House plan hikes spending by 5.7%

The House proposed yesterday boosting state spending by 5.7 percent, an increase designed to help cities and towns and to stem a stream of property tax overrides that has riled constituents across the state.

School officials and budget analysts were unsure yesterday whether the House's $25.27 billion plan would bring much relief. They said public schools, as well as cities and towns, are still recovering from crushing budget cuts from 2002 to 2004.

House leaders said that although revenues are up, they need to use money from reserves to balance the budget and could not propose a huge increase. They said billions have been spent on public schools, and spending is increasing, but they need to cover pay raises, debts, and other initiatives such as child care and higher education.

''We have to deal with reality," House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said at a State House press conference yesterday. ''We make the choices, and hopefully the public will understand that."

The House blueprint would also boost spending in several areas, including $25 million to reduce residents' water and sewer bills; $21.2 million for community policing grants; and $42 million in salary and benefits for court employees, including $14 million in pay raises for judges and court clerks.

But it was school spending that drew the most attention yesterday.

Overall, school systems would receive a nearly 3 percent increase in Chapter 70 funding, the basic state aid for education, or $91.4 million more than the current fiscal year. Towns and cities could add to school aid with $158 million from lottery revenues, a result of the Legislature removing a cap on lottery aid, lawmakers said.

''It's not nearly enough. It's really putting tremendous pressure on the towns," said Peter Holland, school superintendent in Belmont, where a property tax override failed last week, possibly forcing layoffs in the 3,800-student district.

The unveiling of the House budget is a key step in the annual budget process that began in January when Governor Mitt Romney filed his plan. The House plan was released by the House Ways and Means Committee and will be debated by the full House starting April 24.

The Senate will unveil its budget plan in coming weeks. Then the two chambers will hammer out a compromise and send it to Romney for approval. He could veto all or parts of it. Typically the process ends before July 1, when the next fiscal year starts.

The House budget proposal includes increases in education, health and human services, housing and public safety. Besides schools and lottery aid, the budget includes $125 million for the new healthcare plan, which aims to extend benefits to nearly all of the state's uninsured.

Budget analysts said it was a good sign that the House was restoring lottery aid to cities and towns, but predicted it would take years to make up for devastating cuts. ''They are under a real squeeze," Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said of the communities.

The House tinkered with the state funding formula for schools, proposing to take into account property values and the level of affluence, based on income, of a town when deciding how much it could pay for schools.

The plan could bring relief to towns that contend that soaring property values make them appear wealthier than they are. The House plan would also gradually ensure that each school system gets at least 15 percent of its budget from the state. Currently 67 of the 330 school systems, many of them wealthy, receive less.

The 3 percent increase in state aid to school systems proposed by the House is less than the governor's plan, which calls for a 5 percent boost. The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the Massachusetts Teachers Association vowed to lobby for more aid.

''I'm very disappointed," said Thomas Scott, executive director of the superintendents association. ''I expected a lot more coming out in this budget proposal."

DiMasi accused Romney of coming up with a larger number by using ''gimmicks and smoke and mirrors."

The House ignored several of Romney's initiatives, including merit pay for teachers and lowering the income tax rate. Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney would press his initiatives with the Legislature.

Viriato Manuel deMacedo of Plymouth, a Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee, said he and other House members will seek to add $72 million in local aid to the budget when debate begins.

In the area of higher education, the House proposes boosting funding for state colleges and universities by more than $60 million, or 7 percent, according to the state Board of Higher Education.

The budget would provide a $27.9 million increase for the University of Massachusetts system and $34.7 million increase for state and community colleges, according to the House proposal.

But the higher education budget would still be adjusted for inflation below where it was in fiscal year 2001, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Stephen Tocco, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, said the board was disappointed not to receive more.

Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com; Estes at estes@globe.com.