The following is from an article on the MMA web site.

Late last month, Gov. Charlie Baker submitted his $42.7 billion fiscal 2020 state budget plan to the Legislature, proposing a spending blueprint that would increase overall state expenditures by 1.5 percent, as the Administration deals with slow revenue growth by restraining most spending across the board and placing an estimated $297 million into the state’s rainy day fund.

A centerpiece of the administration’s budget (House 1) is a seven-year plan to respond to calls for a significant reinvestment in Chapter 70 education aid, after years of below-maintenance increases in state education funding. In spite of a tightly capped property tax, low state aid has led cities and towns to spend more than $2 billion above the prescribed local contribution to schools. Communities have done this by cutting support for core non-school services, such as public works and public safety, and by increasing reliance on the already overburdened property tax. This has created chronic fiscal stress and painful decisions in communities across the state

Under House 1, 183 cities, towns and regional districts would be stuck at a meager $20-per-student minimum aid increase. That means 57 percent of all school districts – ranging from rural districts in western Massachusetts to our capital city of Boston – would continue a slow fiscal decline, affecting hundreds of thousands of students

House 1 would also level-fund regional transportation reimbursements at $68.9 million and transportation for homeless students (McKinney-Vento) at $9.1 million. This would be a hardship for virtually all communities in regional districts and those that transport homeless students who remain sheltered in hotels and motels

Another year of failure from the governor's office. It will be interesting to see what the legislature does on these issues.