On March 26, the Ways & Means Committee, aka the budget writers, in the MA Legislature held a hearing about priorities for the next fiscal year. 

A budget is more than just numbers: it's a moral document. It shows what we, as a commonwealth, value and what society we wish to build together.

If you want a budget that reflects core progressive values, then write to your legislators in support of key investments in education and economic security: 

• Incorporating key provisions of the Cherish Act, such as increasing investment in public colleges and universities, ensuring that students are able to graduate without debt, strengthening student supports, and guaranteeing good pay and benefits for all faculty and staff 

• Fully funding the Student Opportunity Act to keep the promise made to our students in 2019 of a high-quality public education for all and increased funding to high-need school districts, and ensuring that we are not underfunding needs due to an outdated calculation of inflation 

• Fully funding School Meals for All because universal school meals have proven a policy success and hungry children can't learn 

• Continuing the state's operational grants to child care providers to offset their operating costs, including higher educator pay, and implementing other recommendations from a recent early education & child care commission

• Including $3.5 Million to start an Access to Counsel program because no tenant facing eviction should go without legal representation 

• Including a 20% increase in cash assistance grant levels for low-income families because we must ensure that everyone's basic needs are met