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Massachusetts

Massachusetts, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2025 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children. This is important because research shows that rapid brain development occurs during the early childhood years.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 41 percent (153,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 29 percent (184,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations:³Declining

Massachusetts’ governor signed the state’s fiscal 2026 budget into law in July of 2025. The fiscal 2026 budget provides for general appropriations of $60.9 billion, after line item vetoes of $130 million. This represents a 0.8 percent decrease compared to fiscal 2025 projected spending but a 5.5 percent increase over originally enacted appropriations for fiscal 2025. The state’s January 2025 baseline consensus revenue forecast projected state tax revenues at $41.2 billion, excluding surtax revenue, reflecting 2.2 percent annual growth. The forecasting group also estimated $2.4 billion in “fair share” revenue from the surtax for education and transportation initiatives. As of July 30, 2025, the Commonwealth Stabilization (or “rainy day”) Fund had a balance of $8.64 billion.

Largest Per Capita Revenue Sources (After Federal Transfers):⁴

- Individual Income Taxes: $3,490 per capita
- Property Taxes: $2,994 per capita

State Budget Rules:⁴

Massachusetts uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass and the governor must sign a balanced budget, but a deficit can be carried over into the following year. Massachusetts further limits revenue growth, but the limit may be overridden by a simple legislative majority. There are also limits on total authorized debt and debt service incurred by the state.

Permanent State Funding Stream Dedicated to Early Childhood:⁵ Yes

Massachusetts established the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Grants to support early education and care providers cover the costs of operating programs and supporting workforce costs.

Political Alignment:⁶ Aligned Democrat

During the legislative session, the state’s Senate and House were both Democrat controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Democrat.

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁷Five

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – An amendment to a state’s constitution that comes about through the initiative process.
- Legislature-Initiated State Statutes – Appear on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated State Statutes – Earn a spot on the ballot when sponsors collect signatures according to the laws governing the initiative process in Massachusetts.
- Veto Referenda – When citizens of Massachusetts disagree with a statute or legislative bill enacted by the state legislature, they can collect signatures to force the issue to a vote. If enough signatures are collected, the bill is placed on the statewide ballot.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁸

2025 Policy Progress:

Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:⁸⁹

Advocates and policymakers worked together to sustain Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) operations grants with two allocations ($115 million and $360 million) in the FY26 state budget. Nearly 8,000 licensed programs (center-based and family child care) are receiving a C3 grant. The successful C3 program has helped stabilize programs and grow total licensed capacity statewide.

There is an overall budget increase in FY26 for early education and care, a $160 million increase (11 percent) relative to FY25. Most of this increase was for child care access, and was required to keep pace with the state’s growing caseload of children with active cases at Department of Children and Families and Department of Transitional Assistance (entitlement cases). Funding has allowed a record high number of children enrolled in child care through the state’s Child Care Financial Assistance system. Massachusetts is approaching 70,000 children enrolled, infants through school-age.

Policymakers raised the child care subsidy income eligibility threshold to 85 percent of state median income (SMI). This policy was passed in the FY25 state budget, subject to EEC’s promulgation of new regulations. Those regulations take effect Jan 1, 2026. This will be the first time that Massachusetts has raised the income eligibility threshold for all children past 50 percent of SMI.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

The Alliance’s lead ally in Massachusetts, Strategies for Children, works to ensure that young children, families, and early childhood professionals in Massachusetts have the support they need to thrive. For 25 years, Strategies for Children (SFC) has been the lead advocate in the Commonwealth supporting young children, families and educators. They advance systemic change in early childhood through a collaborative approach to policy development, cross-sectoral advocacy, and implementation strategies. SFC connects people to people, people to policy and people to power. One of SFC’s key initiatives is The Early Childhood Agenda, 10 priorities for building a stronger early childhood system, informed by parents and providers throughout the state.

Strategies for Children is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Pre-School and Pre-K

Child and
Maternal Health

Family
Supports

Family Economic Security

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Data Systems

Early Childhood Finance and Cost Modeling

Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Alliance for Early Success Early Childhood State Policy Advocacy

Numerous States Are Pursuing Strategies for Creating Streamlined, Cohesive ECE Systems

April 23, 2025

In recent years, a growing number of states have moved towards unified ECE governance to help administer the variety of programs states are responsible for, including child care subsidies, child care licensing, state-funded pre-K, IDEA Part B and Part C, child care quality improvement systems, and Head Start state collaboration offices. While these states pursue consolidation to add efficiency, others pursue are trying alternate strategies to reach the same goals.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2026.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, April 2025.

⁵Alliance for Early Success, State Examples of Dedicated Funding Streams, 2025

⁶National Conference of State Legislatures, 2025 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, January 31, 2025.

⁷Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, 2025.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁹Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2025.