The Legislature’s main duty every year is passage of the state budget. Last week, the House made considerable progress by finishing up budget subcommittee work. Budget subcommittees meet frequently with each department to navigate potential budget changes and create a plan for the upcoming budget. I am chair for three budget subcommittees: The departments of Education, Environmental Conservation and Transportation.

So far, our department budgets do not look much different than last year’s budgets. For the Department of Education, we added additional funding for pre-K grants and encoura...