Massachusetts Legislative Alert - FY25 State Budget Priorities

March 28, 2024
Legislative Alert:  Discuss Top FY25 Budget Priorities with Legislators

State Representative Margaret.Scarsdale@mahouse.gov (617) 722-2130 x7908;
Legislative Aide Sonia.McCallum@mahouse.gov (978) 300-6300

State Senator John.Cronin@masenate.gov (617) 722-1230

Unrestricted General Government Aid - Increase by at least 3%
Gov. Healey's budget includes a $38.1 million increase in the Unrestricted General Government Aid account, a 3% increase over fiscal 2024 levels. This is above the consensus revenue forecast figure of 2% for fiscal 2025, but
would keep the UGGA account still below 2008 funding levels without adjusting for inflation. An increase to UGGA of at least 3% over fiscal year 2024 is critically important for all cities and towns.

Chapter 70 School Aid - Increase Minimum Aid to $100 Per Student
The Governor's budget recommendation continues implementation of the funding schedules in the 2019 Student Opportunity Act (SOA) to stay on track with the law's intended implementation schedule. House 2 represents
funding the Student Opportunity Act in year four of the law's six year rollout. Unfortunately, 211 of 318 districts (66%) would remain minimum aid districts, receiving increases over fiscal 2024 of only $30 per pupil. An additional
17 districts would receive less than $100 per student. The total amount needed to bring all districts to $100 per student increase over last year's aid is $35.4 million.

Supplemental Local Road and Bridge Funding - Increase to $150m
The Governor's proposal includes $124 million total of surtax revenue from the Fair Share amendment for
supplemental local road and bridge funding. This amount would be supplemental to the yearly Chapter 90 bond authorization. As municipalities continue to struggle to maintain local roads and bridges with high construction inflation, please ask your legislators to support $150 million total for supplemental funding for local roads and bridges.

Charter School Reimbursements - Fully Fund
The Governor's budget would fund the charter school reimbursement account at $199 million, intended to meet the
commitment to fund the state's statutory obligation to mitigate Chapter 70 losses to charter schools.
Please encourage your legislators to support fully funding the state's statutory obligation for charter schools.

Rural School Aid- Build on the Governor's Investment
The Governor's budget would level-fund Rural School Aid for eligible towns and regional school districts at $15
million. The grant program helps districts facing the challenge of declining enrollment to identify ways to form regional school districts or regionalize certain school services to create efficiencies.
Please ask your legislators to continue to build on this key account to bring it closer to the special legislative commission's recommendation of $60 million.

Special Education Circuit Breaker- Fully Fund
The Governor's budget would fund the Special Education Circuit Breaker program at $492.2 million. The Administration also has announced that by leveraging the recently passed fiscal 2023 supplemental budget funds of $75 million, it will bring the overall amount in fiscal year 2025 to $567M.
Please ask your legislators to support full funding of the Special Education Circuit Breaker program using the most recent estimates from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
            
Regional School Transportation - Fully Fund
Gov. Healey's budget submission would fund regional transportation reimbursements at $99.4 million for fiscal 2025. According to the Administration, this represents 80% reimbursement of anticipated claims.

Out of District Vocational Transportation - Fully Fund
Reimbursements for transportation of out-of-district vocational students remains funded at $1 million in this proposal. During fiscal 2024 this amount represented reimbursement for 17% of anticipated claims as calculated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

McKinney-Vento Reimbursements - Fully Fund
The Governor's budget would fund reimbursements for the transportation of homeless students at $28.6 million for
fiscal 2025. The impact of this funding level by communitywill depend on the number of homeless families that remain sheltered in local hotels and motels. According to the Administration, this represents 93% of anticipated claims for fiscal 2025.

Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT)- Build on the Governor's Investment
The Governor's budget would fund PILOT payments at $51.8 million, an increase of $334,000. The Administration
indicates that this amount should hold communities harmless from recent valuations.
Please share with your legislators the impact of the state-owned land in your municipality and ask for additional support for this account.

Lottery - Dedicate Proceeds Solely for Local Aid
TheGovernor's budget includes an outside section of the billt h a t would allow the Massachusetts Lottery to create
an online, or iLottery, platform. Any proceeds from an iLottery must not undercut the traditional Lottery proceeds, as
the mission of the Lottery for more than 50 years has been to directly support cities and towns. The Governor's
proposal simply allows for the creation of the platform but does not specify how proceeds would be allocated.
Please ask your legislators to be sure any lottery platform expansion would dedicate additional funds only to local aid.

Create New Disaster Relief Fund
The Governor's budget also includes an outside section to establish a permanent Disaster Relief and Resiliency
Fund, which intends to provide relief to municipalities impacted by extreme weather events.
Please ask your legislators to support the creation of a disaster relief and resiliency fund.

Next Steps
The House is expected to pass its plan in April and the Senate in May, with the goal of having a final bill on the
Governor's desk in time for the July 1start of the fiscal year. The MMA will be reaching out to local officials in the weeks and months ahead to continue advocating for many critical municipal and school aid programs.