Facts In Action

Governor Paul Cellucci launched the Fiscal Year 2002 Massachusetts state budget cycle on January 24 when he released his version of the budget (House 1). House 1 included some minor increases for early education and care providers, advocates, and families, including:

• a $10 million rate increase for subsidized child care providers (line item 1599-0043); and

• a minor increase in Income Eligible Child Care (line item 4130-3300), which will maintain the current level of services.

The Governor proposed no increases for the Community Partnerships for Children program (line item 7030-1000).

On March 8, early education and care advocates held a State House Day to advocate for the following proposals:

• a 12% rate increase for providers serving state-subsidized children (totaling $55 million statewide);

• a new $25 million line item to provide professional development and training opportunities to early education and care staff, addressing in part the current workforce recruitment and retention crisis being experienced statewide; and

• support of the Early Care and Education Quality Aid Bill (S. 286) which aims to improve the quality of early education and care in the state by creating a career lattice tying salaries to increased training, establishing professional development and scholarship programs for staff, and increasing salaries by providing a per-child allocation tied to quality improvement activities. The bill requires eligible programs to serve a minimum of 20% low-income children and to submit a plan for quality improvement.

The FY'02 budget is now in the House's hands, which is expected to report out its proposed version of the state budget in late April with floor debate scheduled for the week of April 30. The state Senate is expected to take up the FY'02 budget in May.

For more information:
on the FY'02 Massachusetts state budget, contact Christine Johnson-Staub at (617) 695-0700 x229, or at cjstaub@AssociatedEarlyCareAndEducation.org.

To contact your state representative regarding the budget:
call the House Clerk's Office at (617) 722-2356, or the Senate Clerk's Office at (617) 722-1276. To find out who your state representative is, call (800) 462-VOTE or go on line at www.vote-smart.org.

For more information:
on the Early Care and Education Quality Aid Bill, contact the office of lead sponsor Senator David Magnani at (617) 722-1640.

Facts in Action, April 2001