Estimating the Impacts of Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education in Massachusetts: Initial Findings on Utilization, Employment, and Financial Assistance. Research Brief #1

The UMass Boston Early Education CUSP is led by a multidisciplinary team that designed the simulator and uses it to produce current, relevant, accurate, and responsive estimates about the key impacts of proposed legislation to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education. One of the simulator’s valuable features is that it can produce estimates for a range of policy parameters and provisions. The team will release additional briefs in the coming months to offer a more detailed look at the impacts outlined in this initial publication. Other planned briefs will examine key topics, such as impacts related to additional family characteristics, cliff effects, and child care and early education provider supply. Therefore, this initial brief is one in a series of publications aimed to provide essential information to guide policymaking on child care and early education affordability, quality, and access in Massachusetts.