Follow-up to Spring Forward Webinar “Spring Forward: Investing in People, not Prisons: The Prison Moratorium and Beyond”

Thank you so much to everyone who joined our Spring Forward webinar on Wednesday about the prison moratorium and the important work happening on decarceration with Mallory Hanora of Families for Justice as Healing!

Follow-Up Links

  • You can watch the video here. 

1737 Amendments were Filed to the MA House Budget. What Happened to All of them?

Yesterday, the MA House passed its FY 2027 budget with a broadly bipartisan vote of 149 to 9. The 9 NO votes came from the more conservative wing of the House Republican Caucus.

In the lead-up to the floor debate, 1737 amendments were filed to the budget.

Most of them (1,659, or 95.5%) were dispensed with through the consolidated amendment process. House Leadership groups amendments into categories, tosses aside the actual amendments, and then negotiates a set of earmarks and policy changes that will remain in the final package.

This process produced seven consolidated amendments, five of which passed unanimously.

  • Consolidated Amendment “A” (Education & Local Aid/Social Services/Veterans)
  • Consolidated Amendment “B” (Health and Human Services & Aging and Independence)
  • Consolidated Amendment “C” (Public Safety and Judiciary)
  • Consolidated Amendment “D” (Public Health & Mental Health and Disability Services)
  • Consolidated Amendment “E” (Constitutional Officers & State Administration/Transportation)
  • Consolidated Amendment “F” (Energy and Environmental Affairs & Housing)
  • Consolidated Amendment “G” (Labor and Economic Development)

So what about the remaining 78? 48 of them were withdrawn, 29 were rejected, and one was laid aside.

26 of the 29 rejected amendments received recorded votes. All were filed and roll-called by Republicans. Let’s focus on a few in particular.

The House voted party line against various GOP amendments to drain money from the state budget, such as reducing the sales tax, reducing the state income tax, adopting Trump’s “no tax on tips” gimmick (which harms workers more than it helps), and more (Roll Calls #158 to #164).

The House voted down an amendment from Rep. Steve Xiarhos to eliminate cashless bail; the vote was 26 to 129, with Rep. Alan Silvia joining Republicans in voting for it.

Republicans brought up their favorite things to force recorded votes on: suppressing the vote with a photo ID law (27 to 131, with Rep. Colleen Garry of Dracut and Rep. Dave Robertson of Tewksbury joining Republicans), defunding No Cost Calls (26 to 132, with Rep. Garry joining Republicans), imposing citizenship requirements for housing assistance (26 to 132, with Garry joining Republicans), preventing the state from using MBTA Communities Act compliance as a condition for grant eligibility (27 to 130, with Garry and Rep. Jeff Turco of Winthrop joining Republicans), making the emergency shelter system more restrictive and more bureaucratic (26 to 131, with Garry joining Republicans), defunding Mass Save (25 to 133, party line), fear-mongering about “welfare fraud” (25 to 133 , party line), and finding new ways to collaborate with Trump’s DHS (25 to 133, party line).

MEJA Letter to State Reps re: FY 2027 Budget

Dear State Representatives, 

Our local public schools face a growing and dire funding crisis, and we need the state to step up and support our students. The recently released House FY26 budget takes several significant steps toward delivering the funding our schools and students need, including increasing per pupil minimum aid to $160, proposing an enrollment decline mitigation fund, and funding the Special Education Circuit Breaker at 75% eligibility for reimbursement. By supporting critical K-12 school funding amendments in the House budget next week, you have an important opportunity to chart a stronger course for our nation-leading public education system. 

As we reach the end of the Student Opportunity Act’s six-year implementation period, we have the chance to continue advancing toward an education system that fully supports every student throughout their educational journey. But the progress we’ve made toward repairing past inequities in education funding is threatened by the high inflation of the past few years, which is forcing districts across the state to make impossible choices. Federal changes impacting our schools and students have made the outlook even worse. 

As a result of high inflation not accounted for in the Chapter 70 funding formula, districts across the state are being forced to cut their budgets, lay off educators and staff, and cancel long-needed investments in programs such as Advanced Placement, arts, and music. Inflation exceeded 7% in FY23 and FY24, but Chapter 70 funding only increased by 4.5%. The costs our students and schools face for out-of-district special education, school transportation, health insurance, and school building projects have increased at an even higher rate. That means cuts to programs our students depend on. 

And as immigrant families face the challenge of surviving under the administration’s deportation regime, families are living in fear and keeping children home from school to avoid ICE. As a result, school enrollment has dropped in dozens of Massachusetts communities this year. Fewer students means cuts to funding — and real consequences — for everyone. 

On behalf of tens of thousands of students, parents, caregivers, educators, and community members across the state, we ask you to support the following amendments to the House’s FY27 budget: 

  • Amendment #41 filed by Rep. Margaret Scarsdale – Ensuring Adequate and Equitable Funding for Public Education
  • Amendment #316 filed by Rep. Jim Hawkins – In District School Transportation
  • Amendment #389 filed by Rep. Sean Reid – Community Schools Program
  • Amendment #1066 filed by Rep. Brandy Fluker-Reid – Charter School Reimbursements
  • Amendment #1203 filed by Rep. Jim Hawkins – Strengthening the Special Education Circuit Breaker Program
  • Amendment #1284 filed by Rep. Orlando Ramos – Chapter 70 Inflation Adjustment
  • Amendment #1586 filed by Rep. Adam Scanion – Special Commission on Chapter 70 Funding
  • Amendment #1713 filed by Rep. Marjorie Decker – Whole Child Grant Program 

We look forward to your support of these much-needed amendments that will ensure that all students in Massachusetts receive the support they need to thrive. 

Thank you, 

Vatsady Sivongxay, Executive Director, Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance (MEJA) 

Jessica Tang, President, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts (AFT MA) 

Keondre McClay, Executive Director, Boston Education Justice Alliance (BEJA) 

Erik Berg, President, Boston Teachers Union (BTU) 

Lisa Guisbond, Executive Director, Citizens for Public Schools (CPS) 

Viviana M. Abreu-Hernández, President, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) 

Tatiana Begault, Executive Director, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH)

Alicia Thomas, Co-Director, Pa’lante Transformative Justice (Pa’lante) 

Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director, Progressive Mass (PM) 

Vanny Huot, Director, Revere Youth in Action (RYiA) 

MEJA is a coalition led by Massachusetts students, parents, educators, school and college staff, and education advocates with a shared vision: that all students, regardless of income, race, gender, identity, religion, birthplace, or abilities, have access to high-quality, equitable, and democratically controlled public education that addresses the educational needs of the whole student and where every student thrives to reach their full potential.

Less Than 100 Days Until the End of the Legislative Session

The formal legislative session in the Massachusetts State House ends in less than 100 days, on July 31.

Although the session will continue on an informal basis through January 5 of next year, the vast majority of all legislative action will happen between now and the end of July. So what’s happened so far?

There have been 167 bills signed into law:

  • 122 were home rule petitions for one city or town
  • 22 were administrative matters for specific state employees
  • 10 were budgets or supplemental budgets
  • 4 were awareness days
  • 2 were bond authorizations

That leaves 7 stand-alone bills:

  • Temporarily extending hybrid meeting access for local meetings
  • Updating the state’s shield law protecting access to gender-affirming and reproductive health care
  • Setting the primary election for September 1
  • Strengthening protections against assault & battery for transit workers
  • Making car rentals more affordable
  • Updating the collection of birth and death statistics
  • Modernizing cannabis regulations

Now, to be fair, the Legislature has passed various new policies through the budget, such as banning tenant-paid broker’s fees and creating an immigrant legal defense fund (both big wins). And we have been able to see transformative investments in education and transportation due to Fair Share revenue that YOU helped win on the ballot in 2022.

And some bills have passed one chamber and not the other. You can see some of those on our Legislator Scorecard, through February.

But what this shows us is that there is still so much work left to do this session. We’re ready to keep fighting. So keep making calls and emails (an getting friends and neighbors to do so as well).

Happy National Library Week! Let’s Rein in Book Bans.

Happy National Library Week!

The theme for this year’s National Library Week is “Find Your Joy,” a recognition of the value of libraries in helping individuals of all ages explore, imagine, learn, relax, and so much more. Libraries make learning fun.

But libraries have been under attack, with a rise of book ban efforts attacking schools and libraries across the country and here in Massachusetts. Book bans are attacks on free speech in general, and attacks more specifically on the identities, histories, or topics represented in targeted books, materials, and media. Many attempts have targeted books and media dealing with LGBTQ characters and themes, race, equity, social justice, and the US’s complicated history.

Many book bans have targeted librarians themselves—limiting their ability to choose books and media, and even proposing punishments. Some book ban attempts challenge classroom book collections, limiting teachers’ abilities to meet their students’ needs.

Last November, the MA Senate passed legislation to rein in politically motivated book bans. We need the MA House to do so too.

Can you write to your state rep today about the need to pass legislation to do so?

Follow-up Links to Spring Forward: What Beacon Hill Can Do on Energy Affordability webinar

Thank you to everyone who joined last night’s webinar! And if you weren’t able to join, you were missed!

Here is the video:

Vick shared two action alerts and one upcoming event:  

PM in the News: “Massachusetts’ AI program is more than meets the eye”

Jonathan Gerhardson, “Massachusetts’ AI program is more than meets the eye,” Shoestring, April 8, 2026.

The announcement has been met with controversy. State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven (D-Somerville), who among elected officials has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal, points to a lack of clear privacy protections in the contract and alleged conflicts of interest by the advisory board which recommended OpenAI. And Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Massachusetts, said the governor did not engage with state employees to gauge whether the tools would actually be helpful before committing to the OpenAI contract. 

“She seemed proud to be the first state to do this, when no one was clamoring to do this,” he told The Shoestring.

Follow-up links & actions to Webinar “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”

Thank you so much for joining our webinar on Wednesday “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”! And thank you to our great speaker, Kade Crockford from the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc.

https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc

And here are the follow-up links from Kade: 

  1. ACLU presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1G9hEyXj0-3IMz16f9ctnPXQaiP7NO_bZ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108538486946816465140&rtpof=true&sd=true
  2. ACLU resources on privacy: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/data-privacy-now/
    1. Includes talking points
    2. Action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/pass-enforceable-data-privacy-legislation
  3. ACLU resources on facial recognition: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/press-pause-face-surveillance/
  4. ACLU blog on license plate readers in MA: https://data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/flock-gives-law-enforcement-all-over-the-country-access-to-your-location/
    1. Local level action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/email-your-municipal-leaders-flock

Hope to see you at an upcoming event!

FY 2027 Budget Testimony

March 31, 2026

Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, and Members of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic commonwealth.

As we contemplate the daunting, anxiety-inducing, catastrophic possibility of steep cuts to the federal budget as Republicans in DC attempt to take an axe to health care, education, infrastructure, and so much more, we need to be prepared in MA to protect our essential services. We need to continue to do what we are doing—and we also need to be doing more. 

To make that possible, we urge you to embrace progressive sources of revenue as well as tap into the rainy day fund in order to avoid any cuts. 

In the FY 2027 budget, we urge you to focus on increasing critical investments that underlie the quality of life in the Commonwealth and make this high quality of life accessible to all: 

  • Delivering on Our Promises to Our K-12 Students: The Student Opportunity Act from 2019 was a major win for students across the Commonwealth. However, the combination of high rates of inflation in FY23 and FY24 and a tight inflation cap under the SOA has led to a $465 million gap in district budgets.  As a result, districts across the state are being forced to cut their budgets, lay off educators and staff, and cancel long-needed investments. We must keep our promises to students.

The impact of inflation is being compounded by the impacts of ICE terrorism. Many of our cities have experienced declining attendance in their public schools due to fear of ICE activity. The districts should not be punished for that. 

We further urge you to fix charter school tuition reimbursements so that our public schools are not losing critical funding. Tuition dollars follow students, but if a class size falls from 25 to 23, a school cannot hire 23/25 of a teacher. So many of the costs of education are fixed costs, and siphoning off resources harms the 90% of students who attend local district public schools. 

Our students deserve not only well-funded schools, but also green and healthy schools that focus on the whole student. We urge you to increase funding for capital improvements for school buildings so that students can have the safe and healthy environment conducive to learning, and to provide funding for community schools so that districts can embrace this proven model that empowers students, parents, and educators to collaborate and provide vital wraparound services. 

  • Building on Recent Child Care & Early Ed Investments: Last session, you made historic investments in early education and child care, moving us closer toward a vision of quality and stability for providers, good pay for educators, and affordability and access for families. We join the Common Start Coalition in calling for continued investments:
    • Increasing the number of families receiving child care financial assistance (this was included in the supplemental budget!),
    • Increasing funding for the C3 operational grant program to support child care providers,
    • Moving Massachusetts further toward child care reimbursement rates that cover the true cost of delivering high-quality care, and
    • Delivering much-needed funding for Head Start providers
  • Increasing Funding for Access to Counsel: We join fellow organizations in the Right to Counsel Coalition in urging for an increase to the Access to Counsel pilot (Line Item 0321-1800) from $2.5 million to $4 million. In the first 12-months of funding, legal services opened 1,192 cases. In 87% of the cases closed, tenants have stayed housed or received the time to find new housing
  • Protecting Our Immigrant Communities: Last year’s creation of the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative (MACI), which provides legal aid for individuals in Massachusetts facing Immigration Court proceedings, was a big win, and it has been doing excellent, necessary work already. To meet need, we urge you to fund the program at $15 minimum.

We also urge you to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to immigrant workers who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Thank you for your work on the budget and on this marathon of a hearing. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts