HKS Affiliated Authors

Jeffrey Liebman Photo
Jeffrey Liebman
Co-Director, Harvard Impact Lab
Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government
Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Social Policy

Excerpt

Massachusetts has made substantial new investments in child care and early education. Since 2021, real (inflation-adjusted) spending has increased by more than 50 percent. These investments have resulted in greater enrollment, higher wages for early educators, and more families receiving financial assistance. But three large gaps still remain in quality, capacity, and affordability. 

This policy brief does three things:
 

  • Summarizes the results of a recent survey of 1,001 Massachusetts mothers with young children about their child care preferences. 
  • Uses those results and other data to estimate the size of the three gaps.
  • Presents a five-year plan to reduce the gaps by:
     
    • Raising the wages of early educators by $6 per hour, with the state covering the cost of the wage increase through additional funding for the Commonwealth Cares for Children program.
    • Subsidizing start-up costs associated with capacity expansion.
    • Doubling the number of Child Care Financial Assistance subsidies.
    • Investing in the professional development of early educators.