Strategies for Children’s Early Education for All Campaign has joined a growing broad-based coalition of civic, human services, labor and business organizations urging Massachusetts residents to vote “no” on Question 3 on the November ballot.  Question 3 would roll back the state’s sales tax from 6.25% to 3% — a change that would cost an already stretched state budget another $2.5 billion in annual revenue.

“How much is $2.5 billion?” a fact sheet asks. “It equals one-half of all state spending on our 1,900 public schools. Or, looking at it another way, it is equal to two and a half times as much as the state spends each year on all of our community colleges and state universities…. Voting ‘yes’ might feel good for a day. But losing the revenues would feel terrible for years to come, making tough times even tougher for our families, our communities and our quality of life in Massachusetts.”