BREAKING NEWS:
From State Representative Margaret Scarsdale on Facebook:
𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭! After thousands of conversations, meetings, forums, letters, calls, and months of community-building, the House and Senate just voted to pass our final FY27 budget, and it includes the long-awaited, hard-fought-for Foundation Budget Review Commission.Make no mistake, this victory belongs to every advocate and every partnership that made it possible, including the pivotal Project 211+ statewide coalition, which I founded in 2023 with this very goal in mind: a statewide, structural change to the school funding formula to make sure none of our students are left behind.I am grateful to Speaker Mariano, House Ways & Means Chair Michlewitz, Assistant Majority Leader Peisch, and Assistant Minority Leader Ferguson, among so many colleagues, for their commitment to public education, in this budget and as a guiding principle for our collective work in the House. In the District, the fierce advocacy of Lacey McCabe, Tara McNamara, Christine Boisvert, Lorraine Ostanik, Sam Smith, Diane Hewitt, Kelly Kelly, Jen Fors, Carolyn Scafidi, Becky Pine, and Adam Snodgrass cannot be understated in making this win possible. Thank you to everyone who emailed, called, sent a letter, showed up to the State House, and stood with us in this fight. Your voice reverberated through Beacon Hill.And to the statewide organizations who joined forces to advocate for this commission: the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Massachusetts Association for Regional Schools, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and Massachusetts Association of Business Officials. Your collective action was decisive.With the Governor's signature, this pivotal work will continue; as the commission gets underway, I'll still be fighting every day, as I have since I was first elected, to make sure our schools and the over 200 others like them, have a voice at the table and receive the funding they desperately need, and deserve.These wins are the direct result of persistence, partnership, and a fierce, unwavering commitment to this District. Thank you for standing with me — this is what we can accomplish together.
