Policy Pulse #4
8/27/24
In this issue, we share additional analysis on the impact of the Massachusetts state budget and gear up for the fall by looking ahead to forthcoming EEC meetings, Task Force and other reports, and events this September.
What to Know
MA Fiscal Year (FY25) Budget Sets Important Frameworks for the Future of Early Education and Care in Massachusetts
The FY25 Budget included significant steps forward to lay a framework for early education and care in Massachusetts. Neighborhood Villages' Co-President Lauren Kennedy reflects on the budget in The Commonwealth Beacon.
Massachusetts became the first state to combat profiteering in early education and care by including guardrails around Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) operations grants in the Outside Sections of the FY25 state budget. Read more about the rise of investor-backed child care, the new Massachusetts guardrails, and why a trend toward large, multi-chain for profit providers underscores the need for thoughtful public funding in the sector in Neighborhood Villages’ new blog post.
New Federal Rules for Head Start
The U.S. Administration of Children and Families released its final rule requiring increased salaries and mental health supports for Head Start teachers. (Notably, the rule does not address a source for funding for the new required salaries.) Read more about the new rules.
What To Do
Looking Back: Moving Forward. Join Us for Neighborhood Villages’ First Community Action Call of FY25
Join Neighborhood Villages on September 24, 2024 at 6:30pm for a virtual Community Action Call. We’ll share advocacy accomplishments from the last two years and discuss how to take action in the coming year. Register here.
What's Next
The EEC Board of Directors will resume meeting on Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 1pm. We encourage you to attend! The full schedule of FY25 meetings can be found here. Links to archived meetings and to recordings on YouTube may be found here. In the days prior to a meeting, the meeting materials and streaming link can be found by clicking on the date of the meeting.
The Massachusetts State Legislature will resume formal sessions in January 2025. (The current, (193rd) legislative session ended on July 31st, 2024.) While the Legislature can vote to go into a special formal session between now and the end of 2024, it is unusual to do so.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Inter-Agency Early Education and Child Care Task Force continued its work this month by wrapping up the last of 14 listening sessions and by beginning the process of synthesizing all of its information into a report based on the work undertaken since it kicked off earlier this year. It will next use the synthesis to inform policy recommendations, which will appear in a final report at the end of this calendar year.
