House approves FY12 state budget bill

In a bipartisan vote yesterday, the House approved a $30.5 billion state budget bill for fiscal 2012 that includes funding for municipal and school aid accounts very much in line with the recommendation filed by the governor in January.

There had been some worries about deeper local aid cuts as legislative leaders weighed the governor’s plan to close a $1.9 billion budget gap and tracked state tax collections, but the House budget committee, led by Chair Brian Dempsey, rejected more cuts and adopted the governor’s numbers for the main municipal and education aid accounts.

The budget plan, approved by a vote of 157-1, includes $3.99 billion for Chapter 70 education aid and $834 million for the Unrestricted General Government Aid account.

The Chapter 70 number reflects an increase of $139 million in the state appropriation over fiscal 2011, although it is $82 million lower than the combined state and federal support for Chapter 70 in fiscal 2011. The general government aid account would be cut by $65 million (about 7 percent).

While the Senate is not scheduled to debate a budget bill until later this month, senators approved a local aid resolution in mid-April, also adopting the governor’s numbers for the two main local aid accounts to give cities and towns some certainty during the local budget preparation process.

The House budget also matched the governor’s recommendation for other municipal and school aid accounts. The special education “circuit breaker” would be funded at $213 million, an increase in the state appropriation of $80 million over fiscal 2011. Funding for regional school transportation ($41 million) and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes ($25 million) was level-funded.

The House budget includes a slight increase over the governor’s for reimbursements to cities and towns to offset a portion of school aid losses paid as tuition to charter schools. The House number is based on updated enrollment information acquired since January. Cities and towns with significant charter school enrollments should check the preliminary Cherry Sheets on the Division of Local Services website, as assessment and reimbursement amounts may have changed since the governor filed his budget bill.

Over the course of four days of budget debate, House members adopted several amendments that would affect local government.

The House adopted an amendment by Rep. Bradley Jones of North Reading, House minority leader, that would restore all or a portion of the $65 million cut to the Unrestricted General Government Aid account if the state ends fiscal 2011 with a surplus. With state tax collections running ahead of forecast by $145 million through the end of March, there is a chance that there may be some funds available for a supplemental municipal aid distribution later this year. The amendment would require that 50 percent of any “aggregate balance of appropriations,” not to exceed $65 million, be distributed to cities and towns not later than Oct. 31, 2011.

House members also approved increases for a number of local government accounts, mainly smaller municipal and school programs. Funding for the METCO program would be increased by $1.5 million, and $3 million would be added for the Shannon anti-gang grants program, which was not funded in the original House budget committee recommendation.

The House also funded mitigation payments to a number of cities and towns hosting correctional and other state facilities and added a small amount of funding to a handful of educational grant programs.

The House also approved a set-aside of 1 percent of local tuition payments to charter schools (about $3.3 million) to help the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education administer the state’s charter school program.

• Link to Division of Local Services for local aid estimates based on House budget