On Wednesday, May 18, the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee released its budget recommendations for $30.54 billion in total state spending in fiscal year 2012 (FY12). The commonwealth faces a budget gap of $1.9 billion for FY12, with no federal stimulus dollars and limited state reserves. The challenging fiscal climate is reflected in the SWM recommendations, with cuts in some line items affecting high-quality early education and care and level funding in others:
- The Department of Early Education and Care was funded at $488.90 million, down from the FY11 funding level of $498.60 million.
- The full-day kindergarten grant program was funded at 20.95 million, a $2 million decrease from FY11.
- Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) was level funded at $7.5 million, the same as FY11.
- The state scholarship program administered by the Department of Higher Education was level funded at $86.51 million, the same as FY11. The line item includes language specifically protecting the Early Childhood Educators Scholarship: “The department shall make funds available for early educator scholarships in amounts equal to the amounts made available in fiscal year 2011, reduced in proportion to the overall reduction of this item from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2012.” (Please note this is a corrected version, fixing an earlier error about the history of naming the early educator scholarships in the overall line item.)
Click here for more information about the SWM Committee’s recommendations for programs administered by the Department of Early Education and Care.
State senators have until Friday, May 20, at noon to file amendments to the SWM budget. The Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the budget on Wednesday, May 25. We will be in touch over the next few days about amendments and how you can help advocate for young children and high-quality early education during the debate.
We will continue to analyze the SWM budget and will provide more details as they become available. If you have questions, please contact Titus DosRemedios at tdosremedios@strategiesforchildren.org.
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