Families remind Beacon Hill of child care struggles
Photos | Courtesy of Edward Street
Edward Street master teacher Jo Ann Borinski working with children in a YWCA Central Massachusetts classroom.
Children and parents swarmed around the Grand Staircase Thursday to rally for passage of an early education package they said would bolster affordability and access, address pay and benefits for early ed staff, and represent a "new, stable source of funding."
Rory Millark of Somerville said she felt "ahead of the curve" by looking for child care eight months in advance, but the only center that called her back had an 11-month waitlist. She and her husband juggled their jobs with caring for their son, who is now 1, until he could get into the program, she said. They pay $480 per week for his program, she said, adding up to $25,000 per year.
"And horrifyingly, that is considered a bargain in Middlesex County where I live. These prices are inconceivable for any family," she said. They want to have two more children, she said, but are weighing their family goals against her estimated cost of sending three kids to an early education program up to age 4: $262,000.
Filed in January by Reps. Adrian Madaro and Ken Gordon (H 489) and Sens. Jason Lewis and Su Moran (S 301), the bills are still waiting for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Education Committee. The proposal would create a permanent funding allocation for providers and offer financial assistance aimed at families earning at or below 85 percent of the state's median income.
"We know that children who have access to pre-school education get a head start in their primary education and that head start stays with them through secondary education, and if they go on to college, it never leaves," Gordon said at the rally.
Bay State employers are "increasingly recognizing child care, or a lack thereof, as an economic competitiveness issue," the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation said Thursday in releasing a new report on employer-supported child care benefits.
"I hear from so many businesses that say, 'I have a Help Wanted sign. I can't get access to labor,'" Gordon said. "And then we talk about child care, and they say, 'I see people come in to talk to me, and I tell them what [we] pay, and they say, I can't afford to find child care for my child and accept these wages. I just can't do it.' Businesses win when we pass this bill."
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