Teachers, advocates call on lawmakers for more education funding in budget process

A coalition of teachers and other unions, advocates and more called on the Massachusetts governor and lawmakers to make education funding adjustments in the fiscal year 2027 budget to address was they called a “fiscal crisis” in the state’s public schools.

“Massachusetts has great public schools but maintaining that quality will require immediate investment and long-range planning,” the Unite for Our Future coalition said in a statement. “The spike in communities seeking Proposition 2½ overrides must be seen as a call for help from the state. And that help is needed everywhere, as individual communities grapple with problems specific to their regions, as well as with those issues affecting classrooms across the Commonwealth.”

The coalition, made up of 13 organizations including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts AFL-CIO and more, sent budget recommendations in a letter to Gov. Maura Healey and state legislators Monday. The address comes over a month after Healey filed her $63.4 FY27 budget proposal in January.

The letter calls on several budget adjustments for priority areas, including allowing undoing the Chapter 70 formula that caps state aid inflation adjustments at 4.5% to allow schools to make up for falling behind years of high inflation, keeping minimum aid at the $150 from the current budget, more funding for communities exceeding special education spending thresholds, and greater reimbursement for transportation.

The coalition calls the factors a “perfect storm” behind schools’ fiscal crisis, citing “rising special education and transportation costs, funding lost to charter schools, the constraints of Proposition 2½, and technical issues with the formula that determines how our schools are funded.”

The letter also cites the impact of federal policies under the Trump administration, including funding cuts and declining enrollment due to immigration action.

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Districts that have seen enrollment declines in their immigrant communities are receiving less funding through the state formula, the letter says, encouraging lawmakers to create a “pothole” account to provide immediate funding relief.

“The federal administration is doing its best to undermine public education, and that demands a strong response in the form of a state budget that displays unwavering support for students, no matter where they live, what their needs are and which public school they attend,” MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy said. “Cities and towns can’t do it by themselves, and they need the power provided by state spending to make sure all students are able to thrive.”

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