RECAP of the November 12, 2025, EEC Board Meeting: Updates on EEC’s Strategic Action Plan, Regulations for Residential Programs, and the Child Care Financial Assistance Program.

At Neighborhood Villages, we prioritize keeping up with the policy landscape in the early education and care field, both across the country and in Massachusetts. That includes tuning-in to the monthly meetings of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care (“EEC Board”), to stay apprised of updates and to identify opportunities for how we can work with government and other stakeholders to improve our early education and care system.

The primary topics of this month’s Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Board meeting included updates on: (1) EEC’s Strategic Action Plan, (2) Regulations for Residential Programs, and (3) the Child Care Financial Assistance Program.

For additional details on any of the meeting topics, view the slides here or watch the recording on YouTube. 

Here’s what you need to know…

If You Are a Provider:

1. Commissioner Amy Kershaw provided updates on the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Capital Investment Grants. She announced that $14.1 million was awarded to 28 organizations across Massachusetts to renovate center-based child care and before and after school program facilities. The funding will support renovation projects to expand capacity, improve indoor and outdoor learning environments for children, and ensure developmentally appropriate spaces to learn, play, and grow. You can find more information here. 

   She also announced the application period closed for the next round of Family Child Care Capital Grants, which will administer $4 million. EEC anticipates selecting awardees in Spring 2026. 

   The next round of Early Education and Out of School Time Capital Grants, which will administer $11 million for center-based providers, will be available in the winter.

2. Commissioner Kershaw shared that the opportunity to provide letters of expression for the Employer Child Care Innovation Fund ended. The letters are being reviewed to award $2.5 million. The Employer Child Care Innovation Fund is a competitive matching grant program to help employers support working families in the Commonwealth.

If You are a Parent/Guardian or Child Care Advocate:

1. Commissioner Kershaw discussed the federal shutdown and its effect on Head Start. Head Start is primarily funded through federal funds. Six of Massachusetts’ 28 Head Start programs had a November 1st grant renewal date. Due to the shutdown, they did not receive funding from the federal government. The Governor approved an advancement of the funds appropriated in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget to supplement Head Start federal funding. Five of the six Head Start programs accepted the funding. The only program that did not accept the funding is currently closed. Three Head Start programs had October 1st grant renewal dates. They will be given the same opportunity to receive an advancement of the supplemental funds, which would allow them to operate for three or four weeks, given the amount of money available. 

   This meeting took place before the federal shutdown ended. As the shutdown has ended, the federal government will resume providing funding to Head Start programs. However, it is unclear how long it will take for them to receive the funding.

2. Commissioner Kershaw and the EEC staff presented a draft 2026-2030 Strategic Action Plan. Since spring 2025, the Department has worked with various agencies, legislative colleagues, and working groups to develop the plan. The approach is to go further, deeper, and execute on what they are already doing. The plan is meant to be practical, aspirational, and rooted in research and internal data. 

   The plan has five strategic objectives: family access, program quality, workforce support, program stability, and agency infrastructure. The family access goals are focused around affordability and helping families access the support they need, like developing the new Family Portal and making searching for child care more user friendly. The program quality goals are geared towards supporting children’s safety and healthy development, like updating all EEC licensing regulations and improving technical development for programs. The workforce support goals are focused around improving retention, advancement, and support of the workforce, like launching the educator credential system and continuing to grow EEC’s apprenticeship models. The program stability goals are geared towards financial sustainability so programs can stay open through continuing business and administration support for program leaders, and developing the capital grant strategies. Lastly, the agency infrastructure goals are focused on improving retention and support for the early education workforce, like the new educator credential system and new educator portal.

   EEC will seek feedback from the Board from now until November 26th. Afterwards they will revise the plan, then bring it back to the Board in December for a vote to approve and adopt it. If approved, the plan would become effective as of January 1st. EEC will continually assess the strategies and projects within the plan and revisit it at least annually.

3. EEC presented an update on the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFA). EEC provided an overview of the program and reviewed its funding, caseload trends, factors impacting caseload dynamics, the current status of the program, and EEC’s priorities moving forward.

   CCFA provides financial assistance for low-income families to access early education and care and out-of-school time programs. It is funded by federal and state funding. EEC uses state dollars appropriated in the state budget to fund CCFA then seeks reimbursement from the federal government. Approximately 50% of the EEC’s total budget in FY2025 was either direct federal funding or tied indirectly to federal funding. 

   Here are some caseload trend highlights:

   • The number of children receiving CCFA has steadily increased post-pandemic. The program is serving more children and families than ever;

   • Program participation in CCFA has grown by over 1,000 programs since October 2023; 

   • Between July 2024 and September 2025, the number of children on the income eligible waitlist has grown, with the Northeast region, the most populous region in the Commonwealth, having the most children on the waitlist (this information does not include families that will be added to the income eligible waitlist as of January 1st due to the increase of eligibility from families making up to 50% of the state median income to families making up to 85% of the state median income. The waitlist will increase when this policy reform becomes effective).

   EEC staff contextualized the trends, sharing that family-friendly policies like waiving fees for families experiencing homelessness and simplified Department of Children and Families (DCF) referrals have made entering the system easier, allowing more families to access services. Additionally, other regulatory changes have allowed families involved with DCF and the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to keep services for longer so that families are not suddenly left without care after they have stabilized. Furthermore, rate increases and reforms have contributed to growth in caseload costs. The average infant rate has more than doubled, with similar average increases across toddler and preschool rates. Rate increases have also improved provider participation, staff salaries, and quality of care. Since FY2019, EEC has received $248 million to increase reimbursement rates and is serving more children. However, the policy changes it has made over time to better support children, families, and providers through increased reimbursements is making it more expensive to serve those children.

   Currently, CCFA is open for families referred by DTA or DCF and siblings of currently enrolled income eligible families. Access remains limited for new income eligible families. EEC’s priority is to maintain what they have, implement new contracted seats from the recent re-procurement, carry forward rate increases to sustain provider stability, and refine its approach toward its current caseload so the system is ready when EEC is provided additional dollars.

   Next steps include the following:

   • Designing and implementing a system that is easier to navigate for families;

   • Launching the Family Advisory Council;

   • Supporting the Coordinated Family Community Engagement Network;

   • Designing the Family Portal to improve how programs are onboarded; and

   • Research and data infrastructure to monitor caseload trends and inform continuous improvement across programs and policy.

4. EEC discussed its Residential Programs, goals for revising its regulations, its process for receiving feedback, and the changes to the regulations. Residential programs provide group care and housing for children and youth in a facility setting outside of their family home. Many of the children residing at these programs have complex behavioral health and/or social-emotional needs or are otherwise in need of additional complex support.

The next EEC board meeting will be on December 10, 2025 in Lynn.