Better funding for the University of Massachusetts, a task force focused on combating opioids in Franklin County and programs to assist the homeless in the Pioneer Valley are included in the Senate budget approved by a unanimous 38-0 vote Thursday night.
The Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget, which focuses on public education from early childhood through college and includes a series of initiatives aimed at promoting affordable housing and environmental protection, will next have to be reconciled with the budget adopted by the House of Representatives in April.
That reconciled budget will then be sent to Gov. Charlie Baker.
“This budget reaffirms the Senate’s vision of Kids First, which will build strong, healthy, resilient kids who grow up to become productive adults that contribute to our Commonwealth,” Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said in a statement. “With the right policies and resources in place, our route to shared prosperity opens up with strategic investments in our children.”
The budget includes $534.5 million for UMass, a $26.2 million increase over the current year.
Rosenberg also sponsored an amendment that ensures the Franklin County Opioid Task Force will receive $300,000 and continue its work to help those struggling with addition.
“This important funding allows the task force to continue its critical work in fighting the opioid epidemic in Franklin County,” Rosenberg said.
Another $149,700 is set aside for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Anticrime Task Force, and $75,000 for its juvenile firesetter intervention and prevention program.
Also included in the budget is money for regional programs in the Pioneer Valley, including $200,000 for Craig’s Doors in Amherst, the only seasonal homeless shelter in eastern Hampshire County, and $125,000 for the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness to implement a strategic plan to for ending homelessness.
The budget also includes $10.6 million for Greenfield Community College and $1.3 million for the Healthy Incentives Program allowing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program families to buy products at farmers markets and farm stands
Other regional programs supported in the budget are $85,000 for the Middle Skills Manufacturing Initiative in Franklin and Hampshire County, $100,000 for the Franklin/Hampshire County CASA, which provides advocates for children who have been neglected and abused, $50,000 for the Planned Learning Achievement for Youth program in Amherst, $50,000 for the regional leadership development program in the Pioneer Valley that addresses the regional leadership void identified by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and $100,000 for Veteran Mediation Services provided by Quabbin Mediation.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
