SANDWICH – The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care approved a 2% rate increase at their meeting in Sandwich this week for local agencies and organizations that provide services to young people.
The agency holds three visits outside of Boston each year and came to Heritage Museums and Gardens on Tuesday.
The $8 million will be focused on Center Based Providers and the Family Child Care Systems Administrative Fee.
The money will be used for stipends and salaries at various agencies targeted for the development of early educators.
“This is a year dedicated to improving what goes on the field,” said Bill Concannon, chief financial officer for the Department of Early Education and Care.
Providers cannot receive a subsidy rate greater than their private pay rate.
The 2 percent rate increase is an addition to a 6 percent rate increase announced and voted on early in the year. In combination there will an 8 percent increase for subsidized rates for children.
“This is vitally important,” said Commissioner Tom Weber.
“It comes after years where there have been either modest rate increases or no rate increases. The field has long been expecting and needing further support in order to make sure that we’re providing the quality of care that we would want for all of our children, but particularly those who are receiving support from the Commonwealth.”
Weber believes the increase will have a considerable effect on Cape Cod.
“I think that, specifically, it is going to help with workforce, in terms of recruitment and retention of qualified early educators,” he said. “That is really the paramount challenge facing programs right now.”
Weber said programs have been challenged to find qualified individuals to educate their children due to the competitive economy with low unemployment rates and modest incomes for early educators.
“This is going to be of great assistance to those programs, in terms of, finding those people and being able to retain those people,” Weber said.
Increased alcohol and drug abuse, possibly driven by the Cape’s opioid crisis, was cited as reasons why more resources are needed for better education outcomes.
“Children in those families where substance abuse is common and or addiction is common are effectively exposed to trauma. They are effectively exposed to adverse experiences on regular basis,” said Nonie Lesaux, the board chair.
“Their own needs are necessarily met. Their own development is often compromised and early education and care programs can be a really critical source of support and stability for those children.”
Other items on their agenda included a scheduled evaluation of Commissioner Tom Weber and updates from several board committees.
Members of the board asked the local panelists if they were working on educating seasonal residents about the challenges the Cape faces in educating our students.
Several said year-round residents in many cases aren’t aware.
They also said the message needs to be conveyed in the rest of the state that Cape Cod is not flush with cash when it comes to public education.
The local panel included Cape Cod Child Development CEO Anne Colwell, Cape Cod Children’s Place Executive Director Cindy Horgan, YMCA Cape Cod Sr. Program Director of Early Education Denis Graham-Reardon, Program Quality Specialist Joy Cohen, Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Specialist Loretta Prenderville, Groups and School Age Licensing Specialist Mary McCarthy and Massachusetts Head Start State Collaboration Director, Associate Commissioner for Strategic Partnerships Carol Nolan.
The Department of Early Education and Care was established in 2005 with a mission to provide the foundation to support all children in their development as lifelong learners.
The agency is part of the Executive Office of Education, one of eight Executive Offices under Governor Charlie Baker.
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