State Senator Susan Moran
HYANNIS – Legislation has been filed that would provide funded programs to expand childcare options for families across the state.
Plymouth/Barnstable State Senator Susan Moran (D-Falmouth), co-sponsor of the bill, said that the legislation is vital during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was clear to me from the beginning that our lack of strong childcare infrastructure was going to hurt families as COVID progressed. We know now that the job loss in this economy is being borne out by women, and that the lack of affordable and available childcare is a huge driver of that job loss. To get our economy back on track, we need to support working parents and caretakers to get back to work,” said Moran in a statement.
“This isn’t just important for the economy at-large, but also for individual households that are missing out on crucial streams of income that would keep them economically secure. And getting that result is only going to happen with a strong focus on policy that returns jobs to women, which i think this bill takes tremendous strides to accomplish.”
The bill expands access to childcare by guaranteeing that families in the bottom fifty-percent of earners receive fee-free childcare with a sliding scale for those in the upper fifty-percent that is capped at 7 percent of household income.
Moran said that the bill also modernizes payment calculations to ensure that childcare providers are receiving subsidy payments that reflect the modern costs of operation.
The bill also creates a financing system so that childcare providers receive funding based on total capacity as well as the number of students in the program.
New salary guidance and professional development programs will also be implemented by the bill.
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