Early Edu Bill Would Shift Costs From Families To State – State House News Service
By Sam Drysdale
A bill aiming to make early education and care more affordable for families and to invest in the industry to keep teachers in the field -- an issue that all three of Beacon Hill's most powerful leaders have said is a priority -- would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding every year, for several years.
The dichotomy of the early education field is that a single year of early childhood education could cost parents tens of thousands of dollars, while simultaneously early ed teachers are often earning wages well below the cost of living in their area.
Shamilia Lloyd left the job she was passionate about, teaching young children, to instead work at a liquor store when she decided it cost more to go to work than it did to stay home. Lloyd, like other parents who work in early child care and education, have to balance low pay with the high costs of sending their own children to preschool if they cannot be home with them.
"It doesn't give you the same excitement. I had children come in [to the liquor store] with their parents, and I got that one quick moment where I could be a teacher again and have a conversation and do a back and forth and see their social skills and emotional skills," she said. "I get teary-eyed about it."
Lloyd was one of dozens of parents and educators who testified Tuesday before the Joint Committee on Education in support of legislation that would offer families financial assistance with the cost of early education and child care and address the stability of the industry, as teachers flock to higher-paying jobs.
The bill, commonly referred to as the Common Start bill (S 301 / H 489), would largely subsidize expensive early childhood education for lower-income families, leading to huge projected increases in the percentage of young kids in such programs by reducing the cost burden for families.
A report from the Department of Labor that came out earlier this year shows parents in Middlesex and Norfolk counties pay the third-highest child care prices in the nation, at more than $26,000 per year.
The bill also seeks to steer state funds toward early care providers, to directly offset provider operating costs, including higher educator pay.
In its first year, the legislation would offer financial assistance aimed at families earning at or below 85 percent of the state's median income ($115,546 for a family of four, or $78,571 for a family of two) -- which a recent UMass Boston report said would cover nearly half of all Massachusetts families with children under 14, or under 17 with special needs.