‘Anything that can be done at the legislative level may save us all’: Massachusetts child care providers desperate for solutions weigh in on bill to overhaul state system
Updated May 04, 2021;
Child care providers in the southeastern part of the state spoke about their ongoing struggles to keep their businesses afloat, retrain workers and care for children of all ages during a virtual town hall that took place on Monday.
The meeting was put on by State Sen. Susan Moran, of Plymouth, who is championing legislation that would overhaul state system in an effort to deliver universal, high-quality and affordable child care and early education to families statewide a cause that has been pushed to the fore amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Martha s Vineyard Times
SSA is not acting like a lifeline
To the Editor:
In your April 28 editorial (“Moran’s missteps”), you argue that Senator Moran is naive for introducing a bill that gives donor port communities a meaningful say in Steamship Authority operations, and you repeat the myth that the SSA is a “lifeline.” Your concerns about sharing control seem to be rooted in the sense that if non-Island communities have a say, we will treat concerns from the islands no better, and with no more finesse, than the Island-run SSA has treated our concerns in Falmouth and Woods Hole over the past several decades. Your comments suggest blithe acceptance of business as usual by the SSA, and the persistent and growing problems it has brought to the Cape and islands.
The Martha s Vineyard Times
A proposed amendment to the Steamship Authorityâs Enabling Act by State Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, that would change the weighted votes for Marthaâs Vineyard and Nantucket on the SSA board was met with immediate and vocal opposition â and we need to keep those voices strong and united.
Moranâs bill aims to provide âparityâ on the SSA board â giving the five member ports an equal vote at the table. Right now, both the Vineyard representative and the Nantucket representative have a supermajority with weighted votes of 35 percent each, which is important given just how much both islands rely on the SSA for transportation on and off the islands, and for goods and services to be delivered. It should also be pointed out that if the SSA runs a deficit, the island communities are responsible for making up the bulk of those costs.