Massachusetts

Overview

Massachusetts preschool programs enrolled 33,064 children in 2022-2023, an increase of 4,509 children from the prior year. State spending totaled $64,121,030, up $2,347,793 (4%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child equaled $1,939 in 2022-2023, down $224 from 2021-2022, adjusted for inflation. Massachusetts met an average of 6 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

In December 2022, Massachusetts was awarded a 3-year, $36 million ($12 million per year) federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B–5). In addition to the federal funding, the Commonwealth will provide $3 million each year in matching funds. The additional funding will support new and ongoing work to improve families’ ability to access high-quality programs and services, establish clear career growth pathways for the workforce serving young children, and support high-quality programming. One key focus of the grant will be increasing supports for early education and care programs to deliver to high-quality programming and implement evidence-based curricula appropriate for young children.

The Healey-Driscoll administration and state legislature made a commitment to continue providing stabilization grants to providers using state funds when federal ARPA funds sunset, allocating $475 million for the state’s Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Operational Grants for early education and care providers in FY24. Additional funds were also included in the budget to support increased access to mental health supports with a focus on trauma informed care for both children and families.

Background

In 2005, Massachusetts established the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and since then has supported access to high-quality preschool through multiple grant programs. These include a Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) grant to support quality, affordability, and accessibility available to licensed programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds until 2019. The Inclusive Preschool Learning Environments (IPLE) Grant was also available to programs until 2019 and was designed to support access for preschool-age children with and without disabilities to high quality, inclusive early education and care settings. These programs are no longer included in the report.

In 2019, EEC launched its Commonwealth Preschool Partnerships Initiative (CPPI), which supports high quality preschool access for children from age 2 years and 9 months until they reach the locally determined kindergarten eligibility age. State funding is awarded directly to public school districts that serve as the fiscal and programmatic managers of the grant. Funded school districts are required to subcontract with community-based early education and care programs from their communities to implement the grant requirements, providing preschool access across public and private classrooms.

Massachusetts also supports preschool enrollment through the Chapter 70 funding stream, which is the state’s funding formula for K–12 public schools. For the 2022-2023 school year, $105.6 million in combined state and local funding supported preschool-age children. All children in the state are eligible for the program and are served in public school settings, but local districts can set their own eligibility priorities. Lead teachers are required to have at least a bachelor’s degree and a Preschool through Grade 2 license.

Massachusetts’ overall support for state-funded preschool, including enrollment and funding for both CPPI and Chapter 70, is depicted in the first two sections of this state profile. The third section focuses solely on CPPI, and the fourth section provides information on Chapter 70.