Sen. Lewis and Mass. Senate use Fair Share revenue to send funding to Malden

Special to The Advocate

Senator Jason Lewis joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to pass a supplemental budget primarily using Fair Share revenue from the state’s wealthiest earners to support municipalities and invest in education and transportation projects, alongside passing other innovative policies and investments to lower housing costs, support immigrants, and more. To directly support Malden, Senator Lewis successfully advocated for the Senate’s bill to include $300,000 specifically allocated to support Malden Public Schools. The legislation also sends significant funding to cities and towns to help with the costs of major winter storms, increases local reimbursements for special education services, and supports the operation of the MBTA, including the low-income fare relief program.

“This bill shows the incredible success of the Fair Share Amendment in action,” said Senator Lewis. “Impactful education and transportation projects across Massachusetts are receiving critical support from the state, including additional funding marked for Malden Public Schools.”

Some highlights of this Fair Share supplemental budget:

• $535 million (M) for the MBTA for operational funding, commuter rail support and the low-income fare relief program
• $232M for municipalities for special education costs and circuit breaker reimbursements, including $32M to provide immediate relief for strained municipal budgets by increasing special education reimbursement rates in the current fiscal year
• $150M to support high-quality and accessible early education and care
• $100M to help towns and cities with extraordinary winter costs
• $100M to help public higher education institutions adapt to reductions in federal funding for research and development by establishing the Public Higher Education Bridge Funding Reserve
• $40M for early literacy initiatives
• $20M for home heating assistance (allocated from the Commonwealth’s general funds) for increased Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program fuel assistance, supporting households with children, veterans, disabled and elderly residents facing strain with their heating bills because of the colder than average winter
• $18.3M to expand financial aid offered to Massachusetts students enrolled at state universities and UMass campuses
• $10M to address Massachusetts’ shrinking primary care workforce through full tuition scholarships for UMass Chan Medical School students pursuing family medicine if they commit to remaining in Massachusetts and serving populations in need for five years after graduation
• $2.5M to boost school-based mental health support
• $1M to help public schools implement bell-to-bell, cellphone-free school policies
• $1M for legal defense services for immigrants (allocated from the state’s general funds), following the success of the legislature’s initial $5M investment that created the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative, which has already provided legal aid to hundreds of residents
• Incentivizing new affordable, moderate-income and middle-income housing construction through a new targeted sales tax exemption for building materials in areas with the greatest need

Senator Lewis was also successful in allocating an additional $1M for Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO) to supplement costs for student transportation and targeted wellness, social-emotional and academic support resources for the 33 METCO school districts, including Melrose, Reading and Wakefield.

The legislation’s transportation and education investments are possible because of the Fair Share surtax on households that earn more than $1M per year. Fair Share revenues have continued to exceed expectations year after year, leading to midyear supplemental packages, such as this one.

The Senate passed the legislation with a vote of 35-4. A similar version having previously been approved by the House of Representatives, a Conference Committee will now be formed to reconcile differences before the bill is sent to Governor Maura Healey for her signature and/or other action.