RECAP of the June EEC Board Meeting: Maintaining the Child Care Financial Assistance Parent Fee Scale and Updating Board By-Laws
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.
The primary topics of this month’s Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Board meeting were a discussion of EEC’s theory of action for promoting high quality early education and care; an overview and vote on the parent fee scale for child care financial assistance; and an overview and vote on updated Board by-laws. Here’s what you need to know…
If You Are a Provider:
EEC received another waiver for the upcoming fiscal year from compliance with the Price Limitations Law. Current law mandates, in effect, that the state subsidy reimbursement to a provider cannot exceed the lowest fee charged by the provider. With the waiver, however, providers may charge lower rates to families, allowing them to maintain tuition discounts (including employee discounts), tuition waivers, etc.
If you Are a Parent/Family:
The EEC Board voted to affirm the existing parent fee schedule. EEC is required to periodically review and affirm or make changes to the parent fee schedule for families with child care financial assistance. After a family is determined eligible for financial assistance and their child is being enrolled in an early education and care program, the parent fee schedule is used to determine the household’s financial contribution to the price of care.Changes in recent years resulted in parent fees being a percentage of household income above the federal poverty level. This change means that income up to the federal poverty line is not counted in a calculation of individual family contribution.
If You Are An Educator:
The pilot program to provide Early Educator Child Care assistance, which provides financial assistance to early educators seeking to enroll their children in care, continues to be a success, having enrolled 850 children of program staff. Given the budget outlook, the Commissioner anticipates that EEC will be able to maintain the program through next fiscal year.
If You are a Child Care Stakeholder or Advocate:
EEC has increased its internal staff capacity over the past year by adding 58 new positions. Two of the new positions were recently filled, including Director of Child Care Financial Assistance and Director of Communications.
During the next fiscal year (July 2023-June 2024), the EEC Board will change its meeting day to Wednesday. Beginning in September, the Board will meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 1pm.
EEC looked into its Board by-laws, which had not been updated since the initial set was approved in 2005, and made some changes. The key updates are:
Statutory attendance requirement: Board members may not miss more than four meetings in a calendar year before their seat must be declared vacant.
Meeting scheduling directive: Board to set a meeting schedule at the end of each fiscal year
New structure for remote participation: Specifies permissible reasons to participate remotely
Codifies requirement that Board meetings shall be made available to the public via online livestream
The Board voted to approve the updated by-laws. In addition, Maria Moeller was elected to serve as Vice Chair of the Board.
