Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 begins on July 1st, and House and Senate budget negotiators are actively engaging in conversations to craft a compromise budget proposal. The Conference Committee process involves reconciling countless spending, policy, and technical differences between the two bills; and this year, the process will be further impacted by an uncertain fiscal picture for FY 2024 and a more constrained revenue outlook in FY 2025.

MTF’s latest chartbook, The Importance of Commonwealth Cares for Children, provides a comprehensive overview of this critical new childcare program, including:

On March 7th, Senate Bill 2697, An Act ensuring affordability, readiness and learning for our youth and driving economic development was released from the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. Senators have until Monday, March 11th to review the legislation and file amendments, debate will be on Thursday, March 14th.

The Healey-Driscoll administration released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget proposal on January 24, 2024. The Governor’s budget proposes $58.13 billion in total on-budget spending including $1.3 billion in spending supported by income surtax revenues directed to education and transportation programs. The proposal increases funding over the FY 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by $2.1 billion (3.7 percent), when including surtax revenue allocations.