Seven of the 26 cities are not currently participating in the state’s pre-K implementation program. Child care providers in cities that are participating say that while it enforces a mixed-delivery approach highly valued by preschool advocates, universal access for every 4-year-old by the end of the year is a pipe dream.
state budget
Posted inState Government
Growing health care pressure drives up spending in Healey’s annual budget
MassHealth spending would increase more than 7 percent under Gov. Maura Healey’s new state budget proposal, roughly twice as much as all other state spending in a reflection of the challenge Beacon Hill faces to control health care costs.
Posted inOpinion
Why Massachusetts must get serious about state spending
Massachusetts is firmly in a parochial phase, reflected in policy choices over the past decade that have led to job losses, rising living costs, and outmigration of talent and investment.
Posted inState Government
Senators get ‘enough yeses’ to add $43.5 million to budget
The Senate Ways and Means Committee proposed an underlying budget that started at $61.32 billion, as Democrats forge ahead with their spending appetite despite modest state tax revenues and federal funding uncertainty.
Posted inOpinion
We solved a big budget crisis before by closing corporate loopholes and tax dodges. We should do it again.
Massachusetts is one of the richest per-capita places in the world. We have the wealth to weather this storm, and maintain the state’s fiscal strength, by tapping a portion of the state’s rainy day fund and raising significant new revenue from the world’s largest, most profitable corporations.
Posted inGovernment
Emergency shelter commission backs recommendations for $1B program
A special commission tasked with offering solutions to the state’s overwhelmed emergency housing assistance program voted on Tuesday to approve a report with a series of recommendations, but no clear roadmap.
Posted inState Government
Healey sets in motion some mild belt-tightening
If the Legislature declines to go along with governor’s emergency shelter funding plan or goes in a different direction, the budget for this year could fall quickly out of balance again.
Posted inState Government
Negotiators reach agreement ‘in principle’ on state budget
TWO WEEKS INTO the fiscal year, legislative budget writers have reached an agreement on the fiscal 2023 state budget. Ways and Means chairs Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues […]
Posted inEconomy
State budget raises welfare grants for poor families
POOR FAMILIES AND older adults getting cash assistance from the state are likely to see a boost in their payments this January – a boon to struggling families from a […]
Posted inEconomy
Despite pandemic, Baker proposes higher spending
Despite the pandemic-related recession and high unemployment rates, and an expected drop in state tax revenues, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday released a budget proposal for the current fiscal year […]
Posted inEconomy
Massachusetts ends fiscal 2020 with $700 million budget hole
MASSACHUSETTS ENDED 2020 with a nearly $700 million budget gap, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday, as he filed a proposed closeout budget with the Legislature. Baker, in his filing letter, wrote […]
Posted inHealth Care
$1.1 billion budget bill packed with local earmarks
THE LEGISLATURE SENT Gov. Charlie Baker a $1.1 billion supplemental budget bill on Thursday, an indication of the staggering sums the state is spending responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The 57-page […]
Posted inEconomy
State revenue shortfall could reach $3 billion
MASSACHUSETTS IS FACING a revenue shortfall of up to $3 billion over the next 15 months, according to a new analysis by the Center for State Policy Analysis. Of that, […]
Posted inEconomy
An economy put in a ‘medically-induced coma’
THE ECONOMIC CONVULSIONS from the coronavirus pandemic are unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. We’re not being blindsided by an unwelcome economic downturn; we have decided to set one in motion. […]
Posted inThe Download
Why are tax forecasts off?
The state’s economy is humming along. Unemployment is 4.2 percent, well below the national rate. The state’s gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 2.3 percent in the […]