MALDEN – Today in Malden, Governor Maura Healey outlined plans to enhance affordable and accessible early education and child care across Massachusetts. Healey plans to highlight the initiative in the upcoming State of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Details will be detailed in the proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
The “Gateway to Pre-K” agenda includes four key components:
- Delivering universal, high-quality preschool access for four-year-old students in all Gateway Cities by the end of 2026. Every family of a 4-year-old in these 26 communities will have the opportunity – at a low or no cost — to enroll their child in a high-quality preschool program that prepares them for kindergarten.
- Increasing Child Fare Financial Assistance (CCFA) eligibility from 50 percent of the state median income (SMI) to 85 percent SMI to help an additional 4,000 low-and moderate-income families afford care.
- Continuing Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants in FY25, providing stable funding for programs to improve quality, pay facility costs, and hire more staff, thereby creating more classrooms where families can enroll their children in affordable child care.
- Signing an executive order to recognize the essential role child care plays in driving the state’s economy and competitiveness forward and directing the administration to take a whole-of-government approach to ensuring affordable, high-quality child care.
The initiative expands the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI), administered by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). CPPI establishes district-wide preschool programs in public and community-based early education and care settings to ensure equitable access to high-quality preschool for all 4-year-olds with provider options, including special education. The program seeks to level the playing field for kindergarten readiness, coordinated curricula and consistent educational goals regardless of where a child is enrolled.
“Our ‘Gateway to Pre-K’ agenda will fundamentally transform the early education system in Massachusetts. We’re lowering costs for families to enroll their children in child care and Pre-K and ensuring our hardworking providers have the support they need to deliver high-quality care,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Far too many parents are being held back from returning to the workforce because of the daunting cost of child care, and providers are facing the difficult decision between continuing in the profession they love or leaving for a higher-paid career.
CPPI currently operates in 12 Gateway Cities: Brockton, Fall River, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, New Bedford, Salem, Springfield, and Westfield. Healey’s proposal will include plans to extend CPPI to the remaining 14 Gateway Cities over the next two years, including Worcester.
