Investing in quality education for our children and expanding early childhood access
Growing up in the City, I believe that every child should have access to the best education. Families should be able to access early childhood care and our children should be able to receive a high-quality education through our public schools. This is why I have worked on the following:
Early Education
- Supporting the investment of $475 million for the Commonwealth Care for Children (C3) Grant Program over the last three years to help families combat rising costs in early education and child care.
After the pandemic, the state lost around 37,000 licensed seats for child care due to closures or the downsizing of early childhood centers. The C3 grant program increases funding for these centers by decreasing the tuition cost for families while also ensuring that faculty and staff wages are keeping up with rising costs.
- Supporting Fair Share Investments to go towards supporting the education workforce, including $20 million for rate increases that boost early education providers, as well as $2.47 million for scholarships and loan forgiveness to encourage students to pursue a career in teaching in our public schools.
- Over the last decade, we have seen firsthand the negative impact of cell phones and social media on our children. I supported a bill to make K-12 schools cell phones free, so that we can support our students’ wellbeing by prioritizing learning and interaction with one another during school.
Community College & Higher Education
- I also passed legislation to fully fund the MassEducate Program with a $120 million allocation so that students can receive a tuition-free Community College Education.
Higher education costs have become a significant burden on our young people. At the State House, I supported the establishment of a Student Support Fund to maintain financial aid benefits for students attending public colleges and universities, and in addition, $18.3 million in funding to strengthen student financial aid assistance and maintain existing stipends for students.