Victory! Final State Budget Takes Major Steps to Deliver Affordable, High-Quality Early Education and Child Care

Final Conference Budget Would Make Operational Support for Child Care Providers Permanent, Expand Access to Affordable Child Care for Families, Support Early Educators, and Raise Provider Reimbursement Rates

BOSTON – The Common Start Coalition, a diverse group of more than 170 organizations and thousands of individuals focused on establishing a system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care for Massachusetts families, today applauded legislative leaders for including new investments in the state’s early education and child care system, and major policy changes that would put Massachusetts on the path to establishing a comprehensive system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care, in their final FY25 state budget. The coalition released the following statement in response:

“With this budget agreement, Massachusetts is taking the biggest step yet toward our Common Start vision of affordable child care for all families; high-quality programs and services for all children; significantly better pay and benefits for early educators; a permanent, stable source of funding for providers; and substantial relief for businesses and our entire economy. With the state budget as a vehicle, Massachusetts is making transformative permanent improvements to Massachusetts’ early education and child care system.

“Making the state’s C3 operational grant program for providers permanent will provide lasting support to Massachusetts’ early education and child care programs, allowing them to invest in educator compensation and increase their capacity to serve more children, while avoiding major cost increases for families. New investments in child care financial assistance for low- and middle-income families will address the affordability challenges that are the largest threat to Massachusetts’ competitiveness. And new supports for early educators will address the workforce crisis in early education by enabling more educators to build sustainable careers in the field.

“These policies will make our state more affordable for many families, greatly improve our state’s economic competitiveness, and increase racial and gender equity in our communities. We urge Governor Healey to sign these provisions of the budget, which she has championed as an advocate for affordable child care, and we will continue to work with the House, the Senate, and the Healey-Driscoll Administration to implement these game-changing policies that are making high-quality early education and child care more affordable and accessible for all Massachusetts families.”

Among many other permanent policy provisions, the conference budget includes:

• Permanency for the state's C3 operational grant program program for child care providers

• Early educator loan forgiveness & scholarship programs

• Expanded eligibility for child care subsidies up to 85% of state median income (including a 7% cap on parent fees)

• Future expansion of eligibility up to 125% of state median income "if additional funds are available"

• A career ladder for early educators with salary and benefit guidelines

• An EEC data advisory commission to collect data on the child care sector