Top 5 Takeaways From the Massachusetts Senate Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Proposal
On May 22, 2025, the Massachusetts Senate finalized its $61.4 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). The Senate demonstrated strong support for early education and child care, dedicating $1.7 billion to the sector. This is almost a $200 million increase than in the final Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) state budget.
Top 5 Takeaways From the Senate Budget:
Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Operational Grants is level-funded. C3 is level-funded for the third year at $475 million. However, with the number of providers in the sector growing and the costs of providing care dramatically increasing, $475 million will not go as far as it has in past years. It’s possible that, FY26, we may not see the same positive impacts on salary increases and tuition stabilizations as we have in years past.
Funding for the Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) program significantly increased. Appropriations to CCFA increased to $1.06 billion. This public investment is crucial for stabilizing the CCFA program, but is not enough to reopen the 30,000 child income-eligible waitlist or to extend financial assistance to families recently made eligible for the program.
There is no funding for scholarships, loan forgiveness, career advancements and benefits, and personal child care for early educators. However, we hope this will be resolved in conference.
Key EEC programs have been level funded. The Senate proposal continues funding for Resource and Referral Agencies and Early Childhood Mental Health Supports at the same level as FY25.
Massachusetts' state budget proposal is dependent on what happens with the federal budget. The Massachusetts budget depends heavily on federal funds ($16 billion overall; $2 billion for education). Of note, the Governor’s proposal and the Senate proposal both assume that the state will receive all of its anticipated revenue from the federal government and state tax dollars. Given the federal political climate and the state budget’s reliance on federal funds to support early education and care and other important safety net programs, the state budget could dramatically change if the federal government significantly cuts critical federal funding for education, early education, and other social services.
For more details on the budget and how it compares to the House’s proposal, Governor’s proposal, and to the final FY25 budget, check out our fact sheets here.