Here are the key steps in a policy brief about strengthening early education and care that has just been released by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Jeffrey Liebman:
- Raise the wages of early educators by $6 per hour, and cover this increase by increasing state funding for the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) program
- Subsidize start-up costs associated with expanding program capacity
- Double the number of Child Care Financial Assistance subsidies, and
- Invest in early educators’ professional development
Liebman’s plan draws on a survey of thousands of mothers of children younger than age five. Among the survey’s key findings: 89 percent of mothers said they would use more formal child care if it were more affordable. This work builds on research that Liebman released in 2024.
Liebman shared an update on this work on The 9:30 Call (at the 17:30 time mark).
“I first just want to say thank you to… [the] many people on this call who helped me learn what I needed to learn to be able to do this research and put together this policy proposal,” Liebman said.
“There are basically three targets I’m trying to get Beacon Hill to start focusing on. One is that we need to get from the 53% of kids who are currently in care [to] as far as we can toward the 89% which is what parents want if they could afford it.”
The other two targets, which are mentioned above, are the $6/hour raise and doubling the number of child care subsidies.
Liebman will be back on The 9:30 Call in the fall to share more.
One question The Boston Globe asked Liebman is how raising early educators’ salaries would make child care more affordable
Here’s his answer:
“ ‘Given how expensive child care is, it seems counterintuitive to be calling for an increase in wages that will raise the overall cost of the system… But quality matters, and higher wages are necessary to recruit the additional early educators we need to expand capacity.’ “
“Here’s the idea,” the Globe adds. “Paying child care educators more will entice people to enter and stay in the field. That, in turn, will increase the number of high-quality educators, and ultimately expand the number of child care seats available. The result, Liebman suggested, would be increased enrollment for families across the state and more affordable, high-quality child care.”
To learn more, check out the Globe story and the landing page for Liebman’s research.