Let's look at Senate budget amendments!

The state senate takes up budget deliberation this week, and the amendments that they are considering are posted online.

Please consider this my annual appreciation that the Senate sorts budget amendments by topic. 

Let's look at the amendment proposals that would impact more than one district. (You're on your own on earmarks; I loathe them!)

589 and 590: I'm actually pretty sure Senator Tarr understands why minimum per pupil increases are not great public policy, BUT he also is concerned about year over year increases by district, so he has filed both an $80/pupil and a $100/pupil increase (as he often does).

591: Senator Tarr with 95% regional transportation reimbursement

592: Senators Cronin and Tarr adding $750K for Reach Out and Read

593: Senator Moore doubling the line for hate crimes

594: Senator Moore bringing Mass Academy's line back up to $2M (as it was in the Governor's budget)

596: Senator Moore on a study on access to vocational programming

600: Senator Brownsburger on special ed: doubling the pothole account (to $500K) and correspondingly bumping the bottom line of circuit breaker to $504M

601: Senator Moore EXEMPTING MSBA from the (Senate) cap of $1.2B

602: Senator Moore ADDING $75,000,000 for MSBA Accelerated Repair

603: Senator Gomez adding $100K to the AP Stem account

606: Senator Gomez with a "Whole Child Grant Program" of $50M that would be used for librarians, nurses, school counselors (of various kinds), a community school program, professional development, and/or diversifying the workforce. This deserves its own post.

606: Senator O'Connor requiring DESE to require new teachers be trained in "all approved programs for teachers include instruction on the appropriate use of augmentative and alternative communication and other assistive technologies"

609: Senator O'Connor also making the minimum per pupil $100

611: Senator Tarr with $10M in one time foundation assistance for communities with large jumps in local contributions

614: Senator Gobi putting regional transportation at $107M

622: Senator Feeny wanting $100K for a history day

623: Senator O'Connor wanting a foundation budget review commission every two years with the next report coming next June

624: Senator Tarr wanting a study on the delivery of special education services

625: Senator O'Connor adding $250K for economic literacy PD

627: Senator Tarr wanting a study on controlling transportation costs, including "the facilitation and authorization of purchasing collaboratives for school transportation"

628: Senator Barrett with $1.45M for military mitigation

636: Senator Timilty, continuing the regional transportation bidding war, goes for $110M

638: Senator Lewis wanting a study on nutritional standards in schools

645: Senator Crighton adding about $400K to after and out of school

647: Senator Feingold including language for bonding for school buildings under MSBA not counting towards the levy limit

648: Senator Tarr adding science labs to the green energy grant

649: Senator Tarr adding $2M to a social emotional grant (that's currently $6M)

651: Senator Rausch adding another $1M to the civics trust fund (at $1.5M as proposed)

653: Senator Rausch creating a reserve fund of $50M for increasing paraprofessional wages by vote of both the school committee and the municipality to a living wage as calculated by the MIT calculator

657: Senator Collins added $500K for the JFK Museum

662: Senator Collins adding $1.5M for school to career connecting activities 

669: Senator Lovely adding $10M in extraordinary relief for local required funding increases

698: Senator Payano adding $50 per student to the charter school reimbursement 

700: Senator Tarr wanting a study on minimum aid districts

703: Senator Miranda bumping METCO to $32M

705: Senator Finegold wanting to add $100M for projects that haven't been invited to the MSBA program through a DESE-administered program

715: Senator Feeney adding $3B (I checked the zeros twice) specifically for vocational education construction projects

721: Senator DiDomenico adding $1.1M for safe and supportive schools

723: Senator Rush adding a grant of $375K for hands-only CPR

744: Senator Oliveira also wanting $100 per pupil minimum

748: Senator Jehlen increasing the $550K for MCIEA to $750K

749: Senator Oliveira wanting a study of special education costs