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MAJOR PUSH FOR ABE FUNDING NEEDED BEFORE HOUSE BUDGET DEBATE BEGINS
Next week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives is expected to debate the Commonwealth's budget for the next fiscal year (FY 2019).
Thanks to your efforts, adult basic education is poised to make major strides in that budget, but additional outreach is needed now to make even further progress.
Due to your sustained advocacy in recent months,
the version of the budget the House will consider next week would appropriate roughly $32.6 million for ABE in FY 2019,
a nearly $3 million or approximately 10 percent increase over current funding levels. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez and others have shown true leadership in recommending such an increase, but more headway can - and should - be made this year in reversing the 30 percent decline in purchasing power that ABE funding has suffered since FY 2001.
To accomplish that goal, Representative Bob Koczera (D-New Bedford) has put forward Amendment #950, which would bring ABE appropriations to $34.5 million in FY 2019.
This higher level of funding would enable programs to enroll still more students, to reach under-served communities, to advance curriculum development, and to improve working conditions for dedicated directors, instructors, advisors, and counselors. To learn more about MCAE's FY 2019 budget request of $34.5 million, please click here.
The Koczera Amendment has already attracted 44 Representatives as cosponsors (see the list below), but more legislative allies are needed if it is to be adopted next week.
That's where you come in.
If your Representative IS on the list below, please:
- call them to thank them for their support of adult education and for lending their name to the Koczera Amendment,
- ask them to speak to their colleagues about signing on, AND
- ask them to vote in favor of the amendment.
If your Representative IS NOT on the list below, please:
- call them immediately to urge them to become a cosponsor of the Koczera Amendment (Amdt. #950) AND
- ask them to vote in favor of the amendment.
Since action on the budget in anticipated next week, please make your calls as soon as possible.
To find your State Representative and his or her phone number, please visit
https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator
and enter your street address.
You may only be able to reach an aide to your Representative, but you should still make your request to them, as they serve as your legislator's "eyes and ears".
After you call your State Representative, please take a moment and contact Jeff McLynch, MCAE's Director, at either 617-482-6223 or
[email protected] to let him know who you called and how it went.
Thank you - and, remember, more calls mean more progress for adult education in Massachusetts!
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Koczera Amendment (#950) Cosponsors (as of April 16, 2018)
| Christine Barber |
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Thomas Golden |
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Smitty Pignatelli |
| Antonio Cabral |
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Solomon Goldstein-Rose |
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Denise Provost |
| Evandro Carvalho |
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Patricia Haddad |
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Angelo Puppolo |
| Tackey Chan |
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Kate Hogan |
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David Rogers |
| Mike Connolly |
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Russell Holmes |
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John Rogers |
| William Crocker |
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Mary Keefe |
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Paul Schmid |
| Claire Cronin |
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Kay Khan |
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Frank Smizik |
| Daniel Cullinane |
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Jack Lewis |
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Thomas Stanley |
| Diana DiZoglio |
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Adrian Madaro |
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Jose Tosado |
| Carolyn Dykema |
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Elizabeth Malia |
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Paul Tucker |
| Tricia Farley-Bouvier |
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Juana Matias |
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Steven Ultrino |
| William Galvin |
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Joseph McKenna |
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Aaron Vega |
| Sean Garballey |
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Paul McMurtry |
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Chris Walsh |
| Denise Garlick |
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James Miceli |
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Bud Williams |
| Carmine Gentile |
|
Frank Moran |
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NEXT MCAE PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING
APR. 20, 2018
10 a.m. to 12 noon
World Education
44 Farnsworth St
Boston, MA
For those unable to attend in person, this month's meeting
is accessible via
conference call.
Please contact Jeff McLynch at 617-482-6223 to RSVP
and to obtain the necessary
call-in information.
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