Comerford: $1.33B Fair Share spending plan for education, transportation to give region boost

JO COMERFORD

JO COMERFORD

By ALEXA LEWIS

Staff Writer

Published: 05-12-2025 4:16 PM

Western Massachusetts stands to “greatly benefit” from a $1.33 billion spending plan for education and transportation that was adopted by the state Senate last week, thanks in part to a lengthy debate leading up to the vote that sought to reverse an initial proposal that Sen. Jo Comerford called “skewed” and “wildly unfair” to this region.

“We talked a lot about regional equity and I believe the Senate got it right,” she said. “We have to level the playing field for western Mass.”

The plan is funded by the 2022 Fair Share Amendment to the state Constitution, which created a 4% surtax on income above $1 million annually. The bill that was approved last Thursday, S.2512, would provide funding statewide for public K-12 education and special education; rural roads, bridges and culverts; public transit expansions; and infrastructure upgrades at colleges and universities.

In Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, specifically, regional school districts stand to receive a solid chunk of money for capital projects. Pioneer Valley Regional School District has a $100,000 earmark; Ralph C. Mahar Regional School and the Gill-Montague Regional School District could receive $75,000; and the Athol-Royalston Regional School District, Greenfield’s public schools and Sunderland Elementary School could get $50,000 for capital improvements.

At Pioneer, if the earmark survives reconciliation with the House of Representatives, the school will use the $100,000 to build an outdoor learning pavilion to supplement its growing array of environmental education programming.

“We are incredibly excited about this opportunity,” Pioneer School Committee Chair Melissa Gerry said in a statement. “This pavilion will benefit both the current students who build it and our students in future years who will have even greater access to outdoor learning.”

When presented with the initially proposed Fair Share spending breakdown, Comerford said she “wanted more for RTAs (regional transit authorities), for roads, for culverts, for bridges,” especially in western Massachusetts.

She explained that Chapter 90 funding, which is earmarked for capital improvements on local public roadways, from the state “has been historically bad for small communities” because of the way the funding formula relies on population, economic activity and road mileage.

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To provide a more regionally equitable distribution of funding, the Senate this year decided to distribute $82.5 million — half of the total $165 million in supplemental Chapter 90 funding — based solely on road mileage.

In addition, the fiscal year 2026 Fair Share investments call for regional equity in transportation, including $50 million for capital improvements and $25 million for workforce recruitment at regional transit authorities; $25 million for small bridges and culverts; and $10 million for on-demand micro-transit shuttles and “Last Mile” grants designed to increase access to public transportation in small, rural towns.

Comerford expressed excitement about offering micro-transit options for rural residents, especially in the wake of regional transportation fees being waived for riders.

“Now, we have to make them accessible,” she said.

The bill further includes $175 million for deferred maintenance at higher education institutions, $10 million for lab resources for community colleges, and another $10 million for expansion of the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Nursing training center, “which will be terrific for our public health workforce,” Comerford said.

“We are a knowledge economy,” she said, “so we have to keep these institutions excellent.”

An additional $248 million will fund special education throughout Massachusetts, including circuit breaker reimbursements for local school districts and transportation costs. Comerford said this will be vital funding, because “in western Massachusetts, our miles are long for out-of-district education.”

For technical education programs, $100 million will be disbursed to aid in expansions and capacity building. Comerford also expressed enthusiasm about the $750,000 she secured in direct spending earmarks for local communities — most of which, she said, is going to fund local education.

On top of these funds, which Comerford hopes will benefit communities in the region, $5 million will also be put toward transportation improvements in preparation for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in the state.

Statewide, $25 million will be dedicated to literacy education for K-3 students, $10 million will help to shorten waiting lists for English language learning services, and $50 million will be awarded to municipalities and school districts that are facing “extraordinary school construction increases due to inflation or the impacts of tariffs,” according to a state announcement.

“I felt very proud of the Senate’s work yesterday,” Comerford said on Friday.

She also expressed her pride in state voters, particularly those from western Massachusetts, who voted the Fair Share Amendment into action, making these appropriations possible.

The House and the Senate will need to iron out differences in their approaches before the money can be put to use. Both versions of the bill would appropriate about $1.3 billion in surtax dollars, but the House wants to divide it up with $857 million for transportation and $405 million for education, while the Senate bill broke it down with $670 million for transportation and $617 million for education before amendments.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com. Chris Larabee contributed to this report.