Mass. early education officials warn FY26 budget could force cuts to preschool supports and slow voucher access

At a May meeting of the Department of Early Education and Care board, agency budget staff outlined points of agreement and sharp differences among the governor's, House and Senate FY26 spending plans and warned the House's reductions could force program cuts and payment delays.

The agency's chief financial officer, Eric Hanson, said the governor's budget (House 1) recommended full funding of the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) program at $475,000,000 but the House's final budget reduced several EEC priorities, including the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) and the caseload account. "The governor filed her budget. The senate has completed their version. The house has completed their version," Hanson said as he reviewed the three versions.

Why it matters: the House's funding decisions would make it harder for EEC to sustain current CPPI grants at FY25 levels, limit the agency's ability to issue new planning grants and leave the childcare financial assistance caseload underfunded. Commissioner Kershaw told the board, "we are serving more children than we ever have in our childcare financial assistance program," and that, absent supplemental action by the legislature, "payments for June to our providers of childcare financial assistance would be delayed." The agency has begun alerting providers so they can plan.

Key facts and numbers - Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3): House final and the governor align at the program level; C3 was described as a central operational support for providers. Hanson said the House final "strongly supports the governor's recommendation on Commonwealth Cares for Children or the C3 program at $475,000,000." - CPPI: the governor proposed $17,700,000 for CPPI; the House funded CPPI at $10,000,000. EEC staff said funding at the House level "would make it a bit difficult to sustain current grants at the FY25 level and eliminates the possibility of issuing new planning grants to communities." - Caseload: the House final reduces caseload funding by about $30,000,000 from the governor's request; the Senate Ways and Means draft matches the governor on caseload funding, according to budget staff. A separate House line item of $15,000,000 for wait-list remediation was described as restricted to contracted seats and therefore not a like-for-like substitute. - Administration and operations: the House cut roughly $2,000,000 from EEC's administrative line item, an amount the agency said could require a reduction in force and would constrain work on new initiatives such as scholarship administration, a professional research agenda and a family childcare support team. - Supplemental (fair share) proposals: the governor proposed using fair-share surplus to provide roughly $150,000,000 for EEC, including $50,000,000 over three years for CPPI and $100,000,000 in flexible funds for workforce and capacity work; the House and Senate offered different mixes of supplemental spending in their proposals.

Agency watchers' assessment EEC officials described a large set of watch areas. Crystal Lanton, the agency's budget director, said the Senate Ways and Means proposal "more closely matches the House 1 proposal" in some line items but reduced the quality account where licensing staff are paid. She added that the Senate maintained support for CPPI in its draft at $27,000,000, and matched the governor on caseload in that draft, but that many items will ultimately be resolved in a conference committee.

Board members asked about use of the state's stabilization (rainy day) fund; staff said decisions about drawing from stabilization are part of broader executive-legislative revenue discussions and not decisions for the agency alone. Officials also cautioned that state tax receipts have shown recent softness and the administration has announced a hiring freeze, factors that could affect final allocations.

What happens next EEC staff said they will continue to track the Senate's actions, and that unresolved differences between the House and Senate are likely to be resolved in conference. The agency requested that the legislature act on a supplemental package in time so June payments to providers would not be delayed. The board will receive updates as negotiations proceed.