On Wednesday, April 13, 2016, the Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means unveiled its $39.48 billion state budget proposal for fiscal year 2017. The House proposal comes in at $76 million below the Governor’s proposal. For early education and care, the proposal closely matches Governor Baker’s budget with a few changes, most notably a $10 million rate reserve to support the early education workforce.
In his letter to House members, Chairman Brian Dempsey writes, “Additionally, the FY17 Committee budget continues to prioritize funding for quality early education. It provides for a $10 million rate reserve to ensure that early education providers can hire and retain high quality staff. Furthermore, it includes a newly created quality supports account, funded at $31.5 million, giving the department improved ability to make targeted grants to support and encourage quality based programming.”
Visit our FY17 budget webpage for more information.
Budget amendments are currently being filed. Stay tuned in the days ahead for further updates and advocacy opportunities. The House of Representatives is expected to debate the budget during the week of April 25.
For more information, please contact Laura Healy at lhealy@strategiesforchildren.org or 617-330-7389.
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