Budget stall may lead to delayed payment for Mass. child care providers
Photo | Courtesy of Chris Lisinski/State House News Service
Gov. Maura Healey (right) addresses lawmakers at a hearing about her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.
Reimbursements to child care providers who serve low-income families may be delayed in June, as funding remains tied up in a supplemental budget stalled in the Legislature, a top state official said Wednesday.
The $756 million supplemental budget, which Gov. Maura Healey filed in early April, includes $189.6 million to help families pay for child care and out-of-school time programs.
"We are serving more children than we ever have in our Child Care Financial Assistance Program, as you all are aware," Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw said during a board meeting. "And we have been tracking very closely and working closely with the Legislature and Administration and Finance, and making sure that we can close out this fiscal year in the black."
Kershaw said her department has begun warning providers to plan for the possibility that the reimbursements they regularly receive from the state may be delayed.
The House and Senate this session have been busy with a series of supplemental budgets, and the fiscal 2026 budget bills, but have not addressed many of the spending requests the governor made last month.
The House on Monday passed a $240 million bill to rescue the budget of the Group Insurance Commission, which administers health insurance for state employees and retirees and has said it would run out of money to pay claims on Tuesday. The Senate plans to take that bill up on Thursday.
Kershaw is "hopeful" the the supplemental budget will pass before the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30.
"We are able to make all of our payments for this fiscal year through the end of May, but we anticipate, without action on that supplemental budget, that payments for June to our providers of child care financial assistance would be delayed until the new fiscal year or until the supplemental budget passes," she said.
Healey on Wednesday enacted an executive branch hiring freeze, citing uncertain budgetary conditions.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments