Massachusetts Attorney General Leads Multi-State Coalition To Increase Childcare Funding by $50 Billion

The following is a press release from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.

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BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today, July 14, led a coalition of 22 attorneys general urging the United States Senate to provide robust financial support for childcare providers in the next federal stimulus bill amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter sent to Senate leadership today, the coalition of attorneys general called on Congress to provide at least $50 billion in funding to address the immediate needs of childcare systems around the country.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many childcare providers are operating at reduced capacity or have closed, leaving them with little to no revenue to cover payroll, rent, insurance, and other fixed costs.

This additional financial support would help childcare providers fulfill these financial obligations so that they are not forced to close for good. It would also help cover essential duty pay for educators and reduce the financial burden on families.

“Families need access to quality, affordable childcare,” said AG Healey. “As this pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, our childcare providers need additional federal support to ensure they’re able to open and operate. Our country’s economic well-being depends on it.”

The coalition also expressed support for broader reforms to our childcare system. The attorneys general argue that our childcare system suffers from a broken model, where “parents pay too much and educators make too little,” and that the current pandemic has exacerbated already existing disparities in race, income, and gender in our childcare workforce. The letter insists that “[t]o build a more equitable society beyond this current crisis, we need structural reform that ensures every family has access to quality, affordable childcare and educators earn the pay that they deserve.”

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The letter cites a recent survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which found that only 11 percent of providers could survive a closure of indeterminate length without government intervention, and just 16 percent could survive a closure of more than one month.

Recent estimates predict that, without adequate federal support, nearly 4.5 million childcare slots across the country are at risk of disappearing, including more than 51,000 in Massachusetts.

Joining AG Healey in sending today’s letter are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In AG Healey’s office, this matter was handled by the Director of the AG’s Child and Youth Protection Unit, Angela Brooks. 

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