House Democrats proposed a $32 billion spending plan that includes no new taxes, fees, or bottle deposits but does provide a slight increase in local aid, additional funding to combat homelessness, and a heavily modified version of the governor’s initiative to centralize control of community colleges.
Acting on orders from Speaker Robert DeLeo, House budget chief Rep. Brian Dempsey crafted a budget that contains none of Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposals to tax candy and soda, hike the cigarette tax, and expand the bottle deposit law to include more containers. Dempsey also rejected Patrick’s $10 million education initiative for Gateway Cities, ordered a number of state agencies to drive harder bargains with vendors (the Department of Corrections was told to “reprocure” its food service, medical, and mental health contracts) and barred public assistance recipients from using their aid for a host of purchases, everything from cosmetics to health clubs to tattoos.
In his budget, the governor said he wanted the state’s community colleges to do a better job of preparing students for local job market. To carry out that mandate, he sought to rein in the independence of community colleges by giving the Board of Higher Education control over their budgets and the appointment of college presidents.
Dempsey said Patrick’s goals were on target but rejected the governor’s proposed solutions. Dempsey said he worried that centralizing control of community colleges in Boston would inhibit the schools from reacting to local needs quickly. The House budget retains individual line items in the state budget for each school while giving the governor the power to appoint the chairmen of each college’s board.
“We think it’s a balanced approach, really a hybrid,” Dempsey said.
As of April 6, Dempsey said there were 1,466 homeless families living in hotels across the state. To help address that problem, the House budget appropriates $10 million for 923 new housing vouchers, $8.5 million for residential assistance, and $11.9 million for communities to bus homeless students back to their old districts.
