BOSTON — Early education officials are pushing state budget negotiators to restore funding for agency operations and two programs eliminated under the Senate’s spending bill.
Speaking during Strategies for Children’s weekly “9:30 Call,” Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw said Thursday that the administration is focused on restoring funding for the Department of Early Education and Care’s administrative account, Career Pathways, and Reach Out and Read as House and Senate negotiators work toward an agreement on a new state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“The House and the Senate are now in conference committee, and there are a couple key watch areas for the Department of Early Education and Care,” Kershaw said. “The top issue is differences in our administrative line item that we’re very focused on trying to make sure that we are restored to fiscal ’25 levels, which is what was in the House budget, that would allow us to support existing operations, including staff and many of our IT modernization efforts.”
The department’s line item was funded at $27.7 million in fiscal 2025. Gov. Maura Healey proposed $13.2 million for fiscal 2027, the House recommended $20.3 million, and the Senate proposed $9.7 million — roughly $2 million below the account’s fiscal 2026 level of $11.5 million.
“The Senate was proud to go big on early education and care in its FY27 budget, increasing EEC spending by 9.7% over the FY26 budget. Our FY27 budget is laser-focused on affordability for families seeking support for early education and care services, increasing direct support to families through childcare financial assistance by $255 million over FY26,” Senate Ways and Means Committee spokesman Sean Fitzgerald said.
The committee said the department received $45.5 million in a surplus surtax supplemental budget last year for capacity-building.
Kershaw also highlighted two programs that were eliminated entirely from the Senate budget but funded by both the governor and House in their versions of the budget.
“Our Career Pathways program, which is serving nearly 4,000 educators across the state, is a unique opportunity to really create a pathway into higher education, and we don’t have another program like that across the state,” Kershaw said.
The Career Pathways program received $3 million in fiscal 2026. Healey and the House each proposed $2.97 million for fiscal 2027, while the Senate omitted the line item.
The program provides grant-funded education, coursework, textbooks, tutoring and other supports that help early education and out-of-school-time educators earn credentials needed to become teachers and program directors. The Senate Ways and Means Committee said this program is effectively moot since the state began funding free community college.
Kershaw said the Senate also eliminated Reach Out and Read, an early literacy initiative funded at $1.75 million in fiscal 2026. Both the governor and House maintained that funding level.
Kershaw said that funding goes to 250 community health centers to provide books and early literacy materials to young children.
The funding debate comes amid several years of major state investment in early education and care. Since 2023, lawmakers and the Healey administration have directed hundreds of millions of dollars into the sector through Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) stabilization grants, provider rate increases and expanded child care assistance.
Early education advocates have pointed to Massachusetts as one of the few states that continued major stabilization funding after federal pandemic relief dollars expired. Healey’s fiscal 2027 budget proposes more than $1.8 billion for the sector.
House Speaker Ron Mariano’s office said the House’s spending plan reflects that commitment.
“The House has long championed funding for early education and care (EEC) – including by providing targeted support to the EEC workforce and by making historic investments to increase access, quality and affordability for families,” Mariano said in a statement.
Kershaw also pointed Thursday to a supplemental budget now awaiting Healey’s signature that includes $38.7 million aimed at reducing the state’s childcare financial assistance waitlist.
If that is signed, “we do think there would be an opportunity for the first time since 2024 to really open access, especially for our educators working in childcare and early education programs,” she said.
The spending bill directs $38.7 million toward reducing the waitlist for income-eligible early education and care programs.
The package includes at least $10.7 million for newly procured early education slots, $8 million to help educators pay for their own childcare, and $7.5 million for a newly established early educator loan forgiveness program. Lawmakers have said the funding could create nearly 2,500 additional child care openings while helping reduce a waitlist that stood at more than 29,000 children earlier this year.
Kershaw also discussed guidance released by the Healey administration late last month concerning interactions between childcare providers, schools, colleges, healthcare facilities and houses of worship with federal immigration authorities.
The guidance, issued pursuant to a Healey executive order, advises organizations to route interactions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement through designated administrators, seek legal review of warrants, protect confidential information, document encounters and deny access to nonpublic areas unless officers present a valid judicial warrant or court order.
The administration emphasized that administrative warrants issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security do not authorize entry into nonpublic spaces.
Kershaw said the guidance does not fit neatly with the state’s mixed-delivery early education and care system, but it’s still an important framework for providers.
“In many cases, it is not a perfect match for the childcare settings that all of you are operating or working with, but a really important message from this administration that we believe all residents should feel safe and protected in the places that they live, learn and work,” she said.
She added that the “guidance can’t cover every scenario that you are experiencing with your families or your educators.”
After the call, an Executive Office of Education spokesperson said Kershaw’s comments were intended to reflect the diversity of Massachusetts’ child care system, where many providers do not have access to in-house legal counsel or administrative resources commonly available to school districts and colleges.
The spokesperson said providers encountering immigration enforcement questions should contact EEC, which can help connect them with legal resources, including support available through state agencies and the attorney general’s office. Because child care programs operate under a mixed-delivery system that includes large centers, small businesses and family child care providers, implementation of the guidance may look different across settings, the spokesperson said.