“With this passing, I plan to run in this upcoming election,” said Nicole Coakley, a 43-year-old mother of five and a full-time therapist. Coakley has run twice for Springfield City Council but said she was unsure if she’d try again for a seat on the panel, until now.

During her earlier campaigns, Coakley often took her youngest daughter, now 6, with her to campaign events. She’d then rely on her campaign manager to watch her as Coakley spoke with voters. “For somebody like me, a single parent, we can’t afford that additional financial cost to help cover child care,” she said. With this proposal, “Massachusetts is moving to level the political playing field.”

State rules already allow candidates to spend their campaign cash on tuxedos, body armor, or expensive parties, as long as it’s for the “enhancement of [their] political future” and is not “primarily for personal use.”

They have not been allowed, however, to use political donations to pay a baby sitter while they campaign door to door or attend an evening fund-raising event.

Massachusetts already boasts some of the highest child care costs in the country, if not the highest, according to one measure. A child care center in Massachusetts costs an average of $19,961 annually for a toddler, and family- or home-based care costs $13,344, according to a 2023 report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Both were the highest of any state in the US.

“Even if you raise the money, you can’t spend it on something you need. And it’s much more valuable to campaign door to door than it is to pay for a mailing,” said state Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat who has pushed the campaign finance proposal in the Massachusetts Senate.

“If you don’t have relatives or friends to take care of your kids while you’re campaigning, it’s almost impossible to do it,” she said. “This is just one more barrier.”

At least 30 states already allow candidates to use campaign funds for child care, as does the federal election system, according to Vote Mama Foundation, which supports mothers running for public office.

Many have used it, too. Since 2018, at least 68 federal candidates have tapped their campaign for child care funds, spending nearly $718,000 collectively, according to data Vote Mama Foundation published earlier this year. A little more than half of those candidates were women, and 46 percent of those who spent campaign money on child care were people of color.

Still, Massachusetts has long lagged in making the change. A legislative effort in 2017 to allow candidates to expense child care to their campaigns failed. In 2020, a legislative commission recommended the change, arguing it should be allowed when it’s the “direct result of the candidate’s campaign activities.” The state Senate then twice approved language last session, but it never reached then-governor Charlie Baker’s desk.

Supporters saw an opening this session at a time when State House leaders were roundly committed to trying to ease the state’s child care woes.

The proposal included in the economic development bill would allow candidates to spend campaign money on “baby-sitting services,” either by an individual baby sitter or a center, that “occur as a result of campaign activities.” It would bar candidates from paying their family members for child care, unless those relatives run or are employed by a professional child care service.

“We know that moms take the brunt of house work, the child care work. Even if they’re working moms, even if they’re career politicians, they still have to be moms,” said Shaitia Spruell, executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. “This will absolutely increase the number of women running for office — and hopefully the women in office.”

By some measures, Massachusetts has made notable gains on that front. Five of the state’s six statewide constitutional officers are women, including Governor Maura Healey, the first woman to be elected to that office in state history. She and Kim Driscoll are also one of the country’s first female governor-lieutenant governor duos.

Elsewhere in the State House, however, representation is lacking. Women currently make up 30 percent of the Legislature, but 51 percent of the state’s population. The House and Senate are slated to begin their next two-year session in January with fewer women (61) than it started this session with, according to the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators.

“If you want a diverse legislative body, then you have to be intentional about creating opportunities and removing barriers. And that’s what we did here,” said state Representative Joan Meschino, a Hull Democrat who has cosponsored bills with Representative Mike Connolly of Cambridge to allow candidates to expense child care to their campaigns.

“The bill helps break down those economic barriers,” she said. “That’s going to help open the door.”

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.

BEVERLY – As schools remain closed in three Massachusetts communities due to a teachers strike, some parents are struggling to find child care for their children.

“We’re all overwhelmed”

“We’re all overwhelmed,” said Sarah Roy, a mother of two at Ayers Ryal Side Elementary School in Beverly. 

Since last Friday, she’s been juggling her full-time job while also caring for her 6-year-old son Owen and her 11-year-old daughter Annabelle. 

“It’s hard to focus on one or the other when you’re trying to do both at once,” she said. 

Last Thursday, educators in Beverly announced their decision to go on strike, cancelling school Friday and now Wednesday as well. Teachers in Gloucester and Marblehead are also on strike in hopes of getting a new contract with better pay and other benefits. 

“This is a good example to my kids that you should always stand up for what you believe in,” said Roy. She told WBZ-TV she fully supports Beverly educators going on strike, despite the fact that it is illegal in Massachusetts. “The fact that they are getting paid so low is so upsetting. It feels like a reflection of our values and that’s not what I signed up for. Those aren’t my values,” she said. 

Hundreds on child care

In the past week Roy said she has spent $600 for child care. “That was an unexpected expense, that a lot of people don’t have because they’re living paycheck to paycheck,” she said.  The mother of two has hired a babysitter, including local middle schoolers, to watch her children while she works. She says she’s also benefitted from free childcare at the Ryal Side Civic Association Center. 

“We have 25 kids coming in the morning, 25 kids coming in the afternoon,” said Meredith Quinn, Ayers PTO President. She organized the volunteer run child care sessions at the community center so that working parents like herself and Roy can drop their kids off for games and movies. 

“We’re definitely not teaching or learning, but we’re trying to keep the skills sharp while they’re out of school.”

It is still unclear when school will resume for Beverly students. The Beverly Teacher Association and the School Committee are still negotiating a contract. Until they reach a fair agreement, Roy says this is, “just another reminder that we can do hard things, and we make it work.”

MARSHFIELD – Fire crews in Massachusetts are not just dealing with brush fires in these dry and windy conditions, but two house fires had them scrambling to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring homes. 

Marshfield fire

“The whole sky was covered with black smoke, didn’t know what was happening,” said George Haldoupis, a neighbor who saw the flames quickly spread at a home on Sheridan Drive in Marshfield. “I came out and we saw that house was totally engulfed in flames, it didn’t take long.”

Firefighters from several communities continually poured water on the home and surrounding houses in a neighborhood filled with trees and dried leaves.

“[The wind] was just like a blow torch, it just took off in one direction to the other,” said Marshfield Acting Fire Chief Mike Laselva. “As soon as it caught whatever fire was going, it quickly accelerated it.”

Mara Cronin’s home next door had enough damage to the roof to displace her for now. Fire crews were also able to rescue her three cats hiding under a bed. “Thank god nobody’s hurt, everyone’s OK. We just rescued our three cats so everyone’s fine and we’ll rebuild and we’ll be back,” said Cronin.

Dorchester fire

With only charred remains of the Marshfield home, it was a similar scene on Weyanoke Street in Dorchester as flames quickly engulfed an old Victorian.

“It was quite a bit of smoke in the area. But we couldn’t really figure out where it was. And then we saw the roof literally catch on fire and it looked like a giant candlestick,” said neighbor Dan DeChristoforo.

Six residents were displaced in two units, along with pets. The issue here not just wind but also access. Boston Deputy Fire Chief Scott Malone said rear exits were not only blocked but nailed shut. Dominic Lopez was left screaming from a second floor window to be rescued.

“Within a minute or something like that and then I opened up the window and they were pretty much there,” said Lopez.

“You push security versus safety sometimes,” said Malone. “In this particular case it almost cost someone a life. But thank god we got here in time and that person is saved.”

There were no serious injuries in both fires, but one Boston firefighter had to be treated for neck burns.