Child Trends Presents Options to Simplify EEC Fee Table; Advisory Panel Flags Equity and Communication Concerns

Child Trends and Lynch Research Associates presented early findings and alternatives for simplifying the Massachusetts Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) family fee table, seeking advisory input on tradeoffs between flat-fee and income-based approaches.

Patty Banghart of Child Trends said the project’s goals include developing a simplified fee table that would cap family co-payments at 7% of income, ensuring the approach is equitable and estimating costs to the agency and families. Banghart said the team conducted a landscape scan of 28 states, interviews with New Jersey and Virginia, administrative CCFA data analysis and focus groups with voucher counselors and caregivers.

Research findings: The team noted Massachusetts currently uses 28 income levels to derive parent fees (a structure that includes sibling discounts and a daily fee calculation). Child Trends reported most CCFA families fall below level 12 of the 28-tier system and that only a very small share (transcript: "about 0.5%") currently spend more than 7% of income on family fees. The researchers emphasized the current calculation is complicated; it subtracts income up to the federal poverty line before applying the fee percentage, which simplifies fees for low-income families but adds arithmetic complexity for counselors and families.

Options discussed: New Jersey’s approach (three income bands with fees waived at or below 100% of the federal poverty level) and Virginia’s flat-fee buckets (nine levels with caps to limit combined payments for multiple children) were shown as models. Advisory members appreciated the clarity of flat-fee tables but warned of cliff effects — where small income changes could push families into a higher flat-fee bucket. Researchers said hybrid approaches (more flat buckets or graduated flat fees) might reduce cliff impacts while improving clarity.

Equity and communication concerns: Advisory members raised whether federal poverty level (FPL) is the right public-facing metric in a high-cost state and whether the agency should use state median income or otherwise adjust waiver thresholds. The research and EEC teams stressed that consumer-facing materials — example scenarios, pay-stub guides, plain-language definitions and website hover-over explanations — will be critical to help families understand changes.

EEC emphasized no decisions have been made. Tyrese Nicholas, deputy commissioner for family access, asked advisory members for values to guide the design, including a shared priority that no family should pay more as a result of redesign. Child Trends said their family-fee simulator will be used to minimize increases to families while achieving simplification.

What’s next: Child Trends and EEC will refine options, model costs and cost-to-family impacts, develop consumer-facing materials, and return to the advisory committee with further analysis and recommendations.