The Massachusetts House and Senate have both finalized their FY’27 state budget proposals. Now we are in the final stages of the budget process: the Conference Committee is negotiating the final budget proposal.
Take action today! Click here to contact
the Conference Committee!
Ask them to invest the maximum amount possible
in early education and care!
In this budget cycle, there are two Conference Committee budget processes happening. One process is for the FY’27 state budget, and the other is for the FY’26 Fair Share Surtax Surplus Supplemental Budget.
On June 2nd, the Fair Share Surtax Surplus Supplemental Budget Conference Committee released its budget. For early education and care, the following priorities were included:
- $150 million to fund the High-Quality Early Education & Care Affordability Fund
- $38.7 million in line item 1596-2702, which includes:
- $12.5 million to reduce the waitlist for CCFA income-eligible families
- $10.7 million for CCFA contracted seats
- $8 million for CCFA access for early educators
- $7.5 million for the loan forgiveness program for providers
- $20 million for Early Literacy
We expect the full Legislature to vote on this budget soon.
An overview of the FY’27 state budget process
For the FY’27 state budget, a six-member Conference Committee of legislators is meeting now to negotiate differences in the House and Senate budgets. The negotiators are three members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives: Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, House Committee Ways and Means; Assistant Vice Chair Kip Diggs, House Committee Ways and Means; and Todd M. Smola, Ranking Minority, House Committee on Ways and Means. The committee also has three members of the Massachusetts Senate: Chairman Michael Rodrigues, Senate Committee on Ways and Means; Vice Chair Jo Comerford, Senate Committee on Ways and Means; and Patrick O’Connor, Ranking Minority, Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
For early education and care funding, there is a difference of more than $44 million between the House and Senate versions of the FY’27 budget. These investments are necessary to maintain existing services, support access and affordability for families, strengthen and grow the early educator workforce, and continue our progress in building a high-quality early education system.
Your advocacy and outreach to legislators is essential. It will help ensure the sustainability and growth of the early education and care system, and it will support children, families, programs, and early educators across the Commonwealth.
For additional line-item detail, please see our Conference Committee letter. Though both the House and Senate invested over $1.8 billion for early education and care, details vary for specific line items.
To learn more about the next steps in the budget process and the Conference Committee, join Strategies for Children and Neighborhood Villages on Wednesday, June 10, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Zoom for our last Budget Breakdown session. You can register here.
Visit Strategies for Children’s Advocacy HQ to learn more and stay tuned for additional budget advocacy opportunities in the weeks ahead.