MTA Today - Winter 2016

Fair Share Amendment moves forward

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Cambridge teacher Betsy Preval, right, testified in support of the Fair Share Amendment along with Rodney Mohammed, a Brockton parent, center, and Clare Higgins, executive director of Community Action of the Franklin, Hampshire and North Quabbin Regions.

By Scott McLennan

A proposed constitutional amendment that would raise revenue for greater investment in public education and transportation has received the endorsement of a key legislative panel.

The Joint Committee on Revenue, which held a hearing Jan. 19 on the Fair Share Amendment, reported the measure out of committee favorably on Jan. 29. The amendment will now be presented to the House and Senate, meeting jointly in a constitutional convention.

The amendment, which would generate more than $1.5 billion a year, calls for an additional tax of four percentage points on annual income over $1 million.

At the State House hearing, a steady stream of advocates voiced support for the proposal.

Economists and business leaders argued that more support for public education and transportation would help the state’s economy grow and provide more opportunities for everyone in the Commonwealth.

Educators and parents told legislators about the results of shrinking budgets, describing inadequate classroom resources and insufficient early education opportunities.

Public higher education faculty and staff — and other higher education supporters — testified that students are taking on greater amounts of debt to cover higher tuition and fees.

Meanwhile, they said, public
college and university campuses
are privatizing services, deferring
maintenance and allocating more
admission slots to out-of-state
students simply because they pay
more to attend.
“It doesn’t take courage to
support this measure — it only takes
common sense,” said Tom Goodkind,
president of the Professional Staff
Union at UMass Boston.
MTA President Barbara Madeloni
also testified in favor of passage of the
amendment.
“In recent years, we have seen
the divide between rich and poor
grow to historic levels. Let’s be clear
what this divide means: It means the
long-held dream of college education
is eroding for many. It means working
parents must hold multiple jobs just
to make ends meet. And it means that
schools, especially urban schools,
are consistently underfunded,” she
said. “We think it is fair to ask those
who have reaped the biggest rewards
from our economy to pay a fair share
toward reversing these barriers for
Massachusetts families.”
Because the initiative would
amend the state Constitution, it
must pass through the Legislature’s
constitutional convention process,
which means the question could not
appear on the ballot before 2018.
The measure needs the approval of
50 or more legislators this session and
at a constitutional convention during
the 2017-18 session.

The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, which includes the MTA, gathered more than 157,000 signatures on petitions supporting the ballot measure.

For more information and updates, visit www.massteacher.org/ revenue or www.raiseupma.org.

At the State House hearing, a steady stream of advocates voiced support for the proposal. Economists and business leaders argued that more support for public education and transportation would help the state’s economy grow and provide more opportunities for everyone in the Commonwealth. Educators and parents told legislators about the results of shrinking budgets, describing inadequate classroom resources and insufficient early education opportunities.