Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘MA state budget’ Category

In Quotes

“For Massachusetts to retain its perceived advantage as the nation’s Education State with its ensuing benefits, policymakers need to change course and make prudent new investments in early education now.” Jim Squires, National Institute for Early Education Research, Boston Globe, May 18, 2012

Read Full Post »

On Wednesday, May 16, the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee released its recommendations for $32.275 billion in state appropriations for the fiscal year 2013 budget. The proposal addresses a $1.4 billion budget gap, draws on $290 million from the state’s rainy day fund and includes no new taxes. The Department of Early Education [...]

Read Full Post »

Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a $32.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 that includes $487.61 million for the Department of Early Education and Care. The budget process now moves to the Senate. The Senate Committee on Ways and Means is expected to release its budget recommendations during the week of May [...]

Read Full Post »

On Monday the Massachusetts House of Representatives begins debate on the House Ways and Means Committee fiscal year 2013 budget, released last week, along with 870 amendments. Among the amendments are several relating to early education that we urge the House to support: Implement all provisions in An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency [...]

Read Full Post »

On Wednesday, April 11, the Massachusetts House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released its recommendations for $32.3 billion in state appropriations for the fiscal year 2013 (FY13) budget. The proposal, which addresses a projected $1.3 billion budget gap, does not call for any new taxes or fees, and makes use of one-time revenue sources such [...]

Read Full Post »

Over the past decade, pre-kindergarten enrollment across the country has increased, but states’ spending on pre-kindergarten has fallen 15% in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars, according to a report – “The State of Preschool 2011″ – released yesterday in Washington by the National Institute for Early Education Research. State funding for pre-k was down almost $60 million [...]

Read Full Post »

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has taken a state-by-state look at the status of full-day kindergarten (FDK) across the country.  Only 10 states (Massachusetts not among them) and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes requiring school districts to provide publicly funded full-day kindergarten. In many states, including Massachusetts, children in some districts have access [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 422 other followers