#MARunsOnChildCare |

WBUR asks these early educators to discuss “the joys and challenges of working in this industry, and why some are leaving the profession,” as the field grapples with challenges.

“The child care workforce in Massachusetts is about 12% smaller today than it was before the start of the pandemic, according to a recent analysis from the University of California, Berkeley,” WBUR explains.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Join the fun: the Common Start Coalition is holding a rally this Saturday at 11 a.m.

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Family engagement, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #mapoli, #MARunsOnChildCare on April 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Please come to the Common Start Coalition’s rally – and support proposed legislation to build a stronger system of early education and care in Massachusetts!

The rally is being held this Saturday, April 9, 2022, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Command.

“Learn how you can get involved to help create a more equitable childcare and early education system,” the coalition says on its Facebook page.

As we’ve blogged, the coalition — a statewide group of advocates and organizations, including Strategies for Children — supports a bill known as The Common Start Legislation that would establish a universal system of affordable, high-quality early education and care in Massachusetts.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

80+ organizations ask Governor Baker to support early education and care in his FY ’23 budget proposal

Posted in Business and economy, COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, MA governor, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlyed, #mapoli, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on December 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Governor Charlie Baker

It’s state budget season, and a diverse group of 80 stakeholders — Strategies for Children as well as businesses, early education providers, advocates, community organizations, health care providers, and philanthropies — have sent a letter to Governor Charlie Baker asking him to prioritize young children and families as he puts together his FY ‘23 budget proposal.

The letter asks for “the designation of $600 million, as projected by the Department of Early Education and Care, to extend and study the (EEC) Child Care Stabilization Grants through Fiscal Year 2023 to position the program for sustained support and success into the future.”

This funding would provide crucial support as providers recover from the pandemic and move forward.

You can read the full letter here. To sign on, please complete this form. We will send an updated letter in early January.

As the letter explains:

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the childcare sector. We are in the midst of a childcare staffing crisis that is the result of years of chronic underinvestment and low wages. As a result, the workforce that cares for our children and serves as the backbone of our economy has been depleted. The Commonwealth will continue to lose its early education and care workforce to the many other sectors able to offer higher wages and more generous benefits unless we address educator compensation.” (more…)

Read Full Post »

A new report on Massachusetts’ “fragile” child care system

Posted in Boston, Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Funding, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlyed, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on December 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Screenshot: The Boston Foundation website

A new report from The Boston Foundation – “When the Bough Breaks Why Now Is the Moment to Invest in Massachusetts’ Fragile Child Care System” — sounds an important alarm.

“The early education and care system in Massachusetts is at a breaking point. The Commonwealth has the second most expensive child care market in the United States. Families routinely pay upwards of $20,000 a year for care for their young children,” the report says.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made an already very challenging situation worse.”

“Without public investment in early education and care, the Massachusetts economy will be unable to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic.”

The report is based on interviews with local stakeholders who are parents, providers, and advocates, including Amy O’Leary, executive director of Strategies for Children.

“The directors I talk to are panicked,” O’Leary says in the report. “They are in their classroom from morning until night because they can’t find enough staff.”

“When programs are not able to open, when child care centers close their doors, people are going to be mad,” O’Leary adds. “And they are going to say, ‘Why didn’t anyone tell us that this was about to collapse?’” (more…)

Read Full Post »

A recap of the State House hearing on early education and care

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlyed, #mapoli, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on November 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Who is ready for game changing action on early childhood education? Check out @JDChesloff's testimony submitted to the Joint Committee on Education. Full testimony⬇️https://t.co/Nccg15EclO
cc: @SenJasonLewis @RepAlicePeisch @MassBiz4EarlyEd #earlyed #earlychildhood #mapoli pic.twitter.com/xoN4bQag7e

— MA Business Roundtable (@MABizRoundtable) November 23, 2021

Last week at the State House, early education was in the spotlight.

The Joint Committee on Education held a hearing and heard testimony on “bills related to Early Education and Care, Kindergarten, and Literacy.”

“During a virtual hearing of the Joint Committee on Education, child-care providers and advocates joined lawmakers in calling for systemic changes to an industry known for its harsh economic imbalance,” the Boston Globe reports. “Massachusetts has some of the highest child-care costs in the nation, yet the state’s child-care workers earn a median salary of $37,000 a year, barely a living wage for someone with children.”

Video of the hearing and a list of the bills is posted here.

Among the bills that were discussed is the Common Start legislation (H.605, S.362), which “would establish a system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care for all Massachusetts families, over a 5-year timeline,” according to a fact sheet. Strategies for Children serves on the Common Start steering committee, and our executive director Amy O’Leary was one of more than 70 individuals who submitted written testimony in support of the bill. (more…)