BOSTON -- The Legislature yesterday restored millions of dollars in education spending yesterday that Gov. Paul Cellucci had vetoed, as lawmakers scrambled to finish its business on the final day of the formal session.
Cellucci had rejected $175 million in various items from the $21.55 billion budget that was sent to him by the House and Senate. More than one quarter of the vetoed items were in education spending.
But lawmakers began last night to restore some of that money, approving, for example, $8.2 million in scholarships for college-bound high school students, $9.6 million for more nurses and other school health services, and $10 million to promote childhood literacy.
In the waning hours of the two-year session, the Legislature restored several North Shore proposals vetoed by Cellucci.
Those proposals included: $600,000 for repairs to the Newburyport boardwalk, $105,137 for the restoration of Mill Pond in West Newbury, $1.5 million for an access road in Georgetown, $230,000 for design work for renovations to a sea wall along the causeway to Marblehead Neck in Marblehead and $460,000 for design work for the reconstruction of Walnut Street in Saugus.
Legislators also restored full funding of $300,000 to repair the town of Salisbury's pier. Cellucci had cut $100,000 from that account.
The 1999-2000 legislative session will perhaps best be remembered for the abandonment of the state's 28-year-old commitment to providing a higher level of care for special education students than was required under federal law.
The special education debate was the biggest story in this year's budget negotiations, and featured several impassioned speeches by lawmakers, some who voted against the entire state budget because of their strong opposition to the change.
Critics said the change would threaten the education of many special education students in Massachusetts, while supporters said the higher standard cost too much and came at the expense of education for other students.
Sen. Fred Berry, a Democrat from Peabody who was unable to persuade lawmakers to keep the current standard during budget negotiations, was among several lawmakers who worked to overturn many of Cellucci's vetoes of proposals that were aimed at softening the blow of the change. By the end of the day, nearly all of Cellucci's special education vetoes had been overturned. Berry said losing the current standard "tore the heart out" of the state's special education law.
"The governor vetoed the guts (of the law)," Berry said. "These overrides were very important ... Even though we lost the heart, we saved the guts."
The final formal meeting of the 1999-2000 Legislature yesterday was marked by a flurry of activity, as House and Senate members moved to approve last-minute legislative proposals. Throughout the day, leaders of the two chambers reminded members to stay close, so roll-call votes could be hustled through.
Last year's budget was remarkable for its tardiness. House and Senate members failed to reach agreement until November, four months after the start of the year the budget was supposed to cover.
Massachusetts was the last state in the nation to reach a budget agreement. It was the latest the Bay State had approved a budget since 1965, when the Legislature passed a budget on New Year's Eve.
A more recent vote may stick longest in the memories of sports fans: the vote on Saturday to approve legislation for a new stadium for the Red Sox.
The bill included $100 million in state bond money for infrastructure work, such as road and subway improvements, in the Fenway area.
Lawmakers approved a second, smaller budget yesterday to spend the surplus dollars collected this year. The state pulled in $760 million more than expected, $500 million of which was slated to go toward the Big Dig.
The Legislature voted to spend the extra $260 million on a range of initiatives, including $12 million for public library projects, $10 million to dredge various rivers and ponds, $5 million for police bulletproof vests, and $8 million for nursing homes and elderly care providers.
The supplemental budget also included $87 million in extra Lottery revenues that will be distributed among cities and towns.