Common Start
Full title: An Act providing affordable and accessible high quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy in the Commonwealth (S.301 / H.489)
Lead sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis & Sen. Susan Moran; Rep. Ken Gordon & Rep. Adrian Madaro
Committee: Joint Committee on Education
The Issue
Massachusetts families need affordable, accessible, high-quality early education and child care for us to have a strong and equitable economy. However, Massachusetts parents and caregivers face the highest child care costs of any state in the US. 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. These costs are prohibitively expensive for low- and middle-income families, who are forced to choose between making ends meet and saving for the future on one hand, or affording child care on the other.
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.
High-quality early education programs get results. Children benefit with enhanced resiliency and employment opportunities over their lifetimes. Providing children with high-quality early education and child care is one of the most effective ways to further a child’s success in grades K-12 and beyond—and that pays off in the long run.
The Solution
The Common Start bills would strengthen our commonwealth’s child care and early education infrastructure through a combination of direct-to-provider operational funding and family financial assistance to reduce costs to families while compensating providers for the true cost of providing quality care.
- To support providers and educators, the bills would set a direct-to-provider funding allocation based on capacity (as opposed to attendance) that directly offsets operating costs, including higher educator pay.
- To support families, the bills would provide greater financial assistance to families, prioritizing those at or below 85% of state median income. Under the Senate version, care would be free to families making up to 100% of the federal poverty level and would be capped at 7% of total income for families making more than that, up to 200% of state median income
The bills also include measures to incentivize the provision of care during nonstandard hours, build cultural competency training into the workforce development system, and better provide accommodations for students with disabilities.
Contact Your Legislators
Find your legislators’ contact information here.
I am writing today to urge you to co-sponsor the Common Start bills, An Act providing affordable and accessible high quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy in the Commonwealth (S.301 / H.489).
[[ Use this text or your own personal story about the child care and early education system]]
Massachusetts families need affordable, accessible, high-quality early education and child care for us to have a strong and equitable economy. However, Massachusetts parents and caregivers face the highest child care costs of any state in the US. 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.
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. When early childhood educators leave the field or providers close, the system becomes even less affordable and less accessible.
We need a multi-faceted solution for a multi-faceted problem. The Common Start framework, reflected in these bills, would strengthen our commonwealth’s child care and early education infrastructure and benefit children, parents, educators, and providers. Can I count on your support?
- COVID has shown the weakness of our child care infrastructure. It’s time to invest to build a system we deserve.
- 40% of women have cut back their hours or left the workforce due to lack of child care. Universal child care is a gender equity issue.
- All families deserve high-quality, affordable child care. But it’s too often out of reach. The Common Start bill will fix that.
- Investing in early education and child care is good for parents and good for students — and good for the community. It’s time for Massachusetts to lead.
- It’s inexcusable that Massachusetts has the most expensive child care in the country. The Common Start bill would change that.
- Child care should be viewed as a vital part of our infrastructure. The Common Start bill shows the way forward.
- High-quality early education programs get results. Children benefit with enhanced resiliency and employment opportunities over their lifetimes.
- Providing children with high-quality early education and child care is one of the most effective ways to further a child’s success in grades K-12 and beyond.
- A stronger child care infrastructure would strengthen our economy while reducing gender and racial disparities. It’s a win-win all around.
On Twitter, you can tag the Common Start coalition with @CommonStartMA.
Write a Letter to the Editor
Adapt the template below! Or email us at issues@progressivemass.com for help!
Massachusetts families need affordable, accessible, high-quality early education and child care for us to have a strong and equitable economy. However, Massachusetts parents and caregivers face the highest child care costs of any state in the US. 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.
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. When early childhood educators leave the field or providers close, the system becomes even less affordable and less accessible.
We need a multi-faceted solution for a multi-faceted problem. The Common Start framework, reflected in bills filed by Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) and Susan Moran (D-Falmouth) and Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) and Adrian Madaoro (D-East Boston), would strengthen our commonwealth’s child care and early education infrastructure and benefit children, parents, educators, and providers. To support providers and educators, the bills would set a direct-to-provider funding allocation based on capacity (as opposed to attendance) that directly offsets operating costs, including higher educator pay. And to support families, the bills would provide greater financial assistance to families.
Governor Healey and the Legislature have spoken about the need to address the high cost of living in Massachusetts, and fixing our child care and early education infrastructure must be part of that.
Read More
- Banerjee, Asha, Elise Gould, and Marokey Sawo. “Setting Higher Wages for Child Care Workers Is Long Overdue.” Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, 2021. https://www.epi.org/publication/higher-wages-for-child-care-and-home-health-care-workers/.
- Coffey, Maureen. Still Underpaid and Unequal Early Childhood Educators Face Low Pay and a Worsening Wage Gap. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2023. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/still-underpaid-and-unequal/.
- Economic Policy Institute. “Child Care Costs in the United States.” Accessed April 5, 2023. https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/.
- Larkin, Max. “Why Child Care in Massachusetts Costs So Much.” WBUR. June 14, 2022. https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/06/14/child-care-early-education-costs-massachuestts.
- LeMoult, Craig. “Low Pay for Day Care Workers Leads to a Worker Shortage and Long Waitlists.” WGBH. December 7, 2021. https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2021/12/07/low-pay-for-day-care-workers-leads-to-a-worker-shortage-and-long-waitlists.
- Prignano, Christina and Ryan Huddle. “Eastern Mass. Has Some of the Highest Child Care Costs in the US.” Boston Globe. January 31, 2023. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/31/business/new-data-show-middlesex-norfolk-counties-have-some-highest-child-care-costs-us/.
- Rebecca Rewald. “Child Care Is A Public Good. Our Government Should Start Treating It That Way.” Cognoscenti. March 24, 2021. https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2021/03/24/covid-relief-child-care-pandemic-rebecca-rewald.
- Wellesley Centers for Women. Recording of Crisis and Opportunity: Building a Better Child Care System. March 24, 2021. https://www.wcwonline.org/Videos-by-WCW-Scholars-and-Trainers/crisis-and-opportunity-building-a-better-childcare-system.
- The Common Start Coalition is dedicated to advocating for this bill through education and coalition building: https://commonstartma.org.
Talking Points & Sample Tweets