FY24 Budget Update:

Today, the House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released its proposed budget for FY24. You can read the full budget here, Executive Summary here, and the Chairman's letter here. The $56.2B budget includes $700M more in spending than the Governor's FY24 budget proposal. It represents a $3.74B or 7.1% increase from the FY23 budget. This budget allocates $500M of the revenue from the Fair Share Amendment in new investments in education and transportation and splits evenly between the two priority areas, compared to the Governor's 51%/49% split. The House also uses the new revenue to add to existing appropriations, not to replace previous spending levels.

As the Commonwealth enters an uncertain economic period, the HWM budget proposal includes strong investments for workforce development including:

  • Career Centers: $15M
  • YouthWorks: $31M
  • Connecting Activities: $9M
  • WCTF: $17M
  • Learn to Earn: $300K
  • Re-entry: $4.75M
  • Apprenticeships: $4.97M
  • Career Technical Institutes (CTI): $20M
  • Manufacturing: $2.5M

In addition to workforce investments, the HWM budget includes:
  • $20M for the Governor's proposed MassReconnect program to support certificate or degree completion among adults 25+ with some or no college;
  • $490M in Commonwealth Cares for Children Grants (C3) including $90M in rate increases for early education and care providers, $10M to pay for childcare needs for early educators; and $10M for higher education opportunities for early education and care workers;
  • An historic $1B investment in homelessness prevention including $180.6M for Rental Assistance for Families in Transition; $173.2M for the MA Rental Voucher Program; and makes permanent Chapter 257 eviction protection while a tenant has a pending application for rental aid;
  • $100M for a new Green School Works Grant program for public K-12 schools to apply for projects related to green infrastructure;
  • $161M for permanent universal school meals;
  • $250M for MBTA capital needs;
  • A two-year pilot program extending eligibility to ConnectorCare for those who are found not longer eligible for MassHealth in the current redetermination process and who are at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Limit; and
  • Proposes legalizing online sale of Massachusetts lottery products.

We want to sincerely thank Speaker Mariano, Chairman Michlewitz, Chairman Cutler and the entire Ways and Means Committee for the critical investments this budget makes in workforce development. We look forward to working with the House when it debates and passes its budget during the week of April 24th.

See MWA's budget sheet for priority workforce line items tracked by MWA. See MWA's Budget Workbook for additional line items related to workforce development. Also see the corresponding regional tabs in the workbook for the names and contact information for your region's Representatives.