Yesterday, the Massachusetts Senate passed its $47.7 billion state budget for fiscal year 2022.

The budget includes amendments that senators debated earlier this week. The amendments for early education and care that passed include funding for early childhood mental health ($500,000), Jumpstart ($250,000), and Square One ($50,000). Together these investments boost the bottom line for early education and care items by $800,000. Larger amendments for early education, including a $20 million rate reserve, were not adopted into the Senate budget.

Next, the FY22 budget process moves to a six-member conference committee that will reconcile differences between the House and Senate budgets. The conference committee’s members will be named soon.

Your advocacy will be critical. There is $44 million at stake for early education and care. That’s the total funding difference between the House and Senate budgets for the Department of Early Education and Care.

Please contact your state legislators today and ask them to invest in high-quality early education and care in the FY22 state budget.

For more information, visit our state budget webpage or contact Titus DosRemedios, tdosremedios@strategiesforchildren.org.