts’ lowest-performing schools. It is unclear if this will be meaningful support for districts or another type of DESE intervention that has not proven effective in the past.
• $8 million increase for Rural Schools Aid, for a total of $20 million.
• $13.8 million increase in student transportation funding, which remains short of full funding.
• $1.4 million increase in reimbursement for districts paying charter school tuition.
• $16.5 million increase for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative to expand pre-kindergarten opportunities to children eligible for kindergarten within two school years.

Higher Education

The budget contains increases in higher education line items, but not enough to address the needs of our students, faculty and staff in higher education. The governor’s proposal includes:

• $9 million more for community colleges to cover existing costs, but no funding for an account that is used to provide increases based on a needs-based formula.
• $11 million more for state universities to cover existing costs, but like community colleges, no funding for the needs-based formula for new funding.
• A $51 million increase for the University of Massachusetts system, which includes new funding of $10 million for the University of Massachusetts SUCCESS grant program.
• A $17 million increase for the MassEducate and MassReconnect Scholarship programs, which provide free tuition to students at community colleges. The governor does not fund Targeted Scholarships for in-demand professions. Other scholarship programs are essentially level funded.
• Level funding of the State University and Community College SUCCESS programs.
• The governor’s proposal does not fund Tomorrow’s Teachers — a program that provides generous scholarships to students at public colleges and universities who commit to teach in our public schools, as well as debt relief for public school educators.

Impact of Fair Share Funding in PreK-12 and Higher Education

The governor’s budget utilizes revenues collected by taxing very high-income individuals, through the 4% Fair Share tax that MTA members fought so hard to enact. The governor’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2027, and a supplemental budget bill that spends surplus Fair Share funds from FY26, propose spending a total of $1.33 billion in Fair Share funds on education. This includes several preK-12 and higher education initiatives:

• $32 million for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative to expand pre-kindergarten or preschool opportunities.
• $25 million for Literacy Launch.
• $198 million for universal school meals.
• $6 million for mental health supports and wraparound services to meet the needs of our students.
• $550.5 million in Chapter 70 funding.
• $62 million for reimbursements for school transportation costs.
• $150 million for the Special Education Circuit Breaker, which covers a portion of the expense for special education services when per-pupil costs exceed about $53,000.
• $11.2 million for reimagining high school, prioritizing college and career readiness.
• $75 million for capital/grants for career technical education schools.
• $240.3 million for scholarship programs, like MassReconnect, MassEducate and MassGrant, which provide financial assistance to students in public higher education institutions. These scholarships help provide tuition-free community college and make four-year schools free for lower-income students.
• $14 million for the State University SUCCESS program, which provides support services for students.

Revenue in the Governor's Proposed FY27 Budget

• The budget assumes the state will, as the governor has proposed, make the wise choice to reject over $400 million in state corporate tax cuts that could be automatically triggered as a result of the federal “Trump tax cut” law. Unfortunately, while the governor proposed rejecting the tax cuts for this year, she calls for them to be adopted for future years, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
• The budget does not adopt corporate fair share tax reforms that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars by making it harder for corporations to avoid paying taxes by hiding profits overseas.
• Even though the state is facing the type of fiscal crisis for which the rainy-day fund exists, the governor does not propose using those funds to protect essential services. Her budget does, at least, use some other reserve funds to avoid making further cuts.