evidence: The FY24 budget also solidifies the state’s partnership with its cities and towns, making historic investments in Chapter 70 school aid, unrestricted government aid, and student transportation. This spending plan fully funds another year of the Student Opportunity Act and dedicates resources to help cities and towns redevelop and revitalize their downtowns. [...] It funds and makes permanent universal lunch for public school K-12 students and dedicates $475 million to child care providers through the C3 program. The budget also uses $25 million to permanently support Food Security Infrastructure Grants and delivers more than $330 million in student financial aid, including $84 million to expand MASSGrant Plus scholarships for low-income, in-state, undergraduate students attending public higher education institutions. [...] Major increases of $21.3 million for school transportation reimbursement and $9.5 million for rural school aid -