Senator Patricia Jehlen (D- Somerville) is happy to announce that the Senate recently approved a FY24 budget of $55.9 billion. It includes expansion of childcare funding, first steps toward free community college, and increased funding for the MBTA, thanks to $1 billion in revenue from the Fair Share Amendment. The most spirited debate in the Senate was on a Republican amendment to strike the plan to allow Massachusetts high school graduates without documents to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. Senator Jehlen was pleased that this amendment was defeated 3-37, although it had previously been controversial.

Senator Jehlen’s Priorities

Senator Jehlen was successful in advocacy for many of her top priorities in education, elder services, criminal justice reform, and housing and homelessness supports. The filed budget included a sustained increase in Chapter 70 school funding and maintained the implementation of the Student Opportunity Act. In addition, it included a long-time priority for Senator Jehlen, the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, funded with $550K again this year. The Consortium is a growing group of school districts creating and implementing project-based assessment pilots as an alternative to standardized testing regimens.

Senator Jehlen was also successful in including $250K for the New England Innocence Project to continue the work of the Exoneree Network. This program has been extremely successful in its first year by helping exonerated individuals, who spend decades in prison, find homes, jobs, and the necessities of life.

“We recently held an event at the statehouse with a group of exonerees who spoke of the work done by the Exoneree Network,” said Senator Jehlen. “We learned that in just the first year in 2022, the Network helped one exoneree find access to a Senior Care Options plan.”

Implementing Fair Share Revenue

The Senate also included provisions to transparently spend revenue for the voter approved surtax on millionaires, splitting the revenue evenly between new education and transportation spending.

Senator Jehlen said, “It’s important that the Senate’s budget includes $1 billion generated from the Fair Share ballot initiative voters approved in November 2022. The Senate budget clearly invests these new public dollars in education and transportation, keeping our promise to the voters.”

Notable Fair Share Education investments include:

• $100 million for Massachusetts School Building Authority Capital Supports for cities, towns and school districts experiencing extraordinary school project costs impacted by post-COVID inflationary pressures
• $100 million for Financial Aid Expansion to expand financial aid programs for in-state students attending state universities through MASSGrant Plus, bringing the total proposal for this program to $275 million, more than doubling the amount of scholarship funding provided by the state just two fiscal years prior
• $25 million to reduce the waiting list for the income-eligible childcare assistance program, which will create approximately 2,200 new slots for children
• $25 million for capital investments in early education and care programs to build capacity and ensure the ability of programs to safely accommodate additional slots
• $20 million for a Free Community College Program for nursing students as a pilot to support a high-need workforce area and build toward universal free community college in the fall of 2024
• $15 million for Free Community College Implementation Supports to collect necessary data, develop best practices, and build capacity for free community college in the fall of 2024

Notable Fair Share Transportation investments include:

• $190 million for MBTA Capital Investments for critical capital resources for both the subway and commuter rail systems
• $100 million for Regional Transit Funding and Grants, which will exclusively be used to support the work of the Regional Transit Authorities that serve the Commonwealth, more than doubling the total funding for RTAs to $194 million, including:

o $15 million for fare-free pilot program grants to provide six months of fare-free RTA service across the Commonwealth

o $4 million through the Community Transit Grant Program to support expanded mobility options for older adults, people with disabilities and lowincome individuals

• $5 million for MBTA Means-Tested Fares, which will cover initial exploration of the feasibility of implementing a means-tested fare program at the MBTA

Senator Jehlen’s Amendments

Senator Jehlen was successful in advocacy for many of her top priorities in education, elder services, criminal justice reform, and housing and homelessness supports. Through the amendment process, Senator Jehlen was able to secure funding for homeless outreach programs and local parks in Somerville. This includes:

• $75,000 for Community Action Agency Somerville whose mission is to help local families and individuals achieve financial security while working to eliminate the root causes of economic injustice
• $100,000 for the implementation of safety and access improvement at the intersection of Alewife Brook Parkways and Broadway in Somerville
• $75,000 for the Center for Teen Empowerment, Inc which creates teen leadership jobs in Somerville and Boston
• $75,000 for trails at Blessing of the Bay Park featuring an accessible trail along the Mystic River

Senator Jehlen also offered other successful amendments including:

• $300,000 to reduce hospitalizations, emergency department visits and delay longterm care placements of those diagnosed with dementia
• $50,000 to support LGBTQ Aging Commission
• $500,000 for the first step toward creating universal long term care insurance
• $450,000 to support paraprofessionals in obtaining teaching degrees, providing career ladder, diversifying the teaching workforce and addressing teacher shortages
• $450,000 for Jumpstart, which hires college students to assist in early childhood programs, giving children more adult attention and encouraging young people to consider teaching as a profession
• $100,000 for the Building Pathways non-profit organization that is dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of under-represented groups in the building trades, including women, people of color, people with disabilities, and other under-served groups
• Amendment clarifying that 75% of home care agency rates go to direct care workers

• Amendment establishing a task force to place geriatric patients now stuck in hospital psychiatric units

Senator Jehlen will continue to pursue other new proposals that weren’t successful this time:

• Fare free bus pilots for the MBTA, making fare free pilots available across city lines, increasing ridership, cutting time at stops
• Funds to acquire small properties and make them permanently affordable
• Rental bridge subsidies for older people on waitlists for public housing or vouchers, preventing elder homelessness

Education

The Senate Ways and Means FY24 budget proposal takes the first step toward implementing the Senate’s Student Opportunity Plan by making high-quality education more accessible and by making record investments to support students across the full breadth of the Commonwealth’s education system, from Massachusetts’ youngest learners to adults re-entering higher education.

Recognizing that investments in our early education and care system support the underlying economic competitiveness of the Commonwealth, the Senate’s budget makes a historic $1.5 billion investment in early education and care. This is the largest-ever proposed annual appropriation for early education and care in Massachusetts history. The FY24 budget will maintain operational support for providers, support the early education and care workforce, and prioritize accessibility and affordability throughout our early education and care system.

Notable funding includes:

• $475 million for a full year of funding for C3 grants which are received by 88% of early education and care programs in the Commonwealth
• $45 million for the center-based childcare rate reserve for reimbursement rates for subsidized care, including:
• $30 million for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative, which empowers school districts to expand prekindergarten and preschool opportunities through public-private partnerships. This is double the amount that was appropriated for this initiative in FY23
• $25 million in new funding to reduce the waiting list for income-eligible childcare assistance program, which will create approximately 2,200 new slots for children
• $25 million in new funding for capital investments in early education and care programs to build capacity and ensure the ability of programs to safely accommodate additional slots
• $17.5 million for grants to Head Start programs, which provide crucial early education and childcare services to low-income families
• $10 million for professional development and higher education opportunities for early educators, to assist with recruitment and retention challenges in the workforce

In addition to these appropriations, the Fiscal Year 2024 budget includes a policy section that will allow subsidized early education and care programs to provide childcare discounts to their own staff members.

For K-12 education, the Senate commits once again to fully funding and implementing the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) by FY 2027, investing $6.59 billion in Chapter 70 funding, an increase of $604 million over FY 2023.

The Senate’s budget also welcomes students regardless of their race, national origin, citizenship, or immigration status, making clear that all high school students who attend for three years and graduate from a Massachusetts high school are eligible to receive in-state tuition at our public institutions of higher education. While this has been a major debate in the past, the Senate roundly rejected an amendment to remove the in-state tuition change by a vote of 3-37.

“This vote represents over a decade of advocacy work that changed the minds of senators and told the stories of students in Massachusetts looking to get an education,” said Senator Jehlen. “I’m proud to stand with my colleagues and the students who will not be more able to afford college with in-state tuition rates after attending Massachusetts high-schools.”

Health, Mental Health & Family Care

The Senate budget funds MassHealth at a total of $19.93 billion, providing more than 2.3 million people with continued access to affordable, accessible, and comprehensive health care services. Other health investments include:

• $26.3 million for grants to local Councils on Aging to increase assistance per elder to $14 from $12 in FY 2023
• $12.8 million for Elder Nutrition Meals on Wheels, after an increase of $1 million through the amendment process
• $1 million, adopted through the amendment process, for the development, expansion, and operation of freestanding birth centers and support for community based maternal health services

The Senate’s FY24 budget codifies into law the federal Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) provisions that protect access to preventive services. By enshrining the ACA protections into state law, insurance carriers across the Commonwealth will be required to provide coverage for preventive services without imposing cost-sharing such as co-pays and deductibles. With this vital step, the Senate is protecting access to preventive health care services for millions of our residents, including screenings for cancer, diabetes, HIV, and depression, as well as preventive medications such as statins, immunizations, and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV), and further protecting the rights and freedoms of residents to make their own health care choices without federal interference.

Homelessness Prevention

As the Senate puts in motion plans to make the Commonwealth more inclusive, housing affordability remains on the top of residents’ minds. To that end, the Senate’s FY24 budget makes a historic $1.05 billion investment in housing supports, dedicating resources to programs that support housing stability, residential assistance, and homelessness assistance.

The budget prioritizes relief for families and individuals who continue to face challenges brought on by the pandemic and financial insecurity, including $324 million for Emergency Assistance Family Shelters and $195 million for Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), which will provide rental assistance that a household can receive at $7,000. Other housing investments include:

• $200 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), including $20.4 million in funds carried forward from FY 2023, creating more than 750 new vouchers and allowing the program to move to a payment standard with a benefit of 110% of the federal small-area fair market rental price, significantly broadening housing options for those served by the program
• $110.8 million for assistance for homeless individuals
• $39.6 million for the HomeBASE diversion and rapid re-housing programs, bolstering assistance under this program to two years with a per household maximum benefit of $20,000
• $26 million for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP), including $9.1 million in funds carried forward from FY 2023. This funding increase will create 250 new vouchers and will pair with $2.5 million for grants to improve or create accessible housing units. Both programs will also benefit from the inclusion of project-based vouchers in AHVP, which will stimulate the building of new deeply affordable and accessible homes
• $6.4 million for the Home and Healthy for Good re-housing and supportive services program, including:
• $250,000 for homeless LGBTQ youth

In addition to these record supports, the budget makes permanent a COVID-era renter protection that slows down the court process in eviction proceedings when the tenant has a pending rental assistance application.

The FY24 Senate Budget is available on the Massachusetts legislature’s website: https://malegislature.gov/Budget/FY2024/SenateBudget.

A conference committee will now reconcile differences between the versions of the budget passed by the Senate and House of Representatives.