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July 1, 2009

The budgetary response to the state’s fiscal crisis dominated discussions of education funding in Massachusetts in the current year. In order to put the current education finance discussion in perspective, however, it is important to looks at historical trends for primary and secondary (K-12) public education within the state and to compare education spending in Massachusetts with other states and with the nation as a whole.

This brief examines changes in Massachusetts education spending from 1993 to 2006. In that time, Massachusetts’ support of public education is compared to other states in terms of federal, state and local spending. Finally, the brief looks at how the costs of education in Massachusetts are shared between the federal, state and local funds.

 

June 29, 2009

This Budget Brief describes and compares the budgets presented by the Governor (first as presented in January, then as amended in April and finally as revised in May), and by the House, the Senate, and the Conference Committee. It examines how these budgets balance, how they differ in their uses of revenues, and how much non-recurring revenue each uses.

The Brief also examines progress that has been made in improving the transparency of the budget process and suggests further improvements. One significant improvement suggested is that the state should provide summary budget documents that list all spending and all revenue and show how they balance.

 

June 19, 2009

Seeking to close a $5 billion budget gap, the legislative Conference Committee crafted a budget that will require sacrifices across the board. The budget includes cuts that will limit access to health care, reduce public employee benefits, and decrease funding for public education, human services, public health, public safety protection, environmental protection, and virtually every other area of state government. To avoid cutting even further into public services that affect the quality of life of people in the Commonwealth, the Conference Committee budget also includes a sales tax increase (to 6.25 percent), an expansion of the sales tax to alcohol purchases, and a modest reduction in the tax subsidies provided to movie producers. While these tax increases restore only a portion of the tax reductions of the past decade, they will help to strengthen the state’s long-term fiscal stability.

 

June 11, 2009

The severe national recession has made the Fiscal Year 2010 budget process unusually challenging, both substantively and procedurally. Because the current baseline tax revenue estimate for FY 2010 is $3.4 billion below the tax revenue estimate on which the FY 2009 budget was built, the state faces extraordinary fiscal pressures.

Absent tax or spending changes, the cost of maintaining current services in FY 2010 would be approximately $5 billion more than the recurring revenue that will be available to finance the state budget. This $5 billion budget gap is forcing major spending cuts, tax and fee increases, and the use of federal stimulus aid provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

 

March 20, 2009

This MassBudget Brief describes what benefits Massachusetts is slated to receive through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and what impact those benefits could have on our state and its residents. It is particularly important to consider which elements of ARRA can be used to address the Commonwealth’s budget gap. For example, the highway and bridge infrastructure funds in ARRA will allow Massachusetts to undertake a number of important projects to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure. However, because these funds are specifically targeted for new projects, they will not have an effect on the state’s ongoing budget crisis. Similarly, tax cuts, while benefiting thousands of state residents, are not directly related to state fiscal issues.

The following brief provides information on the funds, tax cuts, and benefits available to Massachusetts through ARRA, the purpose of those funds, and whether or not they can directly help the state address its current budget crisis.

 

January 14, 2009

Ten years ago Massachusetts enjoyed substantial annual budget surpluses. As the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY 2010) budget process begins, the Commonwealth faces a deficit that may exceed $3 billion. What happened over this decade that took us from fiscal strength to a severe fiscal crisis?

Clearly, there are both short-term and long-term causes of our fiscal crisis.