Guest opinion: Editing the McKinsey report on child care
The Baker Administration recently paid consulting firm McKinsey & Co. over $1.5 million dollars to report on the “future of work” in our communities. It turned out to be a very expensive way to confirm what anyone living, working, learning, running a business or raising a family in this state could tell you. Thanks to years of inertia by political leadership in Massachusetts, our housing is unaffordable, our transportation is inadequate, and our childcare system is impossible.
McKinsey notably left that last piece on childcare unexplored. The report rightfully singled out the dramatic impact that access to childcare has on economic security and opportunity for families, particularly for working or would-be working mothers. It also highlighted the barrier it will pose to COVID recovery if we do not figure out how to make childcare in this state less of a nightmare to afford, access and provide.
But that’s where this report’s insight on the topic stopped. Because here is their central recommendation and thesis: “Changing childcare needs...will require childcare programs to rethink their business models in order to adapt to the changing needs of working parents.”
As a dad to two toddlers, a former state legislator, and a current candidate for governor of Massachusetts, I would suggest McKinsey consider editing that statement: Historically unmet childcare needs will require Massachusetts to create a system of universal early education and childcare for every infant through pre-kindergartener in our state. Anything less will fall short of what our kids, parents, childcare providers, educators, businesses, and our entire economy needs to thrive.
Right now, Massachusetts has the highest childcare costs in the country, making it unaffordable for a staggering 95 percent of Massachusetts families. And if the average $21,000 annual cost wasn’t enough, half of Massachusetts residents before COVID-19 lived in communities where there were three kids for every one childcare seat. With the pandemic forcing the shuttering of countless providers over the last year, those numbers have undoubtedly worsened. These childcare deserts disproportionately impact Black, Latinx, immigrant, and working-class families, putting an even greater strain on systemically overburdened and under-resourced communities.
Families on the South Coast live this reality every day. The region has some of the scarcest childcare resources of any community in the state and costs that far outpace subsidy rates offered. This story rings true across Massachusetts, in cities that continue to suffer from an inequitable distribution of state resources on every front.
Worse still, these childcare injustices persist not just on the demand side, for parents and families, but on the supply side as well, for providers and the early education workforce. Childcare workers’ families are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as other workers’ families. Ninety eight percent of the state’s childcare workforce is female, and it is significantly more diverse than our general population. This sector runs on the sweat, skill, and heart of women, disproportionately women of color, making it a foundational part of any effort to remedy the gender pay and racial wealth gaps.
We know what the solution is. The Common Start Coalition is a group of leading childcare experts and advocates across the state. The coalition has introduced comprehensive legislation that will establish a universal, affordable, high-quality system over a 5-year timeline—prioritizing the lowest-income, highest-need families. This proposal will ensure no family in the state pays more than 7 percent of their household income on childcare, saving a typical Massachusetts family with an infant $14,000 on childcare costs and freeing up 20% of their annual income to spend on other essentials.
Critically, the proposal will establish free access for poor and working-class families and reform funding models to better cover provider costs. It will account for the specialized needs of parents, caregivers, and children with high needs and ensure equal access to our language-diverse families.
Finally, it will overhaul the existing compensation structure so childcare workers are paid just and fair wages, commensurate with K-12 teaching salaries. It includes funding for loan forgiveness, scholarships, and expanded professional development for those currently in or seeking to enter the field.
As we recover from COVID and work to rebuild a fairer, stronger Massachusetts, childcare reform must be a priority - for the economic security of our families and economic future of our state. For every $1 invested in childcare, it is estimated to save Massachusetts taxpayers $13 in long-term costs. An investment of $16,000-$18,000 per child annually in the early years returns a total public benefit of $700,000-$800,000 over the life of the child.
Those are numbers a Downing Administration will get behind.
Ben Downing is a current candidate for Governor of Massachusetts. He is a former state senator from Pittsfield and clean energy executive at Nexamp, a leading renewable energy company. He now lives in East Boston with his wife and two young sons.
