Massachusetts parents rally on Boston Common for affordable high-quality childcare and early education – Fall River Reporter
By Ken Paiva
More than 250 parents, kids, educators, early education and childcare providers and other advocates with the statewide Common Start Coalition braved the rain on Saturday to rally on the Boston Common, calling on the state Legislature for affordable high-quality childcare and early education.
“My family’s been working hard and struggling trying to get day care for this young man,” said Efrain Vazquez, a Holyoke parent who spoke at the rally while holding his son. “We’re on the waiting list, and we’ve been on the waiting list for a long time. I’m really frustrated because we’ve got to work harder to make ends meet.”
Weeks after a state legislative commission recommended significant reforms and $1.5 billion in additional funding to make the Commonwealth’s early education and childcare system more affordable and accessible, families and advocates from across the state urged the Legislature to act before the end of the current legislative session in July.
“The Common Start Coalition has been working hard for years to make high-quality early education and childcare affordable and accessible to all Massachusetts families, compensate early educators for the value of their work, and ensure that providers receive the true cost of quality care,” said Deb Fastino, Statewide Director of the Common Start Coalition and Executive Director of the Coalition for Social Justice. “This spring, Massachusetts has the opportunity to make a major down payment on this vision. We look forward to working with legislators in this year’s budget to start making high-quality, affordable early education and care accessible to each and every family in the state.”