Policy Pulse #23
In each issue of the Policy Pulse, we share an overview of what’s happening in Massachusetts and national child care policy and information on what you can do to take action and join the movement for a transformed early education and care system. In each edition, you will also find resources, reports, and advocacy tools. In this issue, we highlight the latest in the state budget process and the recent Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Board meeting, invite you to take action, and let you know what’s coming up next. Let’s dive in!
What To Know
Massachusetts Fiscal Year 2027 State Budget Update
In May, the Massachusetts Senate passed its proposal for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 state budget. The budget proposal will now go in front of a conference committee composed of a select group of MA senators and members of the MA House of Representatives to reconcile the differences between the Senate’s and House’s respective budget proposals. The conference committee will put together a final budget proposal, to be voted on by the full Legislature. Once both chambers have passed the bill, it will go to the Governor for her approval, veto, or veto in part. Keep an eye out for an email from us with more information on (a) the Senate’s budget proposal, (b) what is guaranteed to be in the Legislature’s FY27 budget bill, and (c) what will need to be reconciled by the conference committee. For the latest on the FY2027 budget and what each proposal includes, visit our budget page here.
The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care Held its May Board Meeting
The Board of Massachusetts’ Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) most recently met on May 13, 2026. Important decisions about the early education and care sector are made at monthly EEC Board meetings, and you can read the recap here! Some highlights from the May board meeting are:
An update on EEC’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget;
A vote to approve EEC’s Residential Programs regulation revisions;
A proposal to increase the reimbursement rate for Informal Child Care; and
A discussion on EEC’s new Family Child Care Capacity Pilot.
Massachusetts Inter-Agency Task Force Unveils New Educator Discounts Directory
Developed in collaboration with Mass Cultural Council, and as part of the goals of Governor Maura Healey’s Early Education and Child Care Task Force, the new Educator Discounts Directory serves as a resource for early childhood educators – along with K-12 teachers – for discounted goods and services for which they may be eligible, due to being educators. The searchable directory includes an entity’s name, city, and region and an indication of whether the entity offers a discount for child care educators. Businesses not currently part of the directory that wish to join it can do so by filing out a form.
New Family Portal Launched for Child Care Financial Assistance
On May 6, the Department of Early Education and Care released a new online platform, MyChildCareMA, to improve families’ experience with applying for public child care financial assistance. Among its features, the portal will allow families to submit required documents as part of their application and view their waitlist status. In addition, employees working with families/applicants (for example, Family Access Administrators, which include Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, Contract Providers, and Mass211) will be able to: submit applications on behalf of families who are unable to use the portal themselves; review documentation across application phases; and send communications to families.
Highlighting the Goals and Applications of Early Relational Health in Early Childhood Education
A new research brief by Neighborhood Villages provides background and evidence for the concept of early relational health, as well as examples of how it is incorporated in early childhood education settings.
Massachusetts State Senate Passes Bill To Protect Immigrants and Civil Rights
On May 7, the MA Senate passed its version of the Protect Act, legislation aimed at safeguarding civil rights and limiting state and local collaboration with federal immigration enforcement. The Senate's version of the bill includes limits on cooperation between local authorities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); requires judicial warrants for courthouse arrests; bans new 287(g) agreements that allow local police to carry out federal immigration enforcement duties; and provides protections for individuals in sensitive locations such as child care programs, schools, hospitals, courthouses, and places of worship. The bill will now go in front of a conference committee composed of a select group of senators and members of the MA House of Representatives to reconcile the differences in the House and Senate's bills before going to the Governor to be signed into law, vetoed, or vetoed in part.
EEC to Launch a Pilot to Explore Expanding Family Child Care Group Size
At the May EEC Board Meeting, EEC announced it will be launching a Family Child Care (FCC) Capacity Pilot to learn about the impact of expanding FCC’s child limit from 10 to 12 children. The pilot will follow a small group of FCC providers granted permission to serve up to 12 children, collect operational data, educator and family feedback, and licensing monitoring outcomes to inform future regulatory, policy, and support decisions related to FCC capacity, staffing ratios, groupings, and licensing structures. EEC will begin accepting applications for the pilot in June. Applications will be reviewed in July, and the pilot would begin in August.
What To Do
Attend Neighborhood Villages’ and Strategies for Children’s Budget Breakdown Event!
Join Neighborhood Villages and Strategies for Children on June 10 from 6:30-7:30pm on Zoom for our last Budget Breakdown in this series! We'll review the next phase of the state budget process, the Massachusetts Senate's Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal, prepare for Conference Committee, and talk about next steps for continued advocacy for early education and care. Interpretation from English to Spanish and Portuguese will be provided by Excel Linguistics. This meeting will be recorded. You can register here!
Make Your Voice Heard on Proposed Changes to Head Start
The federal Office of Head Start (OHS), which resides within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has published a proposed rule, which would rescind wage and benefits requirements for educators in Head Start programs across the country.
The proposal would remove a critical Performance Standards requirement set forth in 2024 under the title Supporting the Head Start Workforce and Consistent Quality Programming, which stipulated that Head Start programs were to “...ensure annual salaries for Head Start educators are at least comparable to those of preschool teachers in public school settings, adjusted for responsibilities, qualifications, experience, and schedule or hours worked.” The 2026 OHS proposed rule currently under consideration would remove this wage requirement.
The proposed rule is in the phase of Public Comment; anyone from the public may submit a comment through June 11, 2026. You may submit comments, identified by ACF-2026-0364 by either of the following methods: (a) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov OR (b) by mail: Office of Head Start, Attention: Director of Policy and Planning, 330 C Street SW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20201. The Massachusetts Head Start Association has created a comment template for anyone who might wish to use it!
What’s Next
The FY2027 state budget is with the conference committee. The final budget is expected by July 1.
As the current state legislative session comes to a close on July 31, 2026, Neighborhood Villages is monitoring action on bills impacting early education and care beyond the budget. An Act Supporting the Development of Children Experiencing Homelessness (H.5090), for example, would expedite access to early intervention services for children zero to three years old living in shelters.
At the federal level, the appropriations process continues in the U.S. Senate. Unlike the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the U.S. follows a fiscal year of October 1 to September 30. As such, September 30, 2026 is the deadline to fund all federal programs for the following year.
The next meeting of the EEC Board of Directors will be on June 10 at 1pm. A full schedule of meetings as well as recordings and meeting materials can be found here. We will share a full recap of this meeting in the next issue of the Policy Pulse.