“We’ve faced unprecedented challenges over the last year and, now more than ever, we must continue funding the vital services and resources that our communities rely on. The Assembly budget proposal makes bold investments in education, child care systems and libraries while supporting economic recovery efforts. I tirelessly worked to make sure the concerns and longstanding issues in our neighborhoods were heard and addressed in our proposal.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed inadequacies in education and child care across our state, and our plan takes critical steps to correct these issues. We propose increasing education aid by $3.1 billion and make a commitment to fully funding Foundation Aid within three years. We also propose increases to library aid and library construction grants, increased funds to bolster mental health services in our schools and expanded access to affordable childcare.

“As we continue negotiating the final budget, I’ll work to support families and businesses and help our communities build back better.”