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FY 2020 budget provides education funding increase, includes some revenue
As lawmakers finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget, here is a look at the key stories from this budget cycle. Throughout the FY 2020 budget debate, two questions rose to the top:
- Will the FY 2020 budget adequately fix the state's outdated school funding formula?
- Will the FY 2020 budget include adequate revenue to pay for important investments?
For K-12 school funding, the FY 2020 budget gets closer to what it actually takes to provide a high quality education to all Massachusetts students. However, it does not include a multi-year plan to update the education funding formula. In the coming weeks, the Legislature will debate a recently released multi-year plan to update the formula for our K-12 schools starting in FY 2021, which could increase state funding for schools by $1.5 billion in 7 years when fully implemented.
(For a detailed look at just the FY 2020 budget for school funding, see the K-12 Education section of the analysis.)
The FY 2020 budget does include some anticipated revenue from recently enacted policy changes and from expected growth of existing revenue sources. These tax and non-tax revenue sources are expected to deliver $504.4 million in additional revenue in FY 2020. A number of already-scheduled tax cuts and other revenue losses, however, will eliminate most of this half billion in anticipated and proposed gains (see the Revenue section of the report for details).
The big revenue story in the FY 2020 budget, however, came not from the revenue proposals in the budget itself, but from the surprisingly strong tax collections through FY 2019 and how these affected the FY 2020 budget. Collections in FY 2019 exceeded earlier projections by more than a billion dollars, which allowed lawmakers to boost the funding for many programs and services, while also adding to the state's Stabilization Fund. Yet there is a real question of whether these strong tax collections will continue into FY 2020 and beyond.
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| The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. |
MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER
1 STATE STREET, SUITE 1250
BOSTON, MA 02109
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