Whither Funding for Early Education and K-12 in MA? ?

October 4, 2011 by Irene Sege

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

How much has the fiscal crisis spawned by the deep recession affected funding for early education and care in Massachusetts? How does funding for public schools in the commonwealth compare to other states? The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has some answers in two recent briefs. Behind the numbers the center cites are children and families who feel the impact of? state and local budgets.

The budget for fiscal year 2012 that went into effect July 1 includes $506.6 million* for early education and care, MassBudget reports, ?a cut of $104.3 million, or 17.1 percent, when compared to the FY 2009 inflation-adjusted appropriation of $610.9 million.? The Great Recession, MassBudget notes, began shortly after passage of the FY09 budget. Here?s a summary of the cuts in early education and care:

• Child care subsidies: $64.9 million cut
• Universal Pre-Kindergarten program: $5.1 million cut
• Healthy Families home visiting program: $3.2 million cut
• Head Start: $2.9 million cut
• Early childhood mental health: $2.3 million cut

(* Includes funding for Children?s Trust Fund)
(For more information see Fiscal Fallout: Cuts to Early Education and Care.)

On the public school front, MassBudget looked at recent K-12 data on FY09 from the U.S. Census Bureau (Public School Funding in Massachusetts: Where We Are, What Has Changed, and How We Compare to Other States) and found:

• ?Massachusetts saw a significant increase in federal education revenue in FY 2009 as a part of federal stimulus efforts to protect local schools from being harmed by cuts in state aid.?
• ?Massachusetts ranks high in per-pupil spending but average in total education spending as a percentage of the state economy.?
• ?Massachusetts schools continue to rely heavily on local funding sources, in particular?. While Massachusetts has shifted some of the education funding responsibility away from local sources, however, Massachusetts is still heavily reliant on local revenues when compared to other states. In FY 2009, Massachusetts was ninth most dependent upon local funding.?

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Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, K-12, MA state budget | 1 Comment

Source: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2011/10/04/whither-funding-for-early-education-and-k-12-in-ma/

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