For the second year, the Healey-Driscoll administration and policymakers in the House and Senate have put forward an Innovation and Capital Fund supplemental budget to complement the annual budget development process for FY 2027. The supplemental spending bill appropriates a total of $1.9 billion, $1.3 billion of which is supported by supplemental surtax revenues currently stored in the Innovation and Capital Fund.

The Healey administration filed its Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget on January 28th. The Governor’s $63.36 billion operating budget proposal increases spending over the FY 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by $2.3 billion (3.8 percent).

The revenue foundation for the Governor’s budget is the $44.9 billion consensus revenue estimate, which includes $2.7 billion in income surtax revenue.

On January 28th, the Healey-Driscoll administration released its $63.36 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget proposal. The spending plan reflects an increase of $2.3 billion (3.8 percent) over the FY 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and $668 million (1.1 percent) over the administration’s estimated FY 2026 spending level.

As a helpful resource for those interested in early education and care (EEC) policy in Massachusetts, MTF is publishing a series of EEC 101 Fact Sheets, each breaking down key parts of the early education space in the Commonwealth – from the impact of federal pandemic funding in the child care system to how provider reimbursement rates work.

This is the second installment of the MTF Competitiveness Index, which is designed to provide residents, employers, and policymakers with a holistic assessment of how Massachusetts compares to our regional and economic competitor states across 27 different metrics in four categories of competitiveness: 

These slides were used during a 101 briefing on early education and care programs and funding in Massachusetts on September 15^th. The briefing covered frequently asked questions about Child Care Financial Assistance, childcare capacity in the state, what reimbursement rates and the C3 grant program are and more. MTF partnered with Strategies for Children for this briefing.

There are more than 46,000 educators employed at early education programs across the state of Massachusetts. Early educators across programs provide quality education, safe spaces, and socio-emotional learning tools to our state’s youngest learners while also supporting the ability of families to participate in the Commonwealth’s labor force. They are the workforce behind the workforce.

On January 22nd, the Healey-Driscoll administration released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget proposal, which included notable spending increases in health care, education, and transportation. The $62.07 billion spending plan is a $4.3 billion (7.4 percent) increase over the FY 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and a $1.8 billion (2.1 percent) increase over the administration’s FY 2025 estimated spending level.

As the work of the 194^th General Court gets underway, MTF is publishing its 2025 – 2026 Legislative Session Preview. The preview includes 101 primers on the Operating Budget and Capital Investment Plan development processes, as well as seven topic-specific policy briefs that cover a range of public finance and policy issues.

In 2023, MTF released a report which made several recommendations on reforms that should be made to the Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) system to ensure greater system efficiency, family engagement, outcomes for children, and support for providers. CCFA is an integral and complex part of the Commonwealth’s multi-pronged early education and care system, serving over 65,000 children across the state.