The first phase of the Administration’s comprehensive strategic planning and performance management effort culminates with this budget.  In February 2012, Governor Patrick signed Executive Order 540 to embed performance management across state government.  Consistent with EO 540 and legislation (Chapter 165 of the Acts of 2012) signed by the Governor in July 2012, the Patrick-Murray Administration’s FY14 budget includes:

  • Publication of Strategies for the Governor’s Four Priorities – Governor Patrick began his second-term by setting clear, measurable goals in four priority areas: closing the achievement gap in schools; containing health care costs; reducing youth violence; and creating jobs. The Administration developed integrated strategies for each of these priorities and regularly tracks progress utilizing performance measures to evaluate results.  High-level strategies for each of the priorities have been published with this budget;
  • Publication of Two-Year Secretariat Strategic Plans – Each of the eight Secretariats of state government has published a two-year strategic plan alongside this budget.  These plans set out the strategic goals of the Patrick-Murray Administration through 2014, the key actions that will be pursued to achieve them and the outcome measures that will be utilized to evaluate results; and
  • Presentation of a Program Budget– This budget is presented in a new, more accessible and easily understood program-based format.  Instead of simply presenting the agency or line-item account for each area of spending, this budget shows how much is being spent on the real functions of state government.  Additionally, newly launched web-based tools provide the public with the ability to interact and engage with the budget in a way that has never been possible before.  The new program-based budget also goes beyond simply making recommendations for annual operating funds.  State government is a $50 B a year enterprise, only $34 B of which is allocated via the annual operating budget.  This budget presents a broader and more transparent view of how state government invests the resources it has – whether from operating, federal, capital or trust fund sources.

Articulating what success looks like and being held accountable for results is something that every resident should expect from state government.  Together, the publication of strategies for the Governor’s four priorities, the Secretariat strategic plans and the new all-funds program-based budget show the public not just how much state government is spending, but what it plans to achieve with these investments.  This is something that state government has never done before and should never fail to do again.