Support Childcare – Letter – Falmouth Enterprise
By Sandra Faiman-Silva
Regarding David Vieira’s column in last week’s paper, I greatly appreciate his commitment to solving the childcare crisis in Massachusetts, resulting in the Economic Review Commission Report and childcare bills H.489 and S.301 currently before the Joint Education Committee. State Senator Susan Moran serves as co-lead Senate sponsor. This work amplified the Vision and Legislative Framework developed by the Common Start Coalition, a statewide grassroots organization working to solve the Massachusetts childcare crisis.
As detailed in the Economic Review Commission report, our childcare system is unsustainable: parents cannot afford childcare; the childcare workforce cannot make a decent living; and childcare facilities cannot be sustained. Facilities face extremely high worker turnover rates and inadequate staffing and are frequently forced to close classrooms. Childcare workers, eager to remain in the profession, find that inadequate wages preclude them from doing so.