The midyear budget cuts are bad, but the news on FY25 is worse

 Well, there's a happy headline, huh?

It was the mid fiscal year 2024 budget cuts that got the headlines earlier this week, as Governor Healey, using authority granted her under MGL Ch. 29, sec. 9C (thus "9C cuts") cut $375 million from the current state budget. While those cuts must come from the executive branch, and so couldn't hit local aid including chapter 70 aid, grant programs in education did get cut, including extended learning time, dual enrollment, school-to-career connecting activities, student wellness school support, and advanced placement math and science programs. Additionally, the allocations for both the 21st century education trust fund and the STEM Pipeline were cut. The Governor's office framed these cuts as either bringing the accounts either to what is projected to be needed or to that already awarded.

The Governor's office also rolled back the projected bottom line of this year by a billion dollars.

What you may have missed in that news what the consensus revenue figure for FY25 that was released at the same time. That figure is what the executive and legislative branches (both House and Senate) have agreed will be the bottom line for the coming fiscal year budget.

For FY25, that is $40.202 billion. That's $208 million LESS than was passed last year for the fiscal year we're in now. It will be more than what this year's budget is projected to be now that they've rolled back the bottom line, but it's crucial to understand: it will be LESS than what we used for this year during budget deliberations.

They've also agreed on $1.3 billion in surtax revenue; that's the Fair Share money. This year, it was $1 billion dollars, so this is $300 million more. As the Senate then released on Thursday that they're looking to put $170 million into community college, that's more than half spent. 

Buckle up. This isn't going to be a good budget year.