House FY20 budget amendments

As always, I post only amendments that have statewide impacts; if you're looking for an earmark, you're on your own.

Amendment 12 would add $100K to the budget for the Berkshire County Task Force, which has been looking at further cooperation and possible regionalization among Berkshire County schools and districts.

Amendment 27 adds $300K for Bottom Line which counsels first generation students to and through college.

Amendment 44 would bump regional school transportation reimbursement to $92,320,633, which I assume is fully funding (note this is a substantial jump, as it is in at $73M).

Amendment 71 would establish a new grant line of $15M for expansion or establishment of new preschool programs.

Amendment 95 is for the creation of a Regional Schools Foundation Budget Review Commission; the language here is interesting, by the way, as part of it says it would look at is inequalities between towns in regional districts. Regional districts, though, were formed through local efforts, not state ones. Do regionals really want the state weighing in on their inequalities?

Amendment 101 calls for a commission on two generation approach to early childhood education (parents and children).

Amendment 123 adds $1M for the creation of school-based health programs.

Amendment 162 for $200K for expansion of Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention’s training and workforce development for trauma treatment for students in Boston and Gateway Cities.

Amendment 165 (h/t Rep. Malia) pushes the recovery high line back up to where it was last year.

Amendment 243 would create a Lead in School Drinking Water Trust Fund for $20M.

Amendment 244 boosts the McKinney-Vento line to $27M (which, as $9M was 37%, I imagine is intended to be full funding).

Amendment 248 authorizes use of the water pollution fund for school deleading.

Amendment 311 boosts the after and out of school programming from $3.5M to $10M.

Amendment 324 outlines circuit breaker reimbursement of up to $50K in such a way that it probably only applies to Watertown, the district of the reps proposing (?).

Amendment 340 is the "thank you but we'd like to see ALL increases in charter tuition be reimbursed, not just when it is higher than five years" amendment that you may have been seeking! Good work from Rep. Ultrino! 

Amendment 441 a "technical amendment" on the teachers' retirement system, which appears to be more than that but I don't know the current language well enough to tell you what the change is. Check it if this matters to you. This mirrors a bill filed by the Mass Teachers' Retirement Board that would allow a one-time window for a change in status (Retirement Plus or not) of teachers; when some teachers switched systems (if, for example, they had been a paraprofessional), not all options were necessarily made clear and there were glitches. This would give them a chance to switch. h/t to excellent source! 

Amendment 480 would add back in $3.4M for the non-resident transportation reimbursement left entirely out so far.

Amendment 482 would allow districts to charge a fee for students who attend out-of-district vocational schools at the same level as any such fee charged in-district students, and with no fee for students whose families are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.

Amendment 514 takes that $16.5M pothole for low income students and bumps it to $126M, adding $110M! Nice one, Rep. Higgins! 

Amendment 581 would establish a Foundation Budget Review Commission every five years.

Amendment 606 wants to add $1.5M for the Civics Projects Trust fund.

Amendment 615 would boost charter mitigation to $126M, which I assume is closer to where it would need to be if you're actually going to reimbursement all districts.

Amendment 619 adds the oddly specific amount of $930,932 to the early college line...

Amendment 626, however, then allocates that as Governor Baker did as an addition to the foundation budget! This is the first I've seen of someone working on the foundation budget! 

Amendment 636 appears to be just changing language and time on the allocation of the Bay State Reading Institute.

Amendment 638 would add $1M in planning grants for new vocational programs.

Amendment 707 has something to do with transporting children in DCF care back to their schools of origin, but I can't tell what.

Amendment 716 bumps the school breakfast line to $5M (from $4.8M) and does not add an earmark.

Amendment 734 would take the $1.75M early college line and make it $3M as it was in the Governor's budget.

Amendment 819 would bump the school to career connecting activities to $5M (from $4.5M).

Amendment 831 boosts the yearly cap on spending of the Mass School Building Authority to a new $750M for 2020 (it's $602M otherwise), with growth then tied back to what it has been (the lower of growth in dedicated sales tax revenue or 4.5%).

Amendment 840 would add $150K for financial literacy.

Amendment 857 is one that I don't understand why it never gets through: it allows DESE to pay teachers and administrators if they're working for the Department.

Amendment 865 is essentially a lines of authority clarifier, that those applying for the low income grants need superintendent approval.


Amendment 883 adds additional funding for youth homelessness.

Amendment 924 raises the early college pathways from $1.75M to $3M.

Amendment 932 would also boost regional school transportation reimbursement but by $5M.

Amendment 946 (h/t Mike LeBrasseur; I missed this one!) would have circuit breaker kick in at 3 times the statewide average per pupil cost of foundation, as opposed to 4 times, as it is now.

Amendment 992 would bump the minimum per pupil aid to $50/pupil (oddly, this does not correspondingly change the chapter 70 line, which would need to be changed).

Amendment 1099 would bump Safe and Supportive Schools by $100K.

Amendment 1115 would add $3M for trauma kits in public buildings and then require them.

Amendment 1150 would add $5M in rural school aid (for districts with not more than 21 students per square mile).

Amendment 1183 would allow those who are 17 at the time of the preliminary election but would be 18 at the time of the general election (and are registered to vote) to vote in the preliminary election.

Amendment 1192 bumps early college high schools from $2M to $4M.

Amendment 1231 amends the "not less than" to $1M (from $250K).

Amendment 1279 would just straight boost Chapter 70 by $100M.

Amendment 1360 would just create a $5M pothole fund for changes in Chapter 70.