With the Massachusetts State Senate concluding it’s formal two-year session last night, State Senator Vanna Howard (D-Lowell) has helped secure $17.5 million in funding for the First Middlesex District and other statewide initiatives. The funding includes $2.5 million through the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget, $750,000 through the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Fair Share Supplemental Budget, $10 million in bond authorizations through the Economic Development bond bill, and $5 million in bond authorizations through the Environmental Bond Bill.
“At a time when the federal government has cut resources from our most vulnerable, our Commonwealth is demonstrating strong leadership by uplifting them,” said Senator Howard. “I am proud to support these initiatives and grateful to Senate President Spilka, Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues, and my colleagues in the House and Senate for their leadership in delivering a thoughtful, balanced, no-tax-increase budget, making historic investments in public education, local aid, housing, transit, and food security.”
Items funded include:
- $500,000 for a Mattress Recycling Social Enterprise impact pilot program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection.
- $300,000 for UMass Lowell’s Career Connected Experience Ecosystem programming (co-filed with Senator Barry Finegold.)
- $200,000 for the Greater Lowell Community Foundation to allocate to local nonprofit organizations
- $100,000 for the Lowell Community Health Center’s residency program for primary care physicians
- $100,000 for the Meher Foundation to provide transitional services for refugees in the city of Lowell
- $50,000 for the Angkor Dance Troupe to support cultural programming
- $50,000 for Community Teamwork Inc to operate programs promoting children’s behavioral health and educational success
- $25,000 for the Lowell Folk Festival
- $25,000 for the Lowell Summer Music Series
- $25,000 for municipal improvements in the Town of Dracut
- $25,000 for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association to provide transitional services for refugees
Senator Howard also filed an amendment for a $250,000 increase in the funding for the Citizenship for New Americans program which is funded at $1,616,246 in the final bill signed by Governor Maura Healey.
Additionally, the budget revives the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) to examine the K-12 funding formula and assess how the state can address rising costs in special education, student transportation, personnel, and educator health care statewide. Establishing the commission and finding a more equitable fund in public education has been one of Senator Howard’s legislative priorities.
The Fiscal Year 2027 budget includes significant increases in Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) and Chapter 70 money for public schools, which each First Middlesex District community will benefit from.
Lowell received a 2.5% increase in Unrestricted General Government Aid from FY26, raising its FY27 allocation to $32,129,298 from $31,355,690. Chapter 70 funding increased 5.54% to $275,966,413 from $261,489,114 from the FY26 budget.
Dracut received a 4.12% increase in UGGA from FY26, raising its FY27 budget to $4,541,548 from $4,361,649. Chapter 70 funding increased 2.12% to $28,733,489 from $28,136,689 in the FY26 budget.
The $63.14 billion Fiscal Year 2027 budget represents a 4% increase from FY26 and includes $2.7 billion in Fair Share Funds that will support public education and transportation. Additionally, the budget does not raise taxes and adds $51 million to the Commonwealth’s ‘Rainy Day’ Stabilization Fund, which is projected to reach a historic $8.2 billion balance by the end of Fiscal Year 2027.
As part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Fair Share Supplemental Budget signed by Governor Healey in June, Senator Howard’s amendments also supported the following items:
- $150,000 for improvements to the Bailey Elementary School playground in Lowell
- $75,000 towards the Lowell Community Charter Public School’s community and athletic center
- $75,000 for the Greater Lowell Technical High School’s soccer field
- $35,000 for Fortaleza’s education programs in the Lowell Public Schools.
- $115,000 for pedestrian safety beacons in the City of Lowell at high incident intersections
Through the Economic Development bond bill, Senator Howard was also able to help secure the funding for:
- $2.5 million for Lowell Canal Bridge Improvements
- $935,000 for UTEC Mattress Recycling
- $250,000 for Dracut Landfill Capping Project
Additionally, Senator Howard’s efforts aided a $5 million bond authorization to establish a new Massachusetts Center of Excellence in Fusion Technology, headquartered at UMass Lowell which would unite the tremendous strengths of public universities while fostering collaboration with private universities, national laboratories, and industry partners.
The Senate version of the bill will also aims to increase the production of new housing units through automatic two-family zoning across Massachusetts and create safety rules for fast electric scooters and e-bikes. The bill will also invest $100 million in immediate support for scientific research programs at public higher education institutions.
Having been passed by both the Senate and the House, the Mass Ready Act is now before a conference committee before returning to both chambers for final passage and being sent to Governor Healey’s desk. It includes:
- $1 million for Riverview Park in Lowell
- $1 million for environmental projects in Dracut
The Environment Bond Bill also establishes a local option for cities and towns to ban the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, a long-time priority of Senator Howard. She was a co-sponsor of both the House and Senate bills for statewide action and introduced the home rule petition from the Lowell City Council as a member of the House of Representatives. The amendment was introduced by Senator Michael Moore (D-Worcester) and co-sponsored by Senator Howard and was approved by the entire senate.
“This is a budget that delivers tangible support for working families,” Senator Howard said. “As an investment into strong communities, we are all aiming to expand educational opportunities, strengthen local infrastructure, support economic stability, and ensure residents have access to the services they need. I am thrilled of the collaborative work that went into this agreement and to share our commitment to the people of the First Middlesex District and communities across the Commonwealth.”
4 responses to “Howard Helps Secure $17.5-million in State and Local Funding”
One-time grants do not fix broken, unfair systems and a press release doesn’t lower the cost of living when the underlying funding formulas are systemically broken. What good is a headline when the state is failing to keep pace with real inflation resulting in the financial burden quietly getting pushed right back onto the local hardworking taxpayers. The latest funding announcement is a nothing burger for everyday people. Why? Because bringing home temporary grants doesn’t fix a broken, systemically unfair funding formulas. When state aid fails to match real-world inflation, Cities and Towns are forced to balance the books on the hardworking taxpayers’ backs through rising local fees and property taxes. A temporary grant is just a band-aid on a serious structural deficit. While $17.5 million in funding was announced for Lowell, real solutions require reforming and fixing state funding formulas rather than relying on one-time grants to lower the cost of living.
Which is why House Bill 5131 (the Municipal Empowerment Act) was also so very important. Our local city and town managers were begging for these tools to protect your wallet and stop devastating service cuts, but the bill has been left trapped in the House Ways and Means Committee ahead of the strict legislative deadline. We need representatives who will fight to pass REAL structural fixes. House Bill 5131 would have raised spending thresholds so our communities wouldn’t have had to launch expensive, time-consuming public bidding wars for minor routine purchases.
It also would have given School Bus Flexibilities by repealing broken state rules that block local governments from building more effective, in-house school bus transportation alternatives when private monopolies get too expensive, which would protect the classroom budgets. Another part of the bill would have allowed cities and towns to spread emergency or disaster deficit spending over a three-year window, instead of forcing them to swallow a massive sudden crisis all in a single fiscal year. The bill would also have given longer building loans by extending maximum loan terms for school construction projects from 30 to 40 years, immediately lowering the annual debt payments our local property taxpayers owe for new facilities.
Folks, we need REAL accountability and advocacy on Beacon Hill. Let’s stop letting the clock run out on our cities and towns and actually fix the systemically unfair system! PLEASE VOTE!
Yep sick of the press releases that do nothing for the everyday people who work! Always the non profits and photo ops at some gala. Yadda yadda yadda We need a voice
LOOK at the fine print on that $17.5 million announcement, it wasn’t a permanent adjustment to the unfair funding formula, it was one-time money from a supplemental budget. Supplemental earmarks are the ultimate political illusion and temporary by definition. It buys great headlines today, but it leaves the city and town managers completely empty-handed next year!
Because relying on unpredictable supplemental packages while leaving permanent, structural reforms like House Bill 5131 dead in committee is the definition of smoke and mirrors! We don’t just need temporary band-aids passed outside the standard budget cycle, we need the statutory tools that our local city and town managers were begging for. Please, STOP feeding us smoke and mirrors. The hardworking taxpayers need representation that will advocate and fight for real structural relief!
I seem to remember being told that ONLY the “fiscal watchdog” of Old Lowell could bring home the bacon LOL. Guess the only watchdog he is now is that of people with bearded dragons at Market Basket.