Over the last several months, I have been contributing Voices/Perspectives columns to the website of CommonWealth Magazine, a leading policy journal in Massachusetts. My latest, copied below, looks at the federal Early Learning Challenge grant recently awarded to Massachusetts as an opportunity to leverage increased state investments in fiscal year 2013: When Governor Deval Patrick [...]
Archive for the ‘MA state budget’ Category
Build on the Momentum Created by the Early Learning Challenge
Posted in Early Learning Challenge, MA state budget on February 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Hundreds Press MA Legislators to Fund Early Education and Care
Posted in Early educators, MA Legislature, MA state budget on February 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
More than 400 early educators and advocates, many of them dressed in red, gathered at the Massachusetts State House yesterday to urge legislators to include funds for increased compensation and other line items related to early education and care in the fiscal year 2013 budget. Speaker after speaker noted that early educators are meeting the [...]
MA Governor Releases FY13 Budget Proposal
Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA state budget on January 26, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick released a $32.3 billion budget recommendation for fiscal year 2013 that includes $260 million in new revenues generated, in part, by taxing the sale of candy and soda, raising the cigarette tax, and expanding the bottle bill. While the governor’s budget level funds many items related to early education and [...]
In Quotes
Posted in Early Learning Challenge, MA state budget, Quotes on January 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“The Early Learning Challenge grant and an improving economy provide an opportunity for Massachusetts to truly lead the nation. We must invest more in all children, but particularly our youngest learners.” Amy O’Leary, Early Education for All Campaign, Boston, January 17, 2012
MA Governor Joins Early Learning Challenge Celebration
Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early Learning Challenge, Federal, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Reading proficiency on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.” The familiar children’s song, performed by preschoolers from Boston’s Ellis Memorial & Eldredge House, set the tone for yesterday’s event at the Massachusetts State House celebrating the federal Early Learning Challenge grant of $50 million over four years that the commonwealth was awarded last month. From [...]
Build on the Momentum: Increase MA Investments in High-Quality Early Education and Care
Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA state budget on January 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
On December 20, some 50 people gathered at the nation’s first consolidated Department of Early Education and Care for the Executive Office of Education’s public forum on the fiscal year 2013 Massachusetts state budget. The forum, convened by Secretary of Education Paul Reville, took place just days after Massachusetts was awarded $50 million and earned [...]
Happy Holidays
Posted in Early Learning Challenge, Federal, MA state budget on December 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
(Eye on Early Education will resume publication on January 3, 2012.) As another year draws to a close and 2012 approaches, we wish you a happy, healthy new year. We thank you for your work on behalf of young children and families. We invite you to celebrate Massachusetts’ success in the federal Race to the [...]
Cracks in the Foundation of MA K-12 Funding
Posted in K-12, MA state budget, Research on December 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The foundation budget established under the Education Reform Act of 1993 to calculate adequate baseline spending for the state’s public school districts understates the costs of special education and health insurance by more than $2 billion, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. “By comparing actual spending to the foundation [...]
Invest in our “Rising Stars”
Posted in MA state budget on December 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick neatly summed up the economic argument for investing in education when he announced the education agenda for his second term last month. “In Massachusetts, where brainpower is our calling card,” he said, “we need the best educated citizenry and workforce in the nation.” Ensuring that Massachusetts children are proficient readers by [...]
At the November EEC Board Meeting
Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, Early Learning Challenge, MA state budget, QRIS on November 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Board of Early Education and Care approved a preferred fiscal year 2013 budget that is $823,000 above FY12 funding. The preferred budget includes funds for a separate line item for the Quality Rating and Improvement System as well as for unfilled positions in the department. In other news from the November meeting of the [...]





