Boston Commits $20 Million to Expand Pre-K, Add Home-Based Providers

BOSTON -- July 20, 2022, Boston outlines $20 million UPK expansion targeting home-based child care providers for the first time. Officials described a three-track funding plan, direct support to Boston Public Schools programs, competitive grants to community-based centers (with one round completed and a second open now), and a year-long design process with home-based family child care providers before that application opens. The city is benchmarking against roughly 4,000 students per grade in BPS, with approximately 2,600 BPS pre-K seats already in place. Massachusetts ranks as the second most expensive state for child care, and officials identified cost, nontraditional-hours coverage, and chronically low provider wages, paid disproportionately to women and women of color, as the three chief barriers the expansion aims to address. The long-term goal, officials said, is a single real-time enrollment portal covering every provider type citywide.