Neighborhood Villages Celebrates Historic Early Education Funding in FY24 State Budget
The State FY24 Budget Includes $1.5 Billion For Early Education and Care, Including $475 Million for Child Care Operations Grants
BOSTON, MA (July 31, 2023) - Today, Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — celebrated the FY24 state budget put forward by the Massachusetts Legislature that commits a record $1.5 billion to early education and care, including $475 million for the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program. These direct-to-provider operations grants, initially introduced as a pandemic response initiative, have proven essential to the field’s viability and are vital to creating a sustainable child care sector.
Lauren Kennedy, co-president of Neighborhood Villages, issued the following statement:
“The historic investment in early education and care in the state budget is a major step toward building a stronger, higher-quality early childhood education system in Massachusetts. If we truly want to improve access for families and invest in the early educators who care for our children day in and day out, we need public investment. This funding will help expand access to child care for families, enhance affordability, and increase educator wages across the sector.
“We especially applaud the Legislature’s funding for child care operations grants, which are absolutely critical to keeping the struggling early education and care sector afloat and allowing us to move towards long-term stability and growth. Funding C3 grants at this level in the FY24 budget creates significant stability for programs, teachers, and families. Additionally, the use of Fair Share funds for early education signals a movement toward treating and funding early childhood education as the public good that it is.
“We thank the Governor and Legislature for prioritizing early education and care in the budget. This funding is integral to creating a healthier, more equitable and accessible early education and care system. This transformative investment gives us hope that we are working towards comprehensive solutions to finally overhaul the Commonwealth’s broken child care system and make Massachusetts a better place to live and work for everyone.”
Background
The budget also includes:
$65 million to increase the reimbursement rate to providers for subsidies;
$25 million for financial assistance waitlist reduction, expected to serve nearly 2,000 additional children;
$840 million towards child care financial assistance for low income and vulnerable children;
$15 million in financial assistance specifically for early education and care teachers for use for their own child care;
$10 million for higher education opportunities for early educators;
$5 million for early education and care mental health consultation; and,
Early education funding from the Education-Transportation Trust Fund established for revenue resulting from the Fair Share Amendment.
Background on Operations Grants
The C3 operations grant program has supported more than 7,100 early education and care programs across the Commonwealth – including 4,500 family child care (FCC) providers and 2,600 center-based providers. These direct-to-provider operations grants have been highly effective: data from more than 6,000 grant recipients demonstrate the foundational role that operations grants have played – and will continue to play – in sustaining Massachusetts’ early education and care sector.
Some data from grant recipients includes:
751 providers (more than 12% of all providers in MA), inclusive of 556 FCC providers, reported that they would have to close if operations grants ceased.
As a result of receiving grants funds, 83% of center-based providers and 41% of FCC providers allocated grant funds to staff compensation.
With the help of C3 funds, more than 25% of all providers were able to defer planned tuition increases.
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About Neighborhood Villages
Neighborhood Villages, founded in 2017 by Lauren Kennedy and Sarah Muncey, is a Boston-based systems-change non-profit that advocates for early education and care policy reform and implements scalable solutions that address the biggest challenges facing providers and the families who rely on them. For more information, visit https://www.neighborhoodvillages.org/our-work.
