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 Alert #15: FY2018         
6/19/18

ALERT SUMMARY:

1.  PURVIEW:  State (not federal)

2.  LEVEL OF MOBILIZATION:  staff, students, volunteers, friends, colleagues

3.  TIMELINE:  immediate 
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON
FOR ABE AND IMMIGRANT FAMILIES
 
With just 11 days left before the start of the new fiscal year, key decisions about the FY 2019 budget remain to be made. Your efforts NOW can help determine not only the investments Massachusetts makes in adult education, but also whether basic protections for immigrant families are put into law.
    
Here's what's at stake:
  • While the version of the budget approved by the House of Representatives would increase the appropriation (line item #7035-0002) for adult basic education to $32.73 million in FY 2019, the budget passed by the Senate goes even further and sets funding at $33.35 million.
  • Both the House and the Senate added earmarks for specific adult education programs to the ABE line item during their respective budget debates. MCAE opposes earmarks, as they undermine the open and competitive grant process, and continues to seek their removal from the final budget.
  • Several new and vitally important legal protections for Massachusetts' immigrant families were inserted into the Senate's version of the budget.  It is essential that they be included in the final version of the budget as well.  This editorial from Friday's Boston Globe helps to explain why such protections are so critical.
Given how little time is left for the conference committee on the budget to wrap up its work, MCAE asks that you please call both your Representative and Senator AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.   You can find your elected officials and their contact information here.
 
If your Representative or Senator is one of the negotiators on the conference committee (see list below), please urge them to:
  • Keep the Senate's ABE funding level of $33.35 million (line item #7035-002) in the final version of the budget AND
  • Keep the Senate's protections for immigrant families in the final version of the budget as well.
If neither your Representative nor your Senator is a member of the conference committee, please ask them to:
  • Speak with their colleagues serving on the conference committee and with their legislative leaders and ask them to:
    • Keep the Senate's ABE funding level of $33.35 million (line item #7035-002) in the final version of the budget AND
    • Keep the Senate's protections for immigrant families in the final version of the budget as well.
Of course, please thank your Representative and Senator for his or her support of ABE - we truly are on the verge of taking a sizable step forward this year!
 
Once you've made your calls, please use MCE's new feedback tool, available here, to let us know where your elected officials stand.

 
MEMBERS OF THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE  
ON THE FY 2019 BUDGET  
 
REPRESENTATIVES
 
CITY/TOWN
 
TELEPHONE
Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez    Jamaica Plain    617-722-2990  
Rep. Stephen Kulik    Worthington   617-722-2380   
Rep. Todd Smola    Warren      617-722-2100   
         
SENATORS 
 
CITY/TOWN
 
TELEPHONE
Sen. Karen Spilka    Ashland    617-722-1640
Sen. Joan Lovely    Salem      617-722-1410
Sen. Vinny deMacedo    Plymouth      617-722-1330
 
 
Reminder - Advocacy Survey Ends June 29!
 
A huge thank you to those of you who completed our 2018 Advocacy Survey - we really appreciate your insights and perspective. If you haven't yet had an opportunity to respond, please just click here - the survey should take no more than 5 to 10 minutes. In exchange for your time, you'll be entered into drawings for one free registration for MCAE's NETWORK 2019 conference and for a $25 Amazon gift card.
    
 
QUESTIONS?

Email  Jeff McLynch or call 617-482-6223.

 
NEXT MCAE PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING 
 
July 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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