Massachusetts task force releases Year 1 report with 31 recommendations to boost child care access, affordability and workforce

An interagency task force convened under Governor Maura Healey released its Year 1 report on early education and child care at an event at the LSA Early Learning Center, laying out 31 recommendations to improve access, affordability, equity and quality across the commonwealth.

The report, the outcome of more than a year of work and a series of statewide listening sessions, recommends stepped-up cross-secretariat coordination, new workforce pathways, targeted capital supports for providers and a project-management structure inside the Office of Administration and Finance to carry the agenda forward. "The report and recommendations that are released today ... are a culmination of more than a year of work," said Pat Tuckweather, a co-chair of the interagency task force.

Why it matters: State officials framed the report as a whole-of-government response to what they described as structural problems in the child care market — a mismatch between high social and economic value and a market that leaves families facing high costs and providers underpaid. "That is a classic market failure situation, which means this is a hard problem," said Yvonne Howe, secretary of economic development, who…