Federal Budget Review Commission Named

Chairs of the Joint Committee on Education, Sen. Jason Lewis and Rep. Ken Gordon, preside over a hearing in the Gardner Auditorium on Monday, July 21, 2025.

The new iteration of the Foundation Budget Review Commission charged with reviewing the contentious school funding formula has taken shape and is preparing to chart a course for school funding now that the Student Opportunity Act has run its course. The commission's refreshed roster features Sen. JASON LEWIS and Rep. KEN GORDON as chairs, along with Senate Ways and Means Chairman MICHAEL RODRIGUES and Republican Sen. PETER DURANT, according to the Legislature's website. Other members are Education Secretary STEVE ZRIKE, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner PEDRO MARTINEZ, Early Education and Care Commissioner AMY KERSHAW, Assistant Secretary for Budget CHRISTOPHER MARINO, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Local Services SEAN CRONIN and Director of Rural Affairs ANNE GOBI. Joining them are Senate President Karen Spilka's designee ARMAND PIRES, House Minority Leader Brad Jones' designee MELISSA KING and gubernatorial appointees KRISTEN SMIDY and AMY O'LEARY. The education-sector seats are held by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees' DENISE HURST, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents' JAY LANG, the Massachusetts Charter Public Schools Association's TIM NICOLETTE, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts' JESSICA TANG, the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators' THOMAS HICKEY, the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools' SHEILA MUIR and the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials' DAVID VERDOLINO. Rounding out the roster are the Massachusetts Municipal Association's KASSANDRA GOVE, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education's ED LAMBERT, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation's DOUG HOWGATE, EVAN HOROWITZ of Tufts University's Center for State Policy Analysis and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable's JD CHESLOFF. By statute, the commission also includes House Ways and Means Chairman AARON MICHLEWITZ or a designee, though none has been announced. [The Legislature's website listed House Majority Leader Michael Moran as a member of the Foundation Budget Review Commission, but a spokeswoman for House Speaker Ron Mariano said the speaker has not made any appointments and Moran's name was later removed.]