Laura Phelps

This document provides an overview of the technology chapter for the 2026 Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan, aiming to ensure rural communities possess the necessary technology capacity for full participation in the digital economy, prioritizing equity, resilience, and local control. The plan outlines five key recommendations: completing universal broadband access and advancing digital equity; improving rural mobile coverage and integrating communications into core infrastructure planning; treating cybersecurity and municipal IT capacity as critical rural infrastructure; aligning emerging technologies, including AI, with rural capacity, equity, and local control; and proactively planning for data-intensive infrastructure, such as large data centers.

This document provides an overview of the education chapter for the Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan, aiming to ensure high-quality education for all rural students by stabilizing school finances and sustaining community-centered schools amidst declining enrollment and rising costs. It identifies significant financial challenges faced by rural districts due to inadequate funding formulas and fixed operational expenses. Key recommendations include increasing rural school aid to $60 million, reforming the Chapter 70 formula to address unique rural per-pupil costs, implementing policies for financial stability, and supporting inter-school collaboration through dedicated funding and shared services.

The 2026 Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan's water and sewer chapter aims to ensure rural communities have reliable, affordable drinking water and wastewater systems to support residents, housing, economic development, and environmental and public health in a changing climate. It addresses issues like aging infrastructure, regulatory hurdles, and workforce shortages. Key recommendations include creating a dedicated infrastructure program, reforming regulations for rural contexts, supporting small public water systems and village centers, expanding innovative treatment technologies, assessing the Quabin Reservoir, building technical and operator capacity, strengthening regional collaboration, and integrating water and sewer policy with broader development and climate resiliency initiatives.

This document provides an overview of the 2026 draft Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan, building upon the successes of the 2019 plan. It addresses the unique challenges faced by rural communities, including demographic shifts, economic distress, and funding disparities, by focusing on rural capacity and equity. The plan aims to strengthen the ability of rural entities to plan, staff, finance, and implement work, and to adapt existing policies, programs, and formulas to better serve low-density areas. Recommendations are categorized into policy, funding, programming, and legislative actions.

The 2026 Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan's public health chapter aims to ensure equitable access to strong public health and healthcare systems for rural residents. This is achieved by sustaining local and regional capacity and leveraging new federal and state resources to close gaps in access, outcomes, and preparedness. Key recommendations include ensuring rural representation and equity in the implementation of health programs and opioid settlement funds, stabilizing and expanding core rural health services, supporting targeted reforms in emergency services staffing through regional models, investing in prevention and social drivers of health, building a stronger rural health and public health workforce pipeline, and expanding telehealth and digital tools while preserving in-person options.