FY24 Budget Update:

Yesterday, the Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee released its proposed FY2024 budget. The $55.8 billion proposal represents a $3.4 billion increase over the FY23 budget and proposes to spend $300 million more than the budget filed by the Administration in March and $400 million less than the House Budget filed just a few weeks ago. The SWM budget follows lower than expected April tax receipts. (Click here to read media coverage of the state's recent tax revenue.) The Senate budget includes use of $1 billion in revenue from the Fair Share Amendment and, like the House, splits spending this revenue 50/50 between education and transportation priorities. It also assumes $575 million in future tax relief, though the Senate is waiting to submit its own tax relief proposal.

This Senate's budget would make major investments in early education like both the Governor and House budget proposals, but prioritizes more investment in Community Colleges, adding $20 million for a free community college pilot program for nursing students and $15 million to begin investments toward a universal free community college program, in addition to $20 million for the Governor's MassReconnect proposal. The Senate also proposes a new policy to allow all high school students, regardless of immigration status, to both qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities and be eligible for state financial aid. Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C. allow immigrant students to access in-state tuition, and 18 also allow access to state financial aid including Rhode Island, New York, D.C., Texas, and Utah. You can read an overview of the budget in the message from the Chair.

The SWM budget proposal follows many of the Governor's proposed line items for workforce development investments, though with lower investments proposed for Connecting Activities and expanding apprenticeships, and $10 million more for WCTF/Donnelly Success Grants. Proposed funding for key MWA line items include:

• Career Centers: $5.96M (same as H1, $9M less than House)
• YouthWorks: $16.24M (same as H1, $14.76M less than House)
• Connecting Activities: $7.5M ($500K less than H1 and FY23, $1.5M less than House)
• WCTF: $20M ($10M more than H1, $3M more than House)
• Learn to Earn: $300K (same H1 and House)
• Re-entry: $2.5M (same as H1 and $2.25M less than House)
• Apprenticeships: $2.8M ($2.17M less than H1 and House)
• Career Technical Institutes (CTI): $15.3M (same as H1, $5M less than House)
• Manufacturing: $2.5M (same as H1 and House)

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 Senators.

The Senate plans to debate and pass its budget starting on May 23rd, with amendments due this Friday, 5/12. MWA will be working on securing amendments to raise the funding levels for our priorities. Please be sure to reach out to your Senator(s) and thank them for their support for workforce development, and help them understand why we need their support in increasing investment for our priorities. Not sure who to reach out to? Questions about what to say? Reach out to Raija at rvaisanen@massworkforce.com.