The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed their $63.4 billion budget proposal last week, wrapping up another step in the Fiscal Year 2027 state budget process. $1.86 billion of that funding is allocated for early education and care programs, a 9% increase over FY26.
Edward Street commends the House for making important investments in young children, families, and educators. Yet, more is needed to ensure all children can thrive and succeed. Read on to learn about how the House funded early education and care programs, and how you can advocate with the Senate to get a strong budget for children over the finish line.
Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3): Level-Funded
The Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) program was level-funded at $475 million for the third year in a row. This program is a meaningful and transformative state investment in early education and care, but it is far from “fully-funded,” as Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Aaron Michlewitz, suggests. Since the C3 Grant was established, 600 new early education and care providers have opened across the state. Right now, they cannot participate in the program unless current grant awards are reduced. Additionally, costs for childcare programs have risen over the last three years, meaning $475 million doesn’t stretch quite as far to support staff compensation, making improvements to classrooms, or purchasing materials.
Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA): Increased Funding Opens Waitlist for 2,000 Income-Eligible children
The Child Care Financial Assistance program is Massachusetts’ childcare subsidy program, helping families afford childcare and out of school time programs. In the House’s FY27 budget proposal, $1.22 billion was allocated for CCFA, which will allow EEC to continue to serve the current caseload and the anticipated increase in DTA/DCF caseload.
Through the House’s FY26 Fair Share Supplemental Budget, released in March, they also allocated $31.2 million to serve children on the waitlist for the Income Eligible program. This would allow for approximately 2,000 children to receive subsidized childcare through vouchers or contract slots. This is an important step to help increase access to childcare, but with over 30,000 children on the waitlist, only begins to scratch the surface of need.
Taking both the House’s FY2027 Operating Budget and FY2026 Fair Share Supplemental Budget together, the House allocated a total of $1.26 billion to CCFA programs.
Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI): Significantly Decreased Funding
The Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) helps school districts and early education and care programs develop partnerships to increase access to high-quality early learning in Gateway Cities. In the House budget, CPPI is funded at just $5 million, $10.5 million less than FY26 and $32 million below the Governor’s proposal. This cut, if reflected in the final budget, poses a major threat to this program. Cities in the Implementation phase, including Worcester, may be forced to scale back CPPI programming, and cities who are in planning phases may be forced to push back implementation, harming children and families across the state.
Other Programs: Mostly Level-Funded, Some Increases
A few other programs saw recommended funding changes. The House did not allocate any funding to the Literacy Launch program; a significant reduction compared to $15 million in FY26 and $25 million in the Governor’s budget. This program supports reading success for children Age 3 to Grade 3. The Department of Early Education and Care’s Administrative line-item, which supports the agency’s work and staffing, increased to a little over $20 million. However, this includes a $7.5 million earmark for the EEC Educator Scholarship Program, making the House’s allocation for the EEC agency about equal to the Governor’s proposal.
Many other EEC programs were recommended to receive level-funding. While economic uncertainty may have made cuts more likely, level-funding essentially acts as a funding cut because of inflation and rising costs.
Final Score Card
The House made some important investments in early education and care – namely, to the reduction of the CCFA Income Eligible waitlist – that will help families across the Commonwealth access childcare. It is critical that the Senate also make this investment in CCFA, and your advocacy can help make this happen.
Funding for many other critical programs stands still, even when those programs continue to be asked to do more without more resources. These programs each play a key role in supporting early childhood success, and your advocacy can help ensure they receive the funding they need.
How can I continue to be an advocate?
As we get closer to the end of budget season, your voice can still have a major impact. The Senate will work on the budget next, so direct your advocacy efforts towards them. Their Ways and Means Committee budget was released on May 5, and their debate and final budget proposal release will be completed by May 25; the time to act is now!
Once the Senate finalizes their budget proposal, both the House and Senate’s proposals will go to Conference Committee. This committee is made up of three Representatives and three Senators who will come to a compromise between the House and the Senate’s version of the budget. If something is not included in either the House or the Senate’s proposal, it cannot be included in the final budget.
That’s why advocating with the Senate to support amendments for early education and care, and later encouraging the Conference Committee to include the most robust funding levels for early education and care, is critical to ensure that programs you care about can make it into that final state budget.
To get involved in budget advocacy, you can:
Call or email your legislators. Click here to find their contact information, introduce yourself and share why investments in early childhood are important to you. Every call and email is logged and read. Your voice helps legislators decide what is most important and where to invest limited budget dollars.
Join the conversation about the budget. Sign up for the Budget Breakdown Series, hosted by Strategies for Children and Neighborhood Villages, for a detailed review of each budget proposal and next steps in the process. Translation will be provided from English to Spanish and Portuguese.
At Edward Street, we’re focusing our advocacy efforts on programs that address access and quality in early education and care. We’re following the FY27 budget process closely, so check back on our blog and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to stay informed.
Sierra Rainville is the Early Childhood Policy Pathways Fellow at Edward Street. Throughout the year, she’ll be sharing guest blog posts throughout the year on topics connected to policy and advocacy. If you have ideas or questions she could address in these pieces, send her a message at srainville@edwardstreet.org.