The bad news: Train derailments. The certified worst traffic in the country. Underfunded public schools. Tuition hikes at public colleges and universities. A growing statewide affordable housing crisis. Every day, we see new examples of how Massachusetts is in dire need of new revenue.
The good news: This is a problem that we can fix.
The MA legislature has made numerous public commitments to raise new revenue this coming fall. It’s a promise we need to hold them to.
But business groups and corporate lobbyists have been meeting with legislators to push for regressive taxes that take the burden off them and put it on working people.
That’s not right. Because we know that these large corporations are not paying their fair share.
So it’s time to make our values heard by the Legislature.
With our partners around the state in the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, we’ve launched a quality call campaign, asking activists to call their legislators and make perfectly clear what our expectations for any revenue package are:
Any near-term revenue proposals must include a commitment to move the Fair Share Amendment through the legislative process.
Fair: Economically progressive, to bring the share of income paid by higher-income people more in line with that paid by lower-income people.
Sustainable: Supported by the public and capable of surviving attempted repeal, so that we can count on the revenue to make necessary investments.
Adequate: Raises enough revenue to meet the Commonwealth’s needs.
Having technical difficulties and unable to use the tool above? Please email info@raiseupma.org or text 857-242-0412 with the outcomes of your call, including:
Which legislator did you call?
Did you talk to your legislator or an aide?
Did your legislator commit to supporting progressive revenue?
How would your legislator suggest we raise revenue?
In the 1980s, steep cuts in property taxes strained school budgets across the state, creating gaping inequalities between the richest and poorest communities.
In response to that, parents from Brockton sued the state, claiming that it was failing to meet its constitutional obligation to “cherish” education for all students. This language written goes all the way back to John Adams.
In June of 1993, the Legislature responded to this lawsuit — and the underlying funding crisis — by passing the Education Reform Act, which has shaped the course of public education in Massachusetts since.
One core part of ensuring that every student got a quality public education was the Chapter 70 formula.
Here’s how it worked:
(1) Calculate a “foundation budget“: A district ‘s foundation budget is determined by multiplying the number of students at each grade level and demographic group (e.g., low-income students and English Language Learners) by a set of education spending categories (e.g., teacher compensation, building maintenance) and totaling those numbers up.
(2) Calculate a required local contribution: This is done by looking at incomes and property values. In other words, how much can a city or town contribute based on the resources that it has?
(3) Fill the gap with stateaid. And if districts can and want to, they can choose to spend more than their required contribution.
And this worked! Well, at first.
Some things from 1993 last forever.
But most haven’t. And the assumptions built into this formula are now out of date.
The Legislature knows this, too.
In 2015, a commission created by the Legislature (the Foundation Budget Review Commission) found that we are underfunding state aid to public school districts by up to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the cost of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
That’s a lot of money!
And as a result, we have one of the most unequal public education systems in the country. All students lose out due to our outdated funding formula, especially the students who need extra help the most.
Wow, we really need to see action on this. What can I do?
The Legislature has been debating various proposals this year. Some, like the PROMISE Act (part of our Legislative Agenda), provide a comprehensive solution. Others are less far-reaching or have some provisions that could make inequities even worse.
It’s important that when legislators take action this fall, they get it right.
That means providing 100% additional funding for the poorest students so that all students, regardless of income, have the opportunity to succeed.
For that to happen, your legislators need to hear from YOU, their constituents. They have to vote well for you to continue to vote for them to represent you. It’s that simple.
Are we a state that believes in high-quality public education for all students, or are we not?
(2) Explain that you need them to commit to 100% additional funding for the poorest students. They need to be communicating this to House Leadership. (If they send a letter, ask them to send you a copy).
Here’s a sample script:
Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent from [YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD/CITY/TOWN].
It’s been almost four years since a commission created by the legislature showed that we are underfunding our public schools by up to $2 billion a year due to an outdated funding formula from 1993. It’s far past time for the Legislature to update this formula, and we have to do it right.
A good bill will do right by all our students, especially the most vulnerable. And that means providing 100% additional funding for the poorest students.
I urge you to only support a bill that delivers on this promise of quality public education for all and to communicate this to Speaker Bob DeLeo and Education Chairwoman Alice Peisch.
Can I count on you to send a letter to them outlining your demands for an education funding bill?
[If time, personalize the issue by referencing the needs of your own school district or speak about your own experience as a student/teacher/parent/community member.]
(3) Let us know how the call went.
(4) Set yourself a calendar reminder for one week to call again.
In Massachusetts, people shouldn’t have to sue to make progressive change happen, but too often, that’s been the case. Two and a half decades ago, parents sued the state for failing to guarantee a high-quality education for all children, and they’re doing so again today. Similarly, lawsuits have been necessary to force the state to take the bold action on climate change that’s required for a resilient and sustainable future.
It shouldn’t have to be this way. If our elected officials were bold enough, they would be proactively passing the bills to move us forward, not waiting until they’re forced to.
That’s where you come in.
Keeping It 💯 on Education
Four years ago, the Massachusetts Legislature created a commission to figure out how to update the state’s funding formula for local aid to schools, which hasn’t been updated since 1993.
The commission made clear that the state is short-changing schools due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
The Legislature knows exactly what they need to do. They just need to do it.
The PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) is the only bill before the Legislature that follows through with those recommendations.
But House Leadership has been intransigent. In particular, House Leadership isn’t interested in funding education fully for low-income students, those who need that extra funding the most. And that’s not acceptable.
Any good education funding bill — like the PROMISE Act — would raise the low-income rate up to 100% for the 10th decile. In lay terms, this means spending twice as much as the average per pupil amount per low-income student in a high-poverty district. If we want to close achievement gaps, we need to be spending extra money on the students that need it most in the communities that can’t make up the difference in funding themselves.
As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.
Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our fuel from dirty energy, particularly natural gas. That needs to change.
The 100% Renewable Energy Act(S.1958/H.2836) will help make that happen.
This bill would accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure that Massachusetts stays on track to achieve 100% renewable energy, while ensuring that the displaced workers, low-income communities, and communities of color that have been most impacted by fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.
How can you make that bill into a law?
Testify — or simply show up: The hearing for the bill is just around the corner: next Tuesday (July 23) at 1 pm at the State House (Room B2). If you can go, please do to show your support.
Make your voice heard: But whether you can or cannot go in person, you can still make your support known to your legislators.
Click the links above — and again here — to find out if your legislators are already supportive (and to find their contact info if you don’t already have it). Whether or not they are already supporters, they need to hear from you. Your calls, emails, and visits matter.
Every day, we hear new horror stories about families being ripped apart at the border and the terrible conditions that children seeking asylum are held in.
We can — and must — continue to lobby our elected officials in Washington to do all they can to close the dystopian detention camps and craft a humane immigration system.
But there’s work to be done in Massachusetts, too. Police officers in Massachusetts are being deputized by ICE to act as immigration officials, ripping families apart and forcing our immigrant friends and neighbors to live in fear.
Massachusetts, we can do better.
The Safe Communities Act (SCA) will enable us to do so.
The SCA has five key parts:
Barring law enforcement and court personnel from inquiring about immigration status
Protecting due process rights
Setting standards for law enforcement and court officials to notify ICE only when a person is released after serving a sentence, not before.
Ending contracts with ICE that allow state and county personnel to act as federal immigration agents, at state taxpayers’ expense.
Providing crucial training and accountability
This — not ripping families apart — is what true public safety looks like.
Yesterday, US News & World Report ranked Massachusetts #1 in the country in education. That’s all well and good, but that hides more than it reveals.
That’s because we have one of the most unequal education systems in the country: the children in Lawrence and Brockton are not getting the same quality of education as students in Dover and Weston.
The question is not whether we are doing more than other states but whether we are doing as much as we need to–and as much as our students deserve.
The answer there is a clear no. Four years ago, the Foundation Budget Review Commission found that Massachusetts is shortchanging local aid to public schools by up to $2 billion a year because of outdated calculations of the cost of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.
The picture isn’t any better when it comes to higher education. Due to misguided tax cuts from almost twenty years ago, we’ve been disinvesting from our public colleges and universities, leading to deeper cuts, higher tuition, and spiraling student debt.
We can do better. And we will demand that our legislators do better.
That’s why we’re proud to join the Fund Our Future coalition today for a rally in support of the PROMISE Act and the CHERISH Act today at 5pm at the State House. There will be actions starting at 1 pm, so if you can make it earlier, even better.
Will we see you there?
And If You Can’t Make It…
If you can’t make it in person, then you can still call your legislators in support of the PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) and the CHERISH Act (S.741/H.1214).
The PROMISE Act would fix our outdated school funding formula to more accurately and equitably distribute resources – giving all schools the funding they need to deliver high-quality education.
The CHERISH Act would commit the Commonwealth to funding public higher education at 2001 levels, adjusted for inflation.
The Senate is voting on its budget next week. And your senator has the opportunity to support raising new revenue and investing more in our students.
Let your senator know that you support these amendments:
Statutory Charter Tuition Reimbursement (Chang-Diaz, #323): Would invest an additional $90 million in struggling school districts that are losing money due to charter school growth by closing corporate tax loopholes
Funding Low-Income Student Undercount (Chang-Diaz, #320): Would add more money for struggling school districts that have been shortchanged due to a flawed methodology for counting the low-income student population
Corporate Tax Rate Restoration (Rausch, #53): Would raise the corporate income tax back up to 9.5%, raising $375 million in additional revenue
Aircraft Prats (Eldridge, #46): Would close an absurd tax exemption for sales of luxury planes, raising $21 million in additional revenue
Single Sales Factor (Eldridge, #37): Would close a corporate tax loophole that lets corporations get away with not paying taxes on property and payroll, raising $143 million in additional revenue
Massachusetts House votes on its budget, the House will have an opportunity to decide what type of state Massachusetts is.
Are we a state that invests in our future and stands up to the bigotry of the Trump administration, or are we fine with crumbling infrastructure, underfunded schools, and complicity in a racist mass deportation agenda?
Investing in Our Future
While we will continue to fight for the passage of the Fair Share Amendment, or “millionaire’s tax,” our schools, regional transit authorities, and crumbling infrastructure can’t wait until 2023. The legislature can act RIGHT NOW to begin building the fairer tax structure that Massachusetts voters want.
Raising the tax on unearned income, for example, would put us in line with states like Vermont and New Jersey and raise more than $1 billion to invest in our Commonwealth. Approximately 80% of income from stocks, bonds, and similar financial assets goes to the highest-earning 1% of households in Massachusetts, while the bottom 80% of households receive only 3%.
Rep. Mike Connolly’s Budget Amendment #1357 (Long-Term Capital Gains) would provide provide much-needed funding.
Although 97% of capital gains go to the top quintile of earners, the Connolly amendment has an exemption for low income households to ensure they aren’t hurt by the change.
Standing up to the Trump Administration’s Bigotry
Massachusetts has been complicit in Trump’s racist mass deportation agenda. The Department of Correction and four sheriffs’ offices in the state have contracts with ICE to house persons who are in deportation proceedings and to deputize their employees as federal immigration agents. These contracts provide for the state offices to be reimbursed by ICE for the housing, transportation, and other costs they incur, but it has proven very difficult to determine how much reimbursement money ICE has been paying and whether those amounts cover actual expenses.
Rep. Tony Cabral’s Budget Amendment #1250 (Transparency in Spending) would be a check on this shameful collaboration with ICE.
This amendment would require the Department of Correction and the sheriffs’ offices with ICE contracts to provide the cost, revenue, and reimbursement figures associated with those contracts for the past three fiscal years and for FY 2020. This past fiscal year, the state has provided nearly $900 million in funding for the Department of Correction and for the sheriffs’ offices with ICE contracts. We deserve to know whether their contracts with ICE are covering the expenses they incur.
Whose Side Is Your State Rep On?
Is your state rep siding with the overwhelming percentage of voters who want to invest more in our schools and our infrastructure, or siding with the top 1%?
Is your state rep standing up for immigrants’ rights, or standing with the likes of Sheriff Hodgkins and Donald Trump?
Year after year, as legislators craft the latest budget, tough decisions have to be made. A big part of the reason for these tough decisions is that Massachusetts lacks the revenue to fund things, like good schools and reliable transportation, that are most important to our communities. But not having sufficient revenue isn’t inevitable; it’s a choice.
The Fair Share Amendment, which routinely polled at around 80%, was kicked off the 2018 ballot after a lawsuit from well-funded business groups. The Legislature has the opportunity to advance it to the 2022 ballot via a Constitutional Convention next month. But we can’t afford to wait another four years to invest in our Commonwealth.
The legislature can act RIGHT NOW to begin building the fairer tax structure that Massachusetts voters want.
Raising the tax on long-term capital gains from 5.05% to 8.95%, for example, would put us in line with states like Vermont and New Jersey and raise more than $1 billion to invest in our commonwealth.
The highest-income 1 percent of households receive approximately 80 percent of capital gains income in Massachusetts, while the bottom 80 percent of households receive only 3 percent.
Although 97% of capital gains go to the top quintile of earners, the Connolly amendment has an exemption for low income households to ensure they aren’t hurt by the change.
This is a step that you can take right now. But there are other steps to raise progressive revenue to fund our priorities now that deserve your consideration and your vote throughout the session—from placing a surtax on multi-million homes to increasing the corporate minimum tax so that all corporations pay their fair share. And we plan to keep beating that drum throughout the session.
PS: Curious to read more about the graph above? You can here.
The world has changed a lot since 1993. But one thing has remained the same: the funding formula that Massachusetts uses for local aid to schools.
A 2015 Commission from the Legislature (“Foundation Budget Review Commission,” or FBRC) found that we are shortchanging local aid to schools by $1 to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learners, and closing income-based achievement gaps. In May, the MA Senate unanimously passed legislation to update the funding formula for these four categories. However, when the House took up an education bill earlier this month, they left out English Language Learners and low-income students. Massachusetts should not be leaving the most vulnerable students behind. The bills are now in Conference Committee. Urge your state representative to fight for the inclusion of English Language Learners and low-income students in the final bill.
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Leading on Climate Change
Last month, the MA Senate unanimously passed the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the country. However, as Andrew Gordon from 350 Mass explains here, the House dropped the ball, passing a much weaker bill that does not rise to the level of the climate crisis at hand. In these last two weeks of the legislative session, a Conference Committee will be working out the final details of a consensus bill. Urge your state representative to lobby the Conference Committee to support the following:
Increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 3% so that we can reach 50% renewable energy by 2030 and be 100% renewable by 2050.
Fair access to solar (incorporated as Amendment 43 to the Senate energy bill), to require MA to ensure access for low-income communities, renters, and residents of environmental justice communities.
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MA Needs to Stand up for Immigrant Families
Last week, the House and Senate passed a Conference Committee budget that LEFT OUT vital protections for immigrant families.
In May, the MA Senate passed four key immigrant protections (taken from the Safe Communities Act) as part of their FY2019 budget:
Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law;
End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents;
Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights; and
Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or other protected categories.
But the House let us down. Urge your state legislators to pass vital Safe Communities Act protections before the session ends next week. (Need your senator’s #? You can find that here.
The world has changed a lot since 1993. But one thing has remained the same: the funding formula that Massachusetts uses for local aid to schools.
A 2015 Commission from the Legislature (“Foundation Budget Review Commission,” or FBRC) found that we are shortchanging local aid to schools by $1 to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learners, and closing income-based achievement gaps. In May, the MA Senate unanimously passed legislation to update the funding formula for these four categories. However, when the House took up an education bill earlier this month, they left out English Language Learners and low-income students. Massachusetts should not be leaving the most vulnerable students behind. The bills are now in Conference Committee. Urge your state representative to fight for the inclusion of English Language Learners and low-income students in the final bill.
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Leading on Climate Change
Last month, the MA Senate unanimously passed the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the country. However, as Andrew Gordon from 350 Mass explains here, the House dropped the ball, passing a much weaker bill that does not rise to the level of the climate crisis at hand. In these last two weeks of the legislative session, a Conference Committee will be working out the final details of a consensus bill. Urge your state representative to lobby the Conference Committee to support the following:
Increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 3% so that we can reach 50% renewable energy by 2030 and be 100% renewable by 2050.
Fair access to solar (incorporated as Amendment 43 to the Senate energy bill), to require MA to ensure access for low-income communities, renters, and residents of environmental justice communities.
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MA Needs to Stand up for Immigrant Families
Last week, the House and Senate passed a Conference Committee budget that LEFT OUT vital protections for immigrant families.
In May, the MA Senate passed four key immigrant protections (taken from the Safe Communities Act) as part of their FY2019 budget:
Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law;
End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents;
Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights; and
Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or other protected categories.
But the House let us down. Urge your state legislators to pass vital Safe Communities Act protections before the session ends next week. (Need your senator’s #? You can find that here.)
Saturday’s convention was exciting, as we saw all three of our endorsed candidates–Jay Gonzalez, Quentin Palfrey, and Josh Zakim–win the party’s endorsement.
But the convention also reminded us of all the work we still have cut out for ourselves this legislative session. The speakers highlighted how Massachusetts needs to do more to set a good example for other states and to fight back against Trump.
And that can’t wait.
Here are a few things that you can do this week.
Funding Our Schools
Two weeks ago, the State Senate unanimously passing the Foundation Budget Modernization Bill, which would update the school funding formula and help provide high-quality education for every child across Massachusetts.
It’s now time for the House to act and pass the bill (S.2525: An Act to Modernizing the Foundation Budget for the 21st Century). More than 120 members of the House have expressed support. It just needs a vote.
Three years ago, the Foundation Budget Review Commission found that the state was shortchanging public education by $1-2 billion each year because of an outdated funding formula. We can’t let another school year pass without action.
Standing Up for Gun Safety
Two weeks ago, the House passed Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) legislation (H.4539) authored by Rep. Marjorie Decker, which creates a kind of court order that family members and law enforcement can request to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns because they pose a significant danger to themselves or others.
When family members are empowered to act, they can prevent warning signs from turning into a mass shooting or gun suicide. A recent study found that Connecticut’s suicide rate fell by almost 14% after local authorities started enforcing the law.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which will be voting this Thursday morning.
Can you call your senator today in support of common sense gun safety legislation?
Standing Up to Trump’s Hate
Do you want Massachusetts to make clear that we don’t stand for the xenophobic policies and rhetoric coming out of the Trump white House?
Last month, the State Senate passed four key provisions of the Safe Communities Act in the budget:
No Police Inquiries about Immigration Status
Stop Collaborating with ICE
Provide Basic Due Process Protections
Refusal to participate in any discriminatory registry
This is a great step forward, but we can’t claim victory just yet.
Did you know that almost 700,000 eligible voters in Massachusetts aren’t registered? Well, that’s a problem.
Fortunately, Automatic Voter Registration is part of the solution. It’s a simple and important reform designed to increase political participation and strengthen voting rights by shifting our voter registration system from an opt-in to an opt-out one, making elections more free, fair, and accessible for all.
