BOSTON — The state Senate has approved a plan aimed at expanding access to child care and early education for parents while attracting and retaining new workers to ease persistent labor shortages in the industry.
The measure, which was unanimously approved Thursday, calls for boosting financial assistance for families seeking child care, establishing new funding for child care providers, and higher pay and benefits for early educators.
Backers of the plan said the changes are needed to help lower the cost of child care and early education programs with parents paying as much as 20% to 40% of their household incomes on child care, often making it their second-highest expense after housing costs.
“Besides the high costs, families also face other barriers, including a lack of available slots at their preferred providers, the hours of available care, transportation challenges and more,” Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, a primary sponsor of the bill, said in remarks Thursday. “All this hurts families’ economic well-being.”
It’s not clear how much the changes, if implemented, would cost and the bill does not include additional funding.
Senate leaders note that $1.5 billion is already earmarked for early education and care in the current state budget, but that new funding will be dependent on future budgets.
Lewis said the “substantial” price tag for the plan is “justified” given the money that many families, businesses and the state are losing as a result of the spiraling early education costs.
“The status quo is already costing us a lot of money,” he said. “We have already demonstrated that we can indeed prioritize investments in early education and child care and follow through on those commitments.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said it’s critical that the state take steps to improve the affordability of early education and child care in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the rising cost of early education has major implications for the state’s post-pandemic economy.
“It is an essential part of the fabric of our state,” Tarr said in remarks. “If we do not act, it will continue to be in serious jeopardy. We cannot allow that to happen.”
A key plank of the proposal calls for expanding eligibility for subsidized child care by raising the income level to qualify for state-backed programs.
The current threshold is 50% of state median income for a family of four – which is about $73,000. The plan calls for “gradually” increasing that level to 85% of state median income, or $124,000 for a four-member family.
“That means we will be opening up access to assistance to not just low-income families, but middle-income families,” Lewis said in remarks.
It would also make state funding for the Commonwealth Cares for Children program, which has provided grants to nearly 7,500 child care providers since 2021, a permanent line item in the annual state budget. Other policy changes include setting new patient-staff ratios.
During the debate Thursday, Tarr sought to add safeguards on spending to the bill after raising concerns about the costs and how the state would pay for it going forward.
“Lest we make a promise that can’t be fulfilled,” Tarr said. “My concern is that making sure that … we can say with confidence that the initiatives that are proposed here are things we can afford and sustain.”
Many child care centers are financially strained and advocates say low compensation and the rising costs of caring for children are putting some providers out of business.
Meanwhile, care providers are struggling to retain workers in an industry where the pay is traditionally low and the risk of getting sick is now elevated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates say.
The average cost of child care is more than $20,000 a year in Massachusetts, the most expensive state in the nation, only behind Washington, D.C., and well above the national average of $15,888, according to a recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Working families are losing an estimated $1.7 billion a year in wages from not being able to show up for work because they cannot find or afford child care services, the report noted.
Meanwhile, employers are losing an estimated $812 million a year in productivity and worker turnover because of the shortage of child care options, according to the report, while the state government is missing out on $188 million a year in tax revenue.
Compounding the lack of options are changes in the workforce and other factors that have seen fewer people looking to work in the child care industry.
Gov. Maura Healey has made expanding child care options for parents a key plank of her agenda in her first term, tying the issue to a broader effort to make the state more affordable.
Earlier this year, the state Board of Early Education and Care recently approved a plan to tap into $65 million from this year’s budget to reimburse child care providers that serve families receiving financial assistance, including a 5.5% cost-of-living adjustment for providers to help offset increased operating costs.
The Senate bill must be approved by the House of Representative before heading to Healey’s desk for consideration.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at [email protected].
By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter
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