Common Start Coalition Applauds Special Legislative Commission Report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 14, 2022
CONTACT
Steve Crawford, Crawford Strategies, steve@crawfordstrategies.com, 617-877-1816
Common Start Coalition Applauds Special Legislative
Commission Report
(BOSTON) – The Common Start Coalition, a diverse group of over 135 organizations
leading the campaign on Beacon Hill to address the multi-faceted childcare crisis,
released the following statement in response to a report issued by the Special
Legislative Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission on the state
of the early education and care system in Massachusetts and how to make it more
accessible and affordable:
“We appreciate the nuanced and thoughtful work of the Commission in their efforts to respond to the Commonwealth’s child care crisis, which continues to drive parents out of the workforce, shutter child care centers, and impact our state’s business community and economy.
“They’ve put forth critical recommendations that, if fully implemented, will begin to
address some of the most critical issues at play: from increasing affordability and
access to care for families through the child care subsidy system to boosting the quality of early education and care through additional stabilization funding opportunities, to prioritizing workforce support and investment to ensure all providers in the mixed delivery system are able to attract and retain capable and skilled workers.
“All of these issues are key pieces to fixing the system and are consistent with the goals of the Common Start Coalition. Over time, we must continue to work toward an
affordable and accessible high-quality early education and child care system for families across the Commonwealth.
“We appreciate the dedicated work of Chairwoman Alice Peisch and Chairman Jason
Lewis, along with all members of the Commission for their work to address these key
issues. The Common Start Coalition stands ready to work with state leaders to take
advantage of this incredible opportunity to achieve our shared goals.”
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About the Common Start Coalition
The Common Start Coalition is a statewide partnership of organizations, providers,
parents, early educators and advocates working together to make high-quality early
education and childcare affordable and accessible to all Massachusetts families. Our
goal is to ensure that all families have the care solutions they need and that all children in our Commonwealth have the same, strong start and enter school on a level playing field. We are a diverse coalition including community, faith-based, labor, business, and early education and childcare organizations, as well as early educators, parents, individuals, and direct service organizations.
Over the past two years, the Common Start Coalition, has developed and campaigned
for passage of the Common Start legislation, which would establish a comprehensive
system of affordable, high-quality early education and childcare for Massachusetts
families, over a 5-year timeline. The legislation, which is co-sponsored by 98 State
Representatives and 30 State Senators and backed by more than 135 organizations
across the state, would dramatically increase the affordability and quality of early
education and childcare for all Massachusetts families while compensating providers for the true cost of providing quality care, including higher educator pay. The Coalition has six regional chapters across the state and a Spanish-language statewide chapter – each of which includes local parents, early educators, providers, and other advocates.
More information about the coalition is available at commonstartma.org.
More on the Common Start Bill (H.605 | S.362)
The Common Start Bill would establish a comprehensive system of affordable, high-
quality early education and childcare for all Massachusetts families, over a five-year
timeline. The bill’s framework uses a combination of direct-to-provider funding and ongoing family financial assistance to reduce costs to families while compensating providers for the true cost of providing quality care.
This system would cover early education and care for children from birth through age five, as well as after-and out-of-school time for children ages 5-12, and for children with special needs through age 15. The new system would also ensure that a child who ages out during the school year can remain in care through the end of that school year.
Programs would be available in early education and childcare centers, private homes, and schools – the same settings where early education and childcare is provided now. The bill provides a framework to increase the scope of public investment in early education and childcare with an incremental roll-out over five years that prioritizes the lowest-income, highest-need families.
For more on this legislation, please visit commonstartma.org/bill.