RECAP of the February EEC Board Meeting: Putting a Focus on Workforce Development
At Neighborhood Villages, we prioritize keeping up with the policy landscape in the early education and care field, both across the country and in Massachusetts. That includes tuning-in to the monthly meetings of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care (“EEC Board”), to stay apprised of updates and to identify opportunities for how we can work with government and other stakeholders to improve our early education and care system.
In exciting news, on February 21st, the EEC Board voted to recommend the appointment of Amy Kershaw as Commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care . Commissioner Kershaw had been serving in the role of Acting Commission since March 2022.
The primary topic of this month’s Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Board meeting was the workforce. Here’s what you need to know…
If You Are a Provider:
1.February 14th marked the first date for the final distribution of rapid antigen tests to the field, as part of COVID-19 mitigation strategy. Tests will be available through the end of June 2023, monthly upon request.
2. EEC has spearheaded innovative methods to address workforce capacity issues, including:
○ A pilot program to provide child care financial assistance to staff working in early education and care;
○ A public information campaign and job board;
○ Family Child Care capacity building; and
○ Center-based staff recruitment and retention.
3. EEC has been conducting long-term planning to improve professional opportunities for educators and urgently needed changes to address capacity challenges in the workforce. This long-term work includes designing clear and compelling career pathways:
○ In the fall of 2021, EEC developed some alternative pathways into the field by adjusting the minimum hiring requirements. These adjustments remain in place and include:
■ Providers are able to accept DESE licenses and unofficial transcripts.
■ EEC has increased the range of courses that qualify educators for positions and has removed the requirement that educators must complete all required courses before hiring.
■ EEC has increased flexibility regarding the definition of qualifying work experience.
■ Responsibility for validating educator qualifications has been shifted from EEC to program directors.
Moving forward, EEC will continue to offer support for quick hiring as well technical assistance through EEC’s Teacher Qualification Unit and Neighborhood Villages' Professional Pathways program.
4. To enhance Family Child Care (FCC) capacity building, ECC will support an FCC Start Up program, which is in design and is current a set of goals to provide:
○ Pre-licensing support including start-up grants;
○ Early licensure including business management; and
○ Ongoing support including access to one-on-one technical assistance.
As part of the emphasis of supporting improvements in Family Child Care (FCC) capacity, EEC highlighted current innovative approaches via a panel of individuals leading such efforts at their organizations; panelists included Liz Sheehan Castro of the SEIU Education Support Fund, Melinda Weber of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, and Mayra Rosado and Laura Perille of Nurtury Early Education.
If You Are An Educator:
1. The pilot program for educator financial assistance (for enrolling their children in care) is open. Income eligibility for educators seeking financial assistance to enroll their children in care is set at 85% of state median income (SMI). As of the Board meeting, the program had seen considerable uptake.
Educators receiving financial assistance must enroll their child in child care programs that participate in the state’s child care subsidy program. Since the launch of the pilot, 70 new early education and care providers have signed agreements to participate in the subsidy system.
2. EEC is taking steps to improve educator access to higher education and preparation programs. EEC is:
● Working with 15 community colleges to provide access in multiple languages;
● Partnering with Neighborhood Villages to match educators with coursework through Professional Pathways;
● Partnering with the Department of Higher Education (DHE) to fund educators’ post-secondary degrees; and
● Collaborating with the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges (MACC) to build a system-wide process to expand degree and certificate attainment.
If You Are a Family:
1.The EEC’s family access and engagement team has been working with local community and family engagement grantees to set up facilitated play spaces for the refugees and migrants being housed at Fort Devens.
If You are a Child Care Stakeholder or Advocate:
Child Care Financial Assistance regulations remain open for public comment. EEC hosted a public forum on 2/16/2023 regarding the proposed changes to regulations.
As part of child care financial assistance reform work, EEC is re-procuring child care resource and referral (CCR&R) services. CCR&Rs connect eligible families with financial assistance and help them enroll in child care. EEC plans to have the request for responses (RFR) posted before the March Board meeting. The re-procurement will be a competitive process and community-based organizations are encouraged to apply.
ECC also invited a panel of experts to discuss their efforts to address under-capacity at center-based programs. These experts included Neighborhood Villages’ own Binal Patel, Chief Program Officer, who highlighted Neighborhood Villages’ apprenticeship program. In addition, the Board heard from: Mandy Townsend of Jewish Vocational Services, Christine Trayner of Little Sprouts, and Barbara Gallagher and Katie Graham of The Community Group.