Rethinking funding model for child care subsidy

'We have to get serious' about sufficient public funding for child care

Early Bird readers, hello again. Newcomers, welcome! If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up here to receive it every two weeks, and join our conversation on issues facing North Carolina’s young children and those who support them. If you’re already a subscriber, please help us reach more people by sharing this with your friends and co-workers interested in early childhood education.

As loyal Early Bird readers know, I hardly ever miss a Hunt Institute “Early Efforts” webinar. The episode last month on New Mexico’s work to redesign its child care subsidy program got me asking questions about North Carolina’s subsidized child care system.

The program, funded with a mix of state and federal dollars, helps families afford care. Last November, the program was serving more than 54,000 children across North Carolina. But the way the program works is leading to instability and inequity, researchers and advocates say.

That’s because the current model is based on what parents can afford, which isn’t enough to cover the full cost of high-quality care and learning. When I asked the state Department of Health and Human Services about its program, spokesperson Kelly Haight told me the department is looking to hire an outside consultant to come up with a better way to structure the program (like New Mexico,  Louisiana, and Washington,  D.C. have done).

This research could establish a structure that, if funded, would mean more stable programs for children and families, higher pay for teachers, and a more equitable funding across the state.

“We have to get serious about no longer just funding our prenatal-to-five programs, and our child care in particular, based on whatever’s available, but actually on what it costs to deliver the quality care,” said Elizabeth Groginsky, cabinet secretary of New Mexico’s early childhood education and care department, on the Hunt Institute webinar.

The federal Build Back Better legislation would have asked states to go through a similar process in order to base their programs on the true cost of care, including livable wages for early childhood teachers. It did not make its way to through Congress, though some early childhood components might reappear down the road. In President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, he signaled that he hadn’t given up on those proposals: “Cut the cost of child care,” Biden said. “… Middle-class and working folks shouldn’t  have to pay more than 7% of their income to care for their young children.

My plan would cut the cost in half for most families and help parents, including millions of women, who left the work force during the pandemic because they couldn’t afford child care, to be able to get back to work. Generating economic growth.”

As I mentioned in the last Early Bird, EdNC is traveling to local communities this spring. If you have contacts or story ideas in the following counties, let me know: Polk, Pender, New Hanover, Onslow, Chowan, Jones, Carteret, Craven, Pamlico, Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Currituck, Camden, and Pasquotank.