MASSACHUSETTS’ CHILD CARE system serving the state’s most vulnerable children has seen improvement in recent years, but a new report warns that issues with recruiting and keeping workers could undermine efforts to expand access to affordable child care. With federal support from a second Trump administration uncertain, funding these programs increasingly depends on Bay State budget math.

Child care workers in Massachusetts continue to struggle despite the state's reforms in recent years, with many working multiple jobs to make ends meet or leaving the industry altogether, per a new report. 

Higher ed’s fortunes, whether good or bad, “are more pronounced here than in any other state,” said Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, during a recent  presentation and panel discussion the organization convened on the economic impact of higher education in Massachusetts. 

On January 24th, the Healey-Driscoll administration released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget proposal, with significant investments in childcare, education, and transportation. The $58.13 billion spending plan is a $2.1 billion increase (3.7 percent) over the FY 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA). This brief focuses on workforce spending in the Governor’s proposal, where investments occur, and how proposed funding compares to the FY 2024 GAA.

On Monday, March 4th MTF was invited to testify before the Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions.  MTF testified in opposition to House Bill 4252, which would eliminate any statewide standard for high school graduation in Massachusetts.  You can read MTF’s submitted testimony here.

The following brief provides an analysis of state workforce investments in state budgets from FY 2019 to FY 2023 organized in MTF’s training opportunities for state-serving populations workforce category. As MTF noted in our earlier introductory brief, these programs provide workforce-related support services to populations involved with other state services (i.e. Department of Developmental Services clients or families receiving cash assistance from the Department of Transitional Assistance).

MTF's next webinar will examine public and private colleges and universities' role in the Commonwealth's economy. The webinar will include presentations by MTF President Doug Howgate and Evan Horowitz, Executive Director at the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, followed by a discussion panel. 

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates this change will help around 350 students every year.

IF YOU HAVE young children, or know anyone who does, chances are you’ve noticed that the Commonwealth’s child care sector is in a major state of crisis. Classrooms are closing, waitlists are growing, tuition costs are soaring, and educators are leaving the field in droves for higher paying jobs; moreover, these persisting challenges continue to push mothers out of the workforce.

The average cost of child care is more than $20,000 a year in Massachusetts, the most expensive state in the nation, only behind Washington, D.C., and well above the national average of $15,888, according to a recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.