Progressive Advocates React to Gov. Patrick's State of the Commonwealth Address

BOSTON - Governor Patrick decided that it was finally politically viable to announce goals targeting growth, ending an era of budget austerity and slim pickings for working families in yesterday's State of the Commonwealth address. His proposed budget included a two percent cut in the sales tax from the current rate of 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent. Income tax would increase from 5.25 to 6.25 percent, with revenue entirely directed to a public works fund. The public works fund would in turn address crumbling infrastructure in the transportation sector, transportation-related debt, and education reform.

Karl Petrick, a professor of economics at Western New England University, explained the positive effects of an income tax increase on low-income families in a MassLive article. "Right now, the state income tax doesn't apply to the first $4,400 anyone makes and the governor's proposal would double that to include the first $8,800." Higher income residents, will of course, have to contribute more.

Patrick's address began with a note of pride, as he cited successes like eliminating 6,000 positions in state government, controlling healthcare costs, and the vague statement on introducing accountability and flexibility to Commonwealth schools. While his administration has "saved the Commonwealth over 11 billion dollars," it has also left many in the dark, specifically those in low-income communities living far from accessible transportation, with little to no work, and minimal education.

John Drew, President of Action for Boston Community Development, knows a thing or two about resources for low-income families. His organization is the largest human-services agency in New England. He responded to the Governor's speech positively, "We deal with lots of people in the Greater Boston area … 80-90,000 a year."

ABCD Head Start and Children Services programs serve about 2,500 low-income children and their families each year, offering a variety of early childhood education, health, and case management services at sites located throughout Boston. What does low-income mean in this organization? Fifty-six percent of new clients for ABCD live at 100-percent of Federal Poverty Level. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services places this threshold at $23,050 for a family of four.

Drew said, "It was refreshing to hear the Governor mention helping kids before third grade, helping them get on track for college, and improve their lives. We have thousands on the waiting list for people to get into their children into our Head Start program. That's zero to five ratio. With the public works program he mentioned, we'd be able to provide education and care opportunities for people to get on with their lives."

A public works program that provides assistance to groups like head start would also assist their Education and Career Development program. Currently, 72 percent of clients had a high school diploma or less, and 32 percent had less than a high school education.

Paul Toner, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state's largest labor union, went into depth on the effects of the Governor's budget proposal on education.

"The Massachusetts Teachers Association has long supported increasing revenues in a more progressive manner. Increasing the income tax while increasing personal deductions and lowering the sales tax will raise the revenue we need to invest in our communities while requiring the wealthy among us to pay their fair share and giving lower and middle income workers the break they need."

Toner continued in reference to an official statement, "The governor’s proposal to create universal access to high-quality early education would provide a tremendous benefit to the many young children who don’t currently have access to these vital services. Too many districts struggle to provide students with the intensive academic support they need and the enriched curriculum they deserve. The governor’s call to increase funding for our Gateway Cities and the Expanded Learning Time grant program will help to address those limitations."
Closing achievement and attainment gaps is widely considered to be a priority for the Patrick-Murray Administration. The purpose of the Gateway Cities Education Agenda is to close these gaps that disproportionately affect students living in poverty, students of color, students with disabilities, and students who are English language learners in our Gateway Cities.

"There are nearly 68,000 English language learners in the Commonwealth, a 51 percent increase since 2000. The FY 13 budget includes $3 million in competitive grants to operate English Language Learners Enrichment Academies that will give middle and high school ELLs more time to acquire English language skills."

Alejandra St. Guillen, president of the statewide Latino political organization Oiste, liked the focus on early childhood education presented in the Governor's address, but urged the importance of following through on promises. One of the things we as an organization are trying to do is reform the system for ESL learners. I'm hoping it's part of the legislative agenda for the next two years." Patrick had cited the reading proficiency of third graders as an indicator of achievement gaps. For Hispanics, reading proficiency in the third grade stands at 36 percent. St. Guillen argued that this is even lower for English as a Second Language Learners.

The State of the Commonwealth address comes on the heels of Patrick's announcement on Monday of his administration seeking $1 billion a year in new revenue to fund public transportation infrastructure projects. Total expenditures over the next year with his proposed plan will amount to $13 billion for projects from upgrades rail service in the Berkshires, to pedestrian walkways in North Adams, to later hours for the MBTA. The proposal to do this would be funded by raising the state's 21 cents per gallon gasoline tax, increasing income tax, imposing a tax on individual vehicle carbon emissions, and increased MBTA user fees.

Advocates welcomed the renewed focus on transportation infrastructure. Drew mentioned the clients of ABCD, "Many of those are adults who are out of work, or youth up to the age of 25 who have gave not graduated or gone to college. They don't have opportunities in the inner city to get jobs. They cannot travel long distances to find jobs with the poor transportation that they have. They're trapped inside cities and can't get those opportunities, because they don't have money, or a car." ABCD also has an apprenticeship program for women in the trades and hopes that an increase in transportation jobs could benefit them.

Oiste, Latino immigrant advocacy group Centro Presente, and ABCD all emphasized the importance of expanded access to transportation in places like Mattapan, remote parts of Dorchester, Lynn, and Everett to improve mobility of low-income workers and immigrants to find jobs.

Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, mentioned other hopes for the new legislative session. "As Governor Patrick mentioned, this State has always been one of opportunity for immigrants. We hope he will show a commitment to that concept by strongly supporting the various efforts to legislatively increase opportunity for the hard-working immigrant community of Massachusetts through things like domestic workers bill, immigrant drivers license initiative, the in-state tuition push and the Trust Act. All of these efforts are of great importance to immigrants in Massachusetts and represent an investment in the security of a community who represent a key component of the economic future of the Commonwealth."