WORCESTER, Mass. - Massachusetts state Senate President Karen Spilka spent Wednesday afternoon in Worcester to hear first-hand the impact the fiscal year 2025 budget is having on early childhood education.

The Senate president was accompanied by state Sen. Robyn Kennedy for a roundtable discussion at the YWCA. They spoke with local educators and parents about the struggle they're seeing when it comes to caring for local children.

In the most recent state budget, C3 grants, also known as Commonwealth Cares for Children grants, were made permanent. The funds are non-competitive and available for eligible licensed child care providers serving families in Massachusetts. The money can be used for personnel costs, professional development, improvements to programming, as well as rent, utilities, and other costs a provider may have. This year’s state budget allots $47 million for C3 grants, which ultimately look to lower the cost of child care for families. 

"Every corner of the state, we will be able to continue to stabilize more programs, have them open up more slots for kids to increase access, help the families afford," Spilka said. "It doesn't help if there's access, but the families can't afford to send their child to early education and care. So it'll help the providers, it'll help the families, as I said, help them go, people go back to work. Particularly a lot of the women dropped out of the workforce after, during and after COVID, and we need for them to come back."

The new round of C3 grants are part of the more than $1.5 billion the state is investing in child care in the FY25 budget. It also sets aside $65 million for early education and care provider rate increases, to boost salaries for educators.

On top of the issue of affordability, Sen. Kennedy says retention is an issue centers across the state are experiencing.

"This budget was also and this year is also about investing in both ends of the spectrum," Kennedy said. "Our littlest learners, as well as helping to bring people back into the workforce or to increase their their employment and their income by getting back into higher ed. And so I think we're trying to hit it on all angles. And so hopefully folks will be taking advantage of that as well."

More than $200 million of the funding was from the "Fair Share" surtax, also known as the "Millionaire's Tax." Spilka says this year's budget isn't a fix-all, but hopefully a foundation to build upon for years to come.