Boston, Mass. — In response to the report published yesterday by the Massachusetts Legislature’s Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission, Mark Reilly, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at Jumpstart for Young Children, released the following statement:
“We thank Chair Peisch and Chair Lewis for their leadership and advocacy for the early education and care community. The EEC Economic Review Commission’s report accurately details how broken the current early education and care system is in the Commonwealth and proposes concrete recommendations aligned with Jumpstart’s priorities that — if implemented – would represent a historic investment in strengthening the ECE system.
“We share the Commission’s goal of establishing ‘long-term stability of the sector and developing a sustainable system that provides high-quality, accessible, and affordable care to families, prioritizing the most vulnerable populations.’ We also fully agree with the Commission’s finding that ‘insufficient compensation for the early education and care workforce is a systemic and serious barrier to attracting quality candidates to the field.’ Jumpstart looks forward to continuing our programming and supporting a more robust and sustainable workforce pipeline.
“We support the Commission’s recommendations and urge Massachusetts legislators to codify these recommendations, which are consistent with the Common Start bill we have endorsed. We look forward to working with the Legislature to ensure Massachusetts creates the sustainable, equitable, and high-quality early education system that our young children and their educators deserve.”
ABOUT JUMPSTART FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Jumpstart for Young Children is a national organization based in Boston advancing equitable early learning outcomes for young children in underserved communities through direct service programming and policy advocacy. Jumpstart’s proven evidence-based curriculum serves thousands of children across 15 states and Washington, D.C., and has trained over 60,000 college students and community volunteers to deliver high-quality early childhood education programming. Learn more at jstart.org and follow us on Twitter at @Jumpstartkids.
No comments yet.