Amendment #686 to H5150

Early Education and Care Public-Private Trust Fund

Ms. Peisch of Wellesley moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

“SECTION XXXX. Chapter 29 of the General Laws, as amended by chapter 124 of the acts of 2020, is hereby amended by striking out Section 2IIIII and inserting in place thereof the following section:

Section 2IIIII.  (a) There shall be an Early Education and Care Public-Private Trust Fund. The fund shall be administered by the commissioner of early education and care.

(b)  There shall be credited to the fund: (i) revenue from appropriations or other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) interest earned on such revenues; and (iii) funds from public and private sources, including, but not limited to, gifts, grants and donations, to support state, philanthropic and private partnership efforts supporting Massachusetts childcare providers. Amounts credited to the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

(c)  Amounts credited to the fund may be expended, without further appropriation, by the commissioner for the following purposes:

(i)  to assist the needs of providers in the early education and care mixed delivery system;

(ii)  for the development of an infrastructure to facilitate state, private and philanthropic efforts in support of the early education and care field; and

(iii)  for state collaboration with philanthropic organizations and businesses to establish and maintain an infrastructure for providing ongoing technical assistance and programming for the early education and care field to, among other things, enhance business stability and sustainability, foster local cross-sector early childhood education collaboration, and enhance program quality, including supports for early childhood educators.

(d)  Amounts received from private sources shall be approved by the commissioner of early education and care and subject to review before being deposited in the fund to ensure that pledged funds are not accompanied by conditions, explicit or implicit, on the implementation of early education and care policy and planning. The review shall be made publicly available.

(e) The commissioner of early education and care may designate a nonprofit intermediary to serve as the administrator of the fund for purposes of implementing approved activities consistent with the this Section.

(f) The commissioner of early education and care and the secretary of housing and economic development shall submit a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on education no later than January 15, 2021 regarding potential early education and care financing models that support program stability and sustainability, including, but not limited to, how such models may be supported by the Commonwealth’s COVID recovery plan.

(g)  Annually, not later than February 1, 2021, and November 1 in subsequent years, the commissioner of early education and care shall report on the fund’s activity to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on education and the house and senate clerks. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to: (i) the source and amount of funds received; (ii) the amounts distributed and the purpose of expenditures from the fund, including, but not limited to, funds expended to assist early education and care providers; (iii) any grants provided to early education and care programs, philanthropic organizations or other stakeholder organizations; and (iv) anticipated revenue and expenditure projections for the next year.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #686 to H5150

Early Education and Care Public-Private Trust Fund