FY16 Massachusetts State Budget Update

Last week, the House of Representatives passed their fiscal year 2016 (FY16) budget. In that budget, they funded the MA Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative at $14.2M, a cut of about $400,000 from FY15's funding. While we understand the difficult fiscal times that the Commonwealth faces, a cut of this size would be very problematic for the ELT Initiative. We are advocating for $15M in funding in FY16 for the ELT Initiative which would maintain funding for the 22 expanded-time schools across the state and allow them to continue to provide students with more time for engaging learning days.

We want to express our gratitude to Speaker Pro Tem Patricia Haddad and Representative Steven Ultrino for their leadership and commitment in advocating for increased funding for the ELT Initiative. They were joined by 25 of their colleagues from across the state - from Greenfield to Fall River - and we appreciate all of their support of expanded learning time schools.

The state's annual budget process now moves to the state Senate. Please let your Senator know that it is critical that the ELT Initiative (line-item 7061-9412) be funded at $15 M.