In a striking outcome of the deliberations on this year's budget, the state in 2004 will for the first time in decades spend more on prisons and jails than on public higher education. While this change in budgetary priorities has occurred during a...

Three years after its enactment, the success of forward funding of the MBTA -- one of the most important fiscal reforms of the last decade -- is increasingly uncertain. Despite major steps taken by the T to implement the reforms and live within its...

In the 33rd edition of its annual summary of trends in local revenue and spending, the Foundation concludes that deep cuts in state aid to cities and towns have produced significant increases in property taxes across the Commonwealth, including...

The Commonwealth's vast system for purchasing human services needs major reform, according to a major new report prepared by MTF in collaboration with the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers and with major funding from The Boston...

The Commonwealth's vast system for purchasing human services needs major reform, according to this major new report prepared by MTF in collaboration with the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers and with major funding from The Boston...

The Foundation's newly released analysis of the $23.1 billion state budget notes the great strides that the Commonwealth has made in closing a potential shortfall of $2.5 billion, but also underscores the failure to eliminate fully the structural gap...

The Legislature's $23.1 billion budget for fiscal 2004 goes a long way toward closing an estimated $2.5 billion structural deficit, while taking meaningful steps toward governmental reform. However, the budget's reliance on $400 million of one-time...

Budget conferees face a two-fold challenge as they hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2004 budget: minimizing the $300 to $500 million gap between proposed spending and on-going revenues in the two budgets;...