Report Outlines State Budget Cuts

Higher education funding has been cut 15 percent and local aid to cities and towns has been cut 34 percent during the last three years of state budget slashing, a new report from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center found.

Funding for public higher education has been cut from $1.09 billion in fiscal year 2009 to $954.1 million in this current fiscal year. State and community colleges have been cut 14.4 percent each while the University of Massachusetts system has been cut 15.1 percent.

Unrestricted local aid to cities and towns has been cut by more than a third in the last three fiscal years, while Chapter 70 education funding, which is used by municipalities to cover elementary and secondary education, dropped 6.5 percent in the three-year timeframe.