It’s been said that Governor Baker might turn out to be a Frank Sargent type, an old-fashioned liberal-moderate Republican.
Well, he and his administration seem to be taking every opportunity to take from the poor and working class. Remember how he fixed DCF? Not so fast. Look at how he values them in his new budget:
In a statement that must have agitated even our preternaturally calm governor, Commissioner Linda Spears said she doesn’t have the money to take steps, such as hiring more social workers, needed to protect children in the state’s care.
More …
This budget gives the least to children who are growing the most — those in the critical birth to 5 years of age range. Our otherwise data-driven governor has apparently lost the files showing that investments in early care and education pay off. Overall, the Department of Early Education and Care gets $5 million less than last year. Grants for full-day kindergarten expansion are gone, putting at risk such programs and the children who need them. Families on waitlists for income-eligible child-care will continue to wait, since that item was not funded, either.
Many budget lines that, in past years, helped disadvantaged kids learn are empty. Empty, as in zero dollars for English Language Learners in Gateway Cities, and the hope it offered immigrant students in places like Brockton and Springfield. Empty, as in nothing for the Bay State Reading Institute, even though it has a proven track record in closing achievement gaps for English language learners and low-income students.
Because who can you pick on, if not the poor, vulnerable, and, well, the tiny?
A consistent track record emerges:
- We just gave $150 million to GE because, you know, investment in the future, but early childhood gets a cut. Huh.
- The administration is eager to kick working class people off of Medicaid. Saves money.
- And at the MBTA, the beatings will continue until morale improves: More service cuts, fee increases, absolutely no hope in sight.
(Let’s not pretend that the House’s version is any better — in fact, it may be worse.)
Baker is going to have to decide whether to be Mr. Fixit, or Mr. Fiscal Conservative. You cannot fix the T, or DCF, or anything, on an austerity budget. There is only so far a technocratic cleverness goes. At some point you’ve got to present a vision, and get people to literally buy in.
If the T is still a mess in 2018, and if DCF is still underfunded and losing kids, and oops we forgot to have child care and kindergarten … Everyone’s going to be asking why we bothered with this guy.
farnkoff says
Protecting the rich, screwing the poor, just another Republican tool. It’s been nauseating to watch the media’s worshipful treatment of this turkey during their extended honeymoon- glad to see he’s finally catching some heat. He hasn’t fixed a damn thing, and is now poised to make a lot of things worse.
merrimackguy says
Vote those poor-hating bastards out!
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_politics/2016/04/house_ax_falls_on_charlie_baker_s_budget_proposals
Pablo says
He bakes a -0.22% DEFLATION rate into the foundation budget, reducing the state’s share of funding for publicly governed school districts. The only program he wants to expand, exponentially, are charter schools. Note that Charlie and the state budget don’t pay for charter schools. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education votes to plop them down wherever they like, and force the cities and towns to pick up the inflated cost of the privileged component of a separate but unequal system.