have fit the needs of children and families in 1935, but it obviously no longer meets the needs of children and families in 1988. Any effort to help families become and remain economically independent and self-sufficient will only work if these efforts include affordable, high-quality child care. In January 1985, when Governor Michael Dukakis announced the Day Care Partnership in Massachusetts, he said that “quality child care is a lifeline to the economic independence and stability of families and vital to a sound future for our children". With the Governor's leadership, the Partnership has brought together all of the parties who have an important stake in the availability of day care. It is a comprehensive approach, developed by a 50-person task force comprised of State and local government officials, business and labor leaders, school superintendents, college administrators and faculty, day care providers, and most important, parents. Each of these sectors now plays an important role in the Partnership's success. We now have in Massachusetts, I believe, the Nation's most comprehensive day care system. Day care has been an essential component of Massachusetts' Employment and Training Choices Program, ET, which has been a model many other States have used in designing employment and training programs for AFDC recipients. ET was developed, as you know, in 1983, with the help of former welfare recipients and advocates for the poor. It is based on the premise that most welfare recipients can and want to work. The overwhelming majority of welfare recipients are single mothers and their children. Therefore, unless we expect them to abandon their children, an employment and training program that does not include child care services is doomed to failure. Without day care, ET simply would not work. Over 55 percent of current Massachusetts ET participants have children under the age of six. This is an increase from 18 percent when the program first began in 1983. These parents voluntarily participate in the ET Program. Most need day care, and each one is eligible for a day care voucher through ET. ET is the story of people like Myra Hogan, the woman to my left from whom you are going to hear today. Myra's story is shared by 50,000 other ET participants who are now employed in unsubsidized jobs in Massachusetts. The average starting salary for fulltime ET placements is $13,500, more than twice our maximum welfare grant of $6,900 for a family of three. Over 80 percent of ET graduates in full-time employment have employer-provided health insurance as well. Since ET began in 1983, it has saved taxpayers almost $260 million in reduced welfare benefits and increased revenues from Federal and State taxes. In addition, the number of families on welfare has declined 6 percent despite the fact that welfare benefits in Massachusetts have increased by 47 percent, more than any other State in the country, during the last four years. Each month, about 9,000 children whose parents are participating in ET will participate in the day care voucher program, at an annual cost of approximately $37 million. The cost of the ET voucher day care program is nearly half of the entire ET budget. We have committed these resources—these are all State fundsbecause we know that over 60 percent of our AFDC cases have at least one child under the age of six. We also know that young single parents are the most at risk of becoming long-term welfare recipients. Vouchers provide quick access to needed care. ET participants do not have to add their child's name to the long waiting lists confronting most parents confronting subsidized day care. Parents must use licensed care, and voucher management agencies help them to find day care. About 40 percent choose family day care; the rest use day care centers. Parents pay on a sliding fee basis, depending on their income. The average annual voucher cost to the State for each child is now about $4,100. We have also made a commitment beyond this to continuity of care. ET graduates are able to keep their day care vouchers as long as they remain income-eligible, until there is an available subsidized contracted day care slot. Continuity of care more than anything else ensures that ET graduates do not return to the welfare rolls. Seventy-five percent of all ET graduates since 1983 are still off the welfare rolls in 1988. We have learned in Massachusetts that the availability of quality, affordable day care is critical to helping parents leave welfare as well as to preventing families from ever entering the welfare system in the first place. In addition to serving ET families and graduates, the goal of the Day Care Partnership is to create more affordable quality child care programs for all Massachusetts working families. Seventeen State agencies, coordinated by a day care policy unit in my office, under Nancy Kaufman, Assistant Secretary, who is here with me today, are involved in making the Partnership work. State Government's role is to help communities identify child care needs and existing gaps in services; provide technical assistance and incentives to develop new programs and expand existing programs; determine quality standards and monitor those standards to ensure that children's developmental needs are met; subsidize the costs of care for low- and moderate-income families; and purchase care for families in crisis. This year, the State will invest-and we look at this as an investment and a wise investment-over $130 million in day care, primarily to subsidize the cost of care for over 30,000 children, including the children who received ET day care vouchers. We know, though, that State government alone will not be able to meet the child care needs of all of our families. The Partnership therefore includes business, labor, local government, schools, colleges, public housing authorities, United Way, foundations, and day care providers. A network of 12 Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, with 21 offices throughout the State, play a critical role in making our Day Care Partnership Work. These private agencies have become each community's hub of day care activity. Over 50,000 parents have received assistance through these CCR&RS in finding child care. Many of our efforts in Massachusetts focus on improving the quality of our child care programs as well as increasing the supply and assuring access to low- and moderate-income families. The Perry Preschool Project and many other research efforts document that young children will thrive in quality programs. At the same time, children in overcrowded programs with untrained caregivers are in danger, physically, emotionally and developmentally. To improve quality, we have strengthened our preschool and family day care regulations, increased the number of licensors dramatically, and developed school-age day care regulations. Because we know that the quality of care is determined by the quality of the caregivers, to address Senator Harkin's earlier point, we have increased the salaries of workers in day care centers with State contracts by over 49 percent and the daily rate of family day care providers by over 80 percent. This year, the average salary in Massachusetts for a direct care worker in a participating center will be about $18,600, which is well above the national average. We have also provided to thousands of day care workers and family day care providers so that we can not only recruit these workers, but retain them in the industry as well. The Day Care Partnership brings together all of these partners at the table, but the key partner that has been consistently absent from the table, tragically, has been the Federal Government. While Massachusetts may be doing more than any other State in the Nation on day care, no State, not matter how committed the leadership is or how vast the resources, will be able to meet even a substantial portion of the need without a strong Federal partner. This hearing today shows us that there is obvious support in Congress for a stronger Federal child care role. I know that the support is coming from both Democrats and Republicans. This is not a partisan issue. There are many lessons from Massachusetts which I offer as guidance as you frame a Federal response. The Act for Better Child Care would be, I believe, and Governor Dukakis believes, a very important step toward a National Day Care Partnership, an initiative which is long overdue. The ABC bill contains many of the components of our Day Care Partnership. We in Massachusetts thank you, Chairman Dodd, and Senator Harkin, Senator Kennedy, the other Members of the Subcommittee, for calling these hearings to examine the important role which we believe the Federal Government must begin to play to help make affordable quality child care available to every working family in our country. Thank you. Senator DODD. Mr. Johnston, thank you very much for being here. [Prepared statement of Mr. Johnston follows:] Statement of Philip W. Johnston, Secretary of the Massachusetts Before the Senate Subcommittee June 28, 1988 I want to thank you, Senator Dodd, and the members of the Subcommittee for inviting me to be a member of this panel today. In particular, Mr. Chairman, you are to be commended for your sponsorship of the Act For Better Child Care. Your efforts, and the efforts of this subcommittee will help focus national attention on the critical need for affordable, quality child care. Welfare reform will transform our current AFDC program into a vehicle for education, training and work. Our AFDC system, which was created in 1935 as a program to enable widowed mothers to stay at home and care for their children, might have fit the needs of children and families in 1935. But it no longer meets the needs of children and families in 1988. Any effort to help families become and remain economically self-sufficient will only work if these efforts include affordable quality child care. A high In January 1985 when Governor Michael S. Dukakis announced the Day Care Partnership, he stated that "quality child care is a lifeline to the economic independence and stability of families and vital to a sound future for our children". With the Governor's leadership, the Partnership has brought together all of the parties who have an important stake in the availability of day care. It is a comprehensive approach, developed by a 50-person task force comprised of state and local government officials, business and labor leaders, school superintendents, college administrators and faculty, day care providers, and parents. Each of these sectors now plays an important role in the Partnership's success. We now have what many people consider to be the nation's most comprehensive day care system. -2 Day care has been an essential component of Massachusetts' Without day care, ET simply would not work. Over 55% of current ET is the story of people like Myra Hogan who you are going to hear from today. Myra's story is shared by over 50,000 other ET participants, who are now employed in unsubsidized jobs. The average starting salary for full-time ET placements is $13,500 more than twice our maximum welfare grant of $6,900 for a family of three. Over 80% of ET graduates in fulltime employment have employer-provider health insurance. Since ET began in 1983, it has saved taxpayers almost $260 million in reduced welfare benefits and increased revenues from federal and state taxes. In addition, the number of families on welfare has declined 61, despite the fact that welfare benefits have increased 47%. Each month about 9,000 children, whose parents are participating Vouchers provide quick access to needed care. ET participants |
