Child care affordability, funding challenges concern Berkshire providers, state lawmakers
By Christian Metzger, Boston University Statehouse Program
BOSTON — For child care centers and families, the past year has been a difficult one.
Many parents unable to afford child care during the coronavirus pandemic, especially women, have left the workforce to look after their children. And strapped by reduced class sizes and yearslong financial struggles, child care workers remain largely unvaccinated and with little pay.
Concerned with the cost of child care, some Berkshire County lawmakers have backed legislation to increase tax deductions for child care expenses, as well as an effort to establish universal child care in Massachusetts. They are urging greater funding for child care than the $165 million increase Gov. Charlie Baker recommended.
“I’m just concerned that he has not set enough aside for child care and [did not] put child care right at the very center of the reopening of Massachusetts,” said state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield.