Eighteen days into the start of the new fiscal year, Massachusetts lawmakers have unveiled a $58 billion compromise budget that would authorize free community college for every state resident; make online Lottery sales legal, and set aside hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the MBTA.
Lawmakers in the majority-Democrat state House and Senate are expected to vote on the bill on Friday and send it to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.
News of the compromise plan comes amid a flurry of activity as lawmakers race to finish their business before formal sessions end on July 31.
Legislative budget writers announced an agreement in principle on the spending plan on Wednesday. The compromise agreement was filed with the state House Clerk’s Office around 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, State House News Service reported.
The compromise spending blueprint boosts state spending by around $1.97 billion, or 3.5%, over the fiscal 2024 spending plan Healey signed into law last summer, the wire service reported.
It relies on $1.03 billion in one-time revenue to drive that increase, including a temporary — not permanent, as the Senate proposed — redirection of some gaming funds that would typically flow to specific purposes, State House News Service reported.
The compromise spending blueprint also would allow the state to cut back on how much money it saves by diverting up to $375 million in capital gains tax revenue above the allowable threshold, which automatically gets deposited into the state’s “rainy day” fund, if necessary to balance the books, the wire service reported.
“It has no new taxes. It doesn’t dip into any big reserves. We’re very happy,” Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Michael Rodrigues, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth said, according to the Boston Globe. “It’s very fiscally responsible.”
Free community college
The inclusion of language expanding the state’s existing free community college program to all state residents, at a cost of $117.5 million, was a top priority of state Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk.
Funding for the program comes courtesy of the state’s “Millionaire’s Tax,” a special levy on anyone making $1 million a year or more.
“I’m the product of public higher education. And I believe that Massachusetts has, unfortunately, for too long, failed to fund public higher education at a level that it deserves and should be funded at,” Spilka said, according to State House News Service, adding that the state’s existing community college expansion for people aged 25 and older and for nurses, known as MassReconnect, prompted “an increase in enrollment in community college for the first time in over a decade. And it’s continuing to grow.”
The compromise budget plan also includes stipends for books and supplies for qualifying students, ranging from $1,200 to $2,400, based on income.
It also expands scholarship aid, to the tune of more than $177 million, State House News Service reported.
“Persistence grants will go to low-income students who, if their laptop dies, in the past they may have dropped out of school, because they could not afford to replace their laptop. They will get some funds that will go to the schools, the schools know the students, and they will help disperse those funds to students to help keep them in school,” Spilka said, according to the wire service.
Budget Goes Big on Education
The Senate President Karen Spilka-backed initiative to make community college permanently free for all will cost the state $117.5 million, covering tuition and fees for students.
This last-dollar program expands on an initiative state officials passed last year to make community college free for residents over 25 years old without a previous college degree, dubbed “MassReconnect” by Healey. Lawmakers and Healey also made community college free for nursing students last year to plug a hole in the shortage affecting Massachusetts’ health care landscape.
“I’m the product of public higher education. And I believe that Massachusetts has, unfortunately, for too long, failed to fund public higher education at a level that it deserves and should be funded at,” Spilka said Thursday, adding that MassReconnect and the nurses program last year led to “an increase in enrollment in community college for the first time in over a decade. And it’s continuing to grow.”
In addition to funding community college for all, the budget deal includes stipends of up to $1,200 for books, supplies and other costs for community college students who make 125 percent or less of median income in the state. Pell-eligible students already eligible for a books stipend through state financial aid would also be eligible for a stipend for books supplies and costs of attendance, for a combined amount of up to $2,4000 per year.
Other higher education spending in the budget includes $80 million to expand financial aid programs for in-state students attending state universities through MASSGrant Plus, in addition to the $175.2 million for scholarships awarded through the General Fund and $2.5 million for so-called “persistence grants.”
“Persistence grants will go to low-income students who, if their laptop dies, in the past they may have dropped out of school, because they could not afford to replace their laptop. They will get some funds that will go to the schools, the schools know the students, and they will help disperse those funds to students to help keep them in school,” Spilka said.
The SUCCESS program, currently in place at Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges, funds wraparound services for students, including personalized coaching, academic support, on-campus leadership opportunities and resources for vulnerable students. The budget would inject $14.7 million into this program, and include another $14 million to expand the program to state universities.
“There are many factors to us being truly more competitive. I know that people refer to taxes, I think that’s one part. But when I talk to people, they don’t mention taxes or the tax rate. They talk about the high cost of college and public education. They talk about needing paid family medical leave and things that Massachusetts is leading the nation in. And this was one last piece for public higher education,” Spilka said.
