MASSACHUSETTS SENATE LEADERS on Thursday unveiled a proposal to inject significant amounts of public money into the state’s child care system, which is traditionally mostly privately funded.
The Senate plan will provide additional subsidies to families, including for the first time middle class families, to make childcare more affordable. It will also pay more to childcare providers as a way to increase the salaries of early educators – a step towards stabilizing the industry’s struggling workforce.
“This legislation, if and when it is fully implemented, will be transformative for our society here in Massachusetts,” Senate President Karen Spilka said. “In fact, I would say it is the most comprehensive early education and care bill that the Legislature has passed this century.”
Legislators have not yet determined exactly how much the proposal will cost. A report by a legislative commission examining the early education and care system suggested that systemic changes would cost about $ 1.5 billion annually, and this plan accepts many, but not all, of its recommendations.
“We recognize that this is not something we can do overnight, and … if the bill is passed into law, we expect the legislature to comply with it in due course,” said Jason Lewis, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said.
The Senate plans to vote on the bill next Thursday. With only a month left before the end of formal legislative sessions for the current two-year session, it is unclear whether the House will even consider the bill, much less if both bodies will be able to get a final version to the governor’s desk.
While Home Leaders also expressed a desire to improve early education, the House proposed spending $ 60 million in next year’s budget to increase the rates paid to subsidized providers, along with some additional labor support. House Speaker Ron Mariano suggested in May to the Boston Chamber of Commerce that business leaders should take some responsibility and develop a proposal for debate in the next legislative session to require large companies to provide some child care resources for their workers. supply.
Alice Peisch, chair of Home Education, said she believes there is significant support in the House for many of the policies recommended by the Legislative Commission, including providing subsidies to more families and providing more operational, financial support to providers . “Whether we can achieve this within the next four weeks, I’m not sure,” Peisch said.
Peisch noted that the Senate Bill will also set in motion additional studies in areas such as how the business community can contribute and how to expand local partnerships. “Whether we pass a bill this session or next session, I think it’s something we’ll be going to deal with over the next few sessions,” Peisch said.
The problems in the state’s childcare system have been around for years, but have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Women left the workforce in large numbers due to a lack of childcare. The industry has struggled with an exodus of workers, mainly because childcare is a low-paying, personal job. And the cost of childcare remains among the highest in the country – an average annual cost of $ 20,000 for infant care.
The state has provided additional support through provider grants and increased subsidies, but proponents, including many in the business community, have insisted on systemic changes to make child care more affordable, accessible and sustainable in the long run.
“With this bill, we are taking the next step and creating a framework that will pave the way for continued support for our early education sector for many years to come, making it clear that we have the vital importance and impact of early education for us. understand economic recovery and the health and well-being of our families, ”said Michael Rodrigues, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means, during a press conference at which the bill was introduced.
One key provision of the Senate Bill will, for the first time, provide childcare subsidies to middle-class families earning up to 125 percent of state media revenue, now $ 164,000 a year for a family of four. Until now, subsidies were limited to lower-income families earning less than half the median income, or $ 65,600 for a family of four. The bill envisages a sliding scale where poor families will pay nothing, and middle-class families will pay a portion of their childcare costs, but no more than 7 percent of their income.
“The bill makes it clear that parental fees need to be reviewed and updated every five years, and we need to make sure they are affordable for families,” Lewis said.
The bill will also help providers by giving them more money in two different ways. Today, subsidies for poor or at-risk children tend to be lower than the cost of care and less than those paid by privately paid families. The bill would require the state to use a new method of calculating subsidies, which more accurately reflects the cost of care.
It will also make some operational grant support permanent, which will be available to all qualifying providers. During the pandemic, the state began providing operational support to all child care providers, rather than just subsidized providers, using the Commonwealth Cares for Children, or C3, grant program. Those grants, which are distributed through a formula based on staff, capacity and area poverty, will expire this month with the exclusion of legislative action. The Senate Bill would make the grants permanent. It will also impose certain conditions on beneficiaries, such as the requirement that they accept subsidized children, should a child want to enroll with a subsidy.
“Subsidized children are more vulnerable, and we want to make sure that the most needy children and families have access to the care they need,” Lewis said.
The bill also focuses on labor force issues by establishing educators’ scholarships and loan forgiveness programs, allowing subsidized providers to offer discounts to children of staff (which is not allowed today), and making recommendations on how much educators should be paid based on their credentials .
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While the state cannot determine private providers’ salaries, Lewis said if the state increases the money for subsidies and operational support, “we will expect providers to translate into better compensation, benefits and program quality.”
The Common Start Coalition, a group of early educators, providers’ organizations, parents and advocates who called for greater public investment in early education, praised the plan. “We are pleased to see that the Senate is moving towards the adoption of legislation that will represent a significant step towards the implementation of our full vision of a high-quality early education and childcare system that is affordable and accessible. is for all families, “says Deb Fastino, nationwide. director of the Common Start Coalition. “As we review the details of the latest bill, we know it will begin to address the ongoing multifaceted childcare crisis, helping educators working for inadequate pay, families struggling to afford childcare, and providers working hard around their doors. to keep them open and fully staff their programs. ”
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