Missourians scored some big wins for child care and pre-K programs in the 2023 legislative session, although some said it is just a start.

Brian Schmidt, executive director of the group Kids Win Missouri, called it a "really exciting time" for child care and early childhood education in the state. He attributes a lot of the legislative gains, including a combined $160 million for child care subsidies and pre-K programs, to the child care crisis exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

"Seventy-three counties in Missouri are considered child care deserts," Schmidt pointed out. "I think it's really just an impact of the pandemic, where a lot of the child care facilities are just struggling to find and recruit a workforce."

Schmidt added Gov. Mike Parson identified expanding early-childhood programs as a priority. Ideally, he said, the $78.5 million to increase child care subsidies will be an incentive for more child care centers to take part in the subsidy program, increasing the options for low-income Missouri families. And regarding the additional $82 million for pre-K programs, Schmidt noted it "far exceeds" any previous legislative proposals for pre-K.

He added the pre-K funding was designed to provide families with options.

"Fifty-six million is for school districts, and then the other $26 million is for child care facilities," Schmidt outlined. "Families could potentially have some options to choose the setting that best fits their needs."

Robin Phillips, CEO of the nonprofit Child Care Aware of Missouri, lauded the funding but has concerns about what will happen when American Rescue Plan Act funds expire in a little more than a year.

She argued the child care system is a "broken business model," with no funding formula behind community-based child care. In addition to higher operating costs for food, gas, utilities and rent, Phillips pointed to providers' struggle to maintain a workforce.

"You have to have so many teachers for the number of children depending on the age range; you must have, for licensing," Phillips emphasized. "And yet, when you pay all those expenses, you're left with very little to pay teachers at about $12 an hour. That's not a livable wage."

Calling the child care system "very complex and layered," Phillips added a bridge needs to be built to keep the progress going.

"There are great and significant investments happening, and we still have a lot of work to do," Phillips acknowledged. "Because two years, three years of federal relief money doesn't fix 40 years of fragmentation."


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Child care is expensive and in high demand but groups in Montana are taking creative approaches to help.

Child care services in Montana currently meet about half the state's need, and full-time child care can cost more than college tuition, according to Montana Advocates for Children. Experts said solutions are unique to communities.

Jennifer Pfau, executive director of the Central Montana Childcare Alliance, helped launch the group in 2022, which offers startup grants and support for businesses, schools, churches and others to start child care centers. She said the pandemic made visible the "workforce behind the workforce."

"It's shifting the focus to helping people realize that child care is essential community infrastructure," Pfau explained. "And then working together to help address the needs in your community."

The group has helped open 15 new child care centers and expand capacity by nearly 200 slots with American Rescue Plan Act funding, which Pfau noted has since run out. She called finding more "challenging."

As school enrollment decreases, some empty classrooms are being remodeled for child care. That worked for Pfau and for the group Missoula Child Care Advantage, which also created a business membership, offering in-network child care for employees of local businesses and schools.

Sally Henkel, Missoula Child Care Advantage coordinator for the United Way of Missoula County, said fees go toward a "shared services model" to stabilize the child care sector by reducing administrative costs.

"Once that can be alleviated, the hope is that providers can really reinvest that time and energy into mentoring staff, maybe paying them a little bit better," Henkel outlined. "And also offer higher quality child care and have a little bit less burnout as well."

At the Montana Capitol, House Bill 360, scheduled for a hearing in the Human Services Committee this week, would establish a child care workforce recruitment and retention support payment program.


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Alabama is part of a national program aimed at diversifying early childhood education.

The Enriching Public Pre-K Through Inclusion of Family Child Care initiative gives the state ways to explore how family child care homes can be part of its public pre-K system.

Erin Harmeyer, assistant research professor in the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University, said family child care providers play a crucial role in filling gaps in access, especially in rural areas where they can be a better cultural and linguistic match for families compared to traditional child care centers.

"Home-based child care providers are often doing things like offering care during nontraditional hours, nights or evenings or weekends," Harmeyer explained. "They offer this really kind of familiar and flexible and personal option for families that makes them very preferred for many."

The initiative comes as demand for pre-K programs is rising. Nationwide, state-funded preschool enrollment hit record levels last year, with 35% of 4-year-olds and 7% of 3-year-olds participating in one recent school year.

Harmeyer noted Alabama was chosen for the program because it already meets her institute's 10 quality benchmark standards, including having well-qualified lead teachers, small class sizes and robust professional development requirements. She added integrating family child care homes into the system builds on this strong foundation and can offer more opportunities to support children's development.

"We know that a large body of research does show the positive impacts of preschool, in both the short and the long term for children," Harmeyer emphasized.

Alabama is one of four participants in the initiative, alongside Nevada, Michigan, and the city of Durham, North Carolina.


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New York families are still dealing with child care barriers despite improvements.

A new report found more than half the state is a child care desert with parents having to leave the workforce because they cannot access it.

While the Child Care Assistance Program has improved, it does not make up for other shortcomings.

Lara Kyriakou, associate director of early childhood policy and advocacy for Ed Trust-New York and the report's co-author, said one of the biggest barriers is lacking knowledge about available child care programs.

"Many families reported difficulties just learning about available programs including navigating application processes," Kyriakou observed. "A lot of families spoke about learning of programs from other parents or other key trusted relationships that they had in the community."

Other issues include restrictions due to a person's immigration status, or benefits cliffs where a family earns a little too much to qualify for programs. Some recommendations to fix the situation include further expanding New York's child tax credit and working families tax credit and investing in the child care workforce to hire new and retain existing workers.

Reports showed the state's child care industry workforce fell 32% from 2019 to 2023.

Enacting such changes could help New York State reach its goal of cutting child poverty in half by 2032. The report calls for a $1.2 billion sustaining investment in the child care industry.

Jenn O'Connor, director of partnerships and early childhood policy for Ed Trust-New York, said making it a sustaining investment would give child care workers a salary matching the cost of living.

"Child care providers who are predominantly women and predominantly women of color make less than your pizza delivery guy half the time," O'Connor emphasized. "They're providing an essential service and they're educating our youngest children."

The newly announced Invest in Our New York Act could pay for this. The package of bills would have corporations and New York's ultra-wealthy residents pay their fair share of taxes and the money would then be spent on child care, education and affordable housing.