Building Blocks: Status of Child Care Reform in MA and What Comes Next

In January 2023, the Massachusetts Taxpayer’s Foundation (MTF) released a report on the Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) system, highlighting shortcomings and offering recommendations. On November 19, 2024, the Boston Foundation hosted the release of MTF’s follow-up report, “Building Blocks: Status of Child Care Reform in Massachusetts and What Comes Next,” accompanied by a panel discussion among sector leaders on themes and issues the report highlighted.  

Boston Foundation Associate Vice President of Programs Antoniya Marinova welcomed attendees, contextualizing the report’s acute relevance for TBF, which considers child well-being a key pathway to equity. She introduced Massachusetts Commissioner of Early Education and Care Amy Kershaw to further set the stage. Kershaw shared numerous regulatory and cultural shifts in her department that were worth celebrating because they put families in the spotlight instead of paperwork. She spoke of efforts to shift subsidy rates to reflect actual costs, outreach efforts that have yielded the highest number of participants ever, and new IT systems to come. She pointed to increased staffing in her department, workforce supports for providers, the codification of COVID-era funding, and other reasons to be optimistic. “But we have to keep working on multiple levers—workforce, families, administration, they are all interconnected,” she said, but noted she was “very hopeful because of an increased recognition of early education and care’s central role in our economy and in leveling the playing field for kids.”  

MTF Policy Researcher Victoria Bergeron followed with data on progress the state has made in child care financial assistance and what work remains. CCFA serves three broad demographics: low-income families, children in the child welfare system, and those participating in transitional services. In brief, the system had not changed for a long time—there had been no contract update with providers since 2009. The 2023 report identified six pain points and a recommendation to address each.  

In the plus column of adjustments made since MTF’s 2023 report: 

• Better match of subsidies to cost of care (with still a ways to go) 
• New contract in the works 
• More family-friendly policies and reduced paperwork 
• Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) funding codified 

In the “needs improvement” column: 

• Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies need updated, integrated technology 
• Enrollment goal has not been codified yet 
• Waiting list remains too long and slow 
  
  

Bergeron said that their next research will follow up on CCR&R systems and tech upgrades; track family engagement and efforts to expand access; assess impacts of C3 and contract procurement; and look further at workforce issues, including small business support.  

TBF Senior Program Officer Danubia Camargos Silva moderated the panel and set the stage for high-level conversation, saying: “We have the responsibility to break down the cycles that have been plaguing our system. Systems are people. We all hold a piece of the solution. Yet sometimes things change but educators and parents are so busy surviving they don’t see it. In order for us to transform the system we need to stabilize, heal, and transform.” What is the role of technology improvements in this, she asked. Can updated case management improve the experience for families? 

Kelly Graceffa, Director of ABCD Child Care Choices of Boston, shared that CCR&Rs like hers “are currently using four systems to do what we need to do. Some talk to each other, but not well. They’re generally outdated…. We’re really looking forward to maximizing and consolidating, streamlining data management. It will improve efficiency and reduce delays, and allow us to communicate more effectively in the first language of providers and families.” 

Reach Out and Read’s Northeast Regional Executive Director Alex Chu is part of a working group trying to connect the health care sector to early education and care. Their challenge is to think about how data and systems could help unify traditionally siloed services. “When you have your well child visit, for example, you share lots of information. And you do it again and again with different providers. There are HIPPA and FERPA challenges to overcome but we should think about an approach that crosses sectors and puts families and kids first, so that when they access services, providers on the medical and education sides have that information and don’t have to ask again and again.”