Massachusetts has the most expensive childcare in the country. But that doesn’t have to be the case. We could have high-quality, accessible, affordable child care and early education.
The $20,913 average annual cost of infant care in Massachusetts is more than half of what a full-time minimum wage worker earns in a year, and more expensive than tuition at our public colleges and universities. With such high costs for just one child, families with multiple children are put in especially dire financial straits.
The system is also not working for early childhood educators, who often don’t receive a living wage, and child care providers, who face high operational costs and unstable funding. And when early childhood educators leave the field or providers close, that makes the system even less affordable and less accessible. We need a multi-faceted solution for a multi-faceted problem.
The Common Start bills would strengthen our commonwealth’s child care and early education infrastructure. They would provide stable funding for providers, ensuring greater access for families and supporting higher pay for educators. They would increase financial assistance to families offset the exorbitant costs of child care and early education.
The Committee held a hearing yesterday on these bills, but it’s not too late for you to submit testimony in support of the Common Start bills.
Can you write to the Education Committee today?
