On Monday, December 4th, Governor Healey signed a $3.1 Billion FY24 supplemental budget after the House and Senate grappled for weeks on several important items. See below on the major investments for children included within this supplemental budget:
Education
This budget contains $75 million to school districts for extraordinary costs for out of district placements, also known as the Special Education Circuit Breaker. This funding, along with an additional $20 million specifically for extraordinary relief in the FY’24 budget, provides $95 million in relief to districts, ensuring that the tuition rate adjustment will not be a burden to school districts.
Emergency Shelter System
$250 million in funding was included in this supplemental budget to support the demand on the strained emergency shelter system, which brings the total amount for FY24 emergency shelter funding up to about $575 million. Specifically, $50 million of that funding is to be spent on an overflow site for migrant and local homeless families placed on a waitlist for emergency shelter. These additional funds are expected to last into the spring, but not the entirety of the fiscal year.
Recently issued state guidance highlights four tiers for prioritizing families who are in need of shelter. The highest priority tier includes those determined to be at “imminent risk of harm” from domestic violence, those with a child under 3 months old, or those with someone experiencing a high-risk pregnancy. A waitlisted family will have at least three chances to accept an open shelter placement before being removed from the list.
SNAP Benefits for Immigrants
The closeout supplemental budget included $6 million to restore a policy to offer state-funded SNAP food benefits for immigrants who are in the U.S. with legal status, but who are not citizens. With the influx of thousands of new immigrants in Massachusetts over the past year, advocates called for the state to expand food benefits for low-income populations who are excluded from federal benefit programs.