Five months after federal stabilization grants expired, deeper cracks are beginning to appear in the early education and care sector.
Without him historical level of operational financing which was distributed monthly to child care programs in the United States through September 2023, many providers are experimenting staff departures and taking on rising costs, leading many to raise tuition for families and some to close classrooms or, worse, close their doors entirely.
However, in Massachusetts, providers and programs have largely remained insulated from the so-called child care cliff. Some are even blooming.
Recognizing the disaster that loomed if stabilization grants expired without a suitable replacement, Massachusetts leaders decided to continue funding operating grants for early care and education programs even after American Rescue Plan funds ran out.
Through a state program called Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3), which was founded With $475 million for fiscal year 2024 and the governor recommended renewing at the same level for fiscal year 2025, nearly 93 percent of licensed providers in the state receive monthly stipends.
Those dollars go a long way toward keeping programs open, staffed and sustainable, several Massachusetts providers shared with EdSurge.
Survey data from fall 2023, around the time providers in other states began to feel the pressure of disappearing stabilization funds. sample that the field of education and child care in Massachusetts has recovered. The state system's licensed capacity now exceeds pre-pandemic levels, with about 237,000 total child care spaces today, compared to 229,000 pre-COVID-19. The number of authorized suppliers has also recovered.
“What we're seeing is exactly what we wanted to see,” says Amy Kershaw, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), referring to the impact of C3 grants, along with a host of other state changes. leaders have done to support families and programs.
“We see more programs opening. We see that the programs can expand their capacity. We see that staff salaries, which are still too low, are increasing,” adds Kershaw. “And we see that many of those investments are made without the costs being passed on to parents, which is essential.”
At a time when the countryside is suffering, leaving families, educators and providers across the country struggling, the progress in Massachusetts is remarkable. It is also, perhaps, a signal to other states that if they fund early care and education with fidelity, they, too, could see improvements.
Massachusetts is one of 11 states, plus Washington, D.C., that has significantly increased its investment in early care and education over the past two years, according to a report from the Siglo Foundation. But by giving money directly to providers to support their operations, Massachusetts sets itself apart, says Julie Kashen, a senior researcher at the organization and one of the report's authors, who calls the Bay State a “leader and model for the country.” . “
“They learned the lessons from the American Rescue Plan stabilization grants and continued that investment in a way that, from the data I've seen, helps avoid the child care cliff and also grow the sector,” Kashen adds.
Game-changing operating grants
Child care providers who work in home and center-based settings can use their C3 funds on costs like payroll and benefits, professional development, supplies and curriculum, rent or mortgage payments, utilities and facility improvements.
Many providers are using the subsidies to increase employee salaries in an effort to attract new staff and retain existing ones, according to Survey data and interviews.
Heidi Kaufman, executive director of education for the MetroWest YMCA, which has an early childhood program serving 140 toddlers and preschoolers in a community about 20 miles west of Boston, says almost all of its C3 funds go to increase staff remuneration.
MetroWest YMCA has received about $650,000 in C3 grants since July 1, Kaufman shares, including about $72,000 in February alone. It represents just over 10 percent of its total income.
“The C3 grants have been a game changer for us,” he says. “I don't know how we could continue functioning without it.”
Between federal stabilization grants and now state C3 grants, Kaufman has been able to pay his staff more competitive salaries. Some of the senior teachers with bachelor's degrees made about $21 an hour in January 2020 (about $44,000 a year) and now make $28 an hour (about $58,000). Full-time teachers with less experience have seen similar pay increases, from $17 an hour in 2020 to $24 today. Additionally, salaries for part-time staff have increased 50 percent over the past four years, Kaufman adds.
“Normally, we had given salary increases on average 3 percent per year. For someone to get a raise of up to $7 in four years was unheard of,” says Kaufman.
“We still don't pay them anywhere near what they're worth,” he adds, but he says it feels good to be able to offer them raises, and do it without asking families for more.
A multiple approach
Gov. Maura Healey's administration is focused on stabilizing, healing and transforming the field of education and child care, in that order, according to Kershaw, the EEC commissioner.
“We are in the heal/transform phase of our work,” Kershaw shares.
The recovery in Massachusetts was aided largely by the American Rescue Plan and C3 grants, but not exclusively. The Healey administration has introduced a host of other changes, from expanding universal preschool to signing an executive order for a “whole-of-government approach” to child care, calling on various state offices to collaborate with the business community to improve the field.
The state has come to recognize, Kershaw says, that “multiple levers are needed… to create the level of financial stability and health within the sector. “There is no single stream that can really help the sector thrive.”
In particular, state leaders are changing how the EEC department supports families and providers participating in child care financial assistance.
For families, the governor has proposed expanding eligibility for financial assistance by raising the income limit from 50 percent of the state median income to 85 percent. That would raise the limit considerably, from about $73,000 a year for a family of four to $124,000.
For providers, the state has made changes to its subsidy program, which now uses a formula that reflects the actual cost of child care (versus a market rate model) to calculate reimbursements. As a result, the State is now programs that pay more for each child whose family participates in financial assistance. (Statewide, about 4,800 providers, or 56 percent of authorized programs, participate in the subsidy program, Kershaw says.)
In Western Massachusetts, reimbursement rates for an infant increased 34 percent in February, from $72.37 per day to $97.18.
That has not only helped providers who already accept child care subsidies, but it has actually made the subsidy program more attractive to providers who had previously only accepted private payments, says Kim Dion, assistant vice president and director. from Seven Hills Child Care Resources, a Child Care Resource and Referral Agency serving Western and Central Massachusetts.
Each month, Seven Hills processes subsidy refunds for about 11,000 children in the region. Dion and his colleagues then send checks to about 600 suppliers, totaling $12 million. They also help connect area families with child care that meets their needs.
“We are actively trying to get families off the state waiting list and offer them financial assistance,” explains Marybeth Brown, associate program director at Seven Hills. “To do that, we need (more providers) to accept vouchers.”
The state's rate increases are certainly helping them in that effort, Brown says: “We're seeing a big increase” in provider interest.
Previously, perhaps two or three providers in your area expressed interest in the subsidy program each week. But in January, Seven Hills had to limit an orientation meeting to 32 providers, and the week before to 35.
“The pieces are starting to fall into place now,” Brown says. “Everything has to come together for it to work.”
Amy O'Leary, executive director of Strategies for Children, a Massachusetts policy and advocacy organization, is encouraged by what is happening in her state. Too often, she says, leaders don't take the time to understand the nuances of early care and education, making it impossible for them to address the root causes of a failing system. Not this time. O'Leary says she feels enormous gratitude for state leaders who have taken the time to listen and learn. (O'Leary has facilitated some of that work through what she calls “the9:30 Call”, a conversation series she has held weekday mornings since the beginning of the pandemic to connect educators, encourage advocacy, and raise awareness about early care and education).
“This idea of solid funding for the field…was a dream,” O'Leary admits. “Now we're like, 'Oh my God, we've got this.' Legislators understand this. Legislators are funding it and want to continue funding it.”
While additional funding and positive changes have not resolved the sector's myriad challenges, the costs are still too tall for families, and salaries remain too low for educators, he points out; This has allowed providers to move from a scarcity mentality to one of abundance, O'Leary explains.
“People can take a deep breath and think about their trades, without panicking,” O'Leary says. “It is related to respect and recognition of a broken system. Instead of asking people to do more with less, in general (the State) asks them to do more with more.”
Brown also knows there is still a lot of work ahead. This is just the beginning of a long road, he says. Still, there is an undeniable sense of energy and promise in Massachusetts right now.
“People who have been in this field for years now feel hopeful,” Brown says. “I feel hopeful.”
And if history is any guide, what starts in Massachusetts could soon spread nationwide.
“We had the first public school in the country, the first public library,” Kershaw notes, “and we are committed to leading the way in early education and care.”