Across Massachusetts, child-care shortage is growing dire - Boston Globe
By Stephanie Ebbert
As teachers and parents agonize over final plans to return to school, the state’s early education leaders are sounding the alarm over care for younger children: Only 72 percent of the spots available in Massachusetts child-care centers before the pandemic are expected to be available in September, the Department of Early Education revealed this week.
Child-care programs were permitted to reopen in late June, but only 5,910 of the state’s 8,224 child-care providers had submitted plans to do so by late July, Commissioner Samantha L. Aigner-Treworgy said this week. Another 163 child-care centers have decided to shut down permanently after being shuttered for the pandemic, eliminating 2,855 seats — 1.3 percent of the state’s capacity. Many other providers are still trying to decide whether it makes sense to reopen in September, as they evaluate community-level coronavirus data and wait for school superintendents to finalize their plans for K-12 education, due to the state on Friday.
As a result, the commissioner told the members of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care this week, child-care capacity may be diminished this fall, particularly in certain regions. Metro Boston expects to lose one-third of its child-care capacity and Western Massachusetts, 35 percent.