The vast majority of infants and a plurality of toddlers in Massachusetts live in child care deserts, new state data show. Despite the recent increases in early education system capacity, sizeable gaps remain between available seats and the overall number of children, and program capacity falls short for tens of thousands of young children in each early education age group across the state. 

Around 59,000 (70 percent) of infants, around 43,000 (43 percent) of toddlers, and around 10,000 (5 percent) of preschoolers in Massachusetts live in an access desert. The state defines this as areas where for every three children there is only one child care slot, though there are regions particularly in central Massachusetts where the ratio is greater than ten children to one slot. 

Enrollment differences between regions, student age groups, and income levels paint a picture of a system struggling to meet potential demand and that is most available to those at the highest income brackets. 

“We know the need is considerable, so we know that growth is good, but it doesn’t tell us whether or not that growth is particularly responsive to where child and family need is perhaps strongest and greatest,” Tom Weber, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, said at a recent meeting focused on improving early education data practices. “Or is it in fact responsive to other environmental factors, like the rules and policies that we put in place or where we have decided presently to concentrate our public funding?” 

The data was presented at the second meeting of the Data Advisory Commission on Early Education and Care, an entity created in the state budget signed in July 2024 to better understand the gaps in the child care landscape. Comprised of state, education, and business leaders, the commission’s goal is to improve the quality of data collection on child care needs, figure out how best to use it, and make sure the public has access to it. 

The good, the bad, and the uncertain in Trump’s tax bill

CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas talks with reporter Jennifer Smith about a series of stories parsing the sprawling Trump tax and spending bill. They discuss why it’s so hard to know if Opportunity Zones have been effective, and why affordable housing advocates are mixed on the administration’s approach to low-income renters.

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