And at least one weekend per month, she provides all-day care to several children whose parents have to report for duty at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Jackson is also licensed to provide overnight care, which she does occasionally as needed. 

Through these unconventional arrangements, Jackson provides 鈥渘ontraditional hour care,鈥� and as her schedule suggests, it can take a lot of different forms. Nontraditional hour care is a poorly understood yet widely sought form of early care and education, generally defined as any care being provided before 7 a.m. and after 6 p.m. on weekdays, and any hours on the weekends. 

It鈥檚 estimated that about 40% of children under age 6 with working parents spend at least part of their week in childcare during nontraditional hours, according to a from the Urban Institute, a social policy research nonprofit. The report, which analyzed household survey data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education, found this type of care to be more common among children from low-income families or in single-parent or non-parent households, as well as infants and toddlers. 

Families have a diverse range of circumstances and needs when it comes to care, especially working families with young kids. Sometimes, one parent can cover while the other works, or a relative such as a grandparent can step in to help. But in other cases, families must seek more formal arrangements. That鈥檚 where providers like Jackson and Desiree Reid come in.

Reid has been a licensed home-based childcare provider in the Bronx for about a decade. Before that, though, she had a long career as a financial manager 鈥� a role that required her to work late into the night and on weekends at times. In other words, Reid needed childcare during nontraditional hours before she became a childcare provider herself. Back then, when her son was still very young, she鈥檇 scrap together help from her mother and godmother during the week, and on the weekends, she鈥檇 take him to work with her and they鈥檇 hole up in her office. 

So when Reid opened her own childcare program and realized a lot of her families were doing shift work and needed flexible hours, she found herself adjusting her schedule. 

鈥淎t first it started with maybe one parent saying, 鈥極h, Ms. Desiree, I have to work till 8:30 tonight,鈥欌�� Reid recalled. 鈥淲hat am I gonna do? Say, 鈥榣eave your job, come get your kid and figure it out?鈥� No. So I extended my hours.鈥�

The vast majority of nontraditional hour care is provided in homes, through a mix of licensed and unlicensed caregivers. Data varies, but across multiple sources, unlicensed care 鈥� and particularly unpaid unlicensed care 鈥� is the most used nontraditional hour childcare arrangement, followed by licensed home-based care, and then licensed center-based care. Erikson Institute, a graduate school in Chicago focused on early childhood education, cites data from the 2019 NSECE survey which that about 8% of centers and 34% of listed homes provide some form of nontraditional hour care, while the rest of the care supply is found in unlisted homes, often provided by relatives, but also some nannies, neighbors, friends and babysitters. 

For licensed providers, the shift into nontraditional hour care tends to come organically, as it did for Reid. Because home-based care is typically provided in a smaller and more intimate setting, providers often develop strong personal relationships with the families they serve. So when one family has a schedule change or needs extra help, providers may be inclined to accommodate them 鈥� sometimes without any additional pay, said Juliet Bromer, research professor at Erikson and University of Delaware. 

Different types of nontraditional hour care tend to get 鈥渓umped together,鈥� Bromer said. But that can conflate the distinct experiences of providers caring for children during early mornings, late nights, overnight and on weekends.

鈥淢aybe we shouldn鈥檛 be talking about nontraditional hour care as this monolithic thing, because it isn鈥檛,鈥� said Bromer, who has studied this domain in Illinois. 

Each type of care comes with its own sets of challenges, routines and objectives. During weekend care 鈥� the most time for children to be in nontraditional hour care, according to the Urban Institute 鈥� many providers tend to offer children more downtime than they would during traditional weekday hours, said Diane Schilder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who led the think tank鈥檚 research on nontraditional hour care in 2023. That reflects what parents have said they want during weekend care for their children: a greater focus on play and rest, much like they would have if their parents were able to be with them. 

That鈥檚 true for Jackson, the provider in Alabama, who said the biggest difference in how she runs her program on the weekends, compared to a weekday, is that she gives the children more time to relax. 

鈥淭he schedule has been so rigid during the week,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淚 get it. They need the downtime. 鈥� They need that time to just rest.鈥�

What that looks like in practice, she said, is extended time outdoors and more free time to do activities like puzzles and drawing. Just because their parents are at work, she said, doesn鈥檛 mean they shouldn鈥檛 get to unwind like other children do during their weekends.  

In New York, Reid鈥檚 weekend care is occasional, and a bit less predictable than Jackson鈥檚. She cares for the children of immigration lawyers, taxi drivers and nurses. Often, one parent is available on the weekend to care for their kids when the other is not. But sometimes, their schedules will overlap and they鈥檒l ask Reid to help. 

鈥淎s long as they can give me advanced notice and I鈥檓 available, sure,鈥� Reid said. 

鈥淚 have staff, so if I need to step back, staff can step up,鈥� she added, noting that she has one full-time and four part-time teachers to help with 14 children. 鈥淲hen I didn鈥檛 have staff, that was a different story. Oh, my gosh, that was exhausting.鈥�

Reid and Jackson, like most providers who offer care during unconventional hours, also care for children during traditional hours. Cynthia Davis, a home-based provider in Washington, D.C. who operates 23 hours a day, distinguishes between the two by calling one her 鈥渢raditional shift鈥� and the other her 鈥渢wilight shift.鈥� 

When she shifted into childcare a couple of decades ago, she decided that she would serve children from low-income families, whatever it took. 

鈥淚f I was going to have a program, I wanted to be sure I could serve all parents, regardless of what their shift was,鈥� she said. 

With her program located near a police station, a fire station and multiple hospitals, she has served children at all hours of the day 鈥� from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., from 3 p.m. to midnight, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the hours some of the parents needed,鈥� she explained. 

It鈥檚 a lifestyle that might wear on some people, but Davis enjoys it. 鈥淚鈥檓 a night owl,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I love overnight care. I love being up at night. Everybody is quiet. Nobody is disrupting you. It鈥檚 the daytime that wears me out.鈥�

When she cares for children overnight, her adult daughter who works at the program handles morning care so Davis can get some sleep. 鈥淚t鈥檚 why you need staff,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to balance it out. If you don鈥檛 have balance, you鈥檒l drive yourself crazy.鈥�

The most children Davis has cared for overnight, she said, is six. Eventually she learned that she couldn鈥檛 really care for infants overnight, since their sleep isn鈥檛 well established and they tend to wake the others. 鈥淥ver time you learn how the children鈥檚 patterns are,鈥� she said, noting that she鈥檇 strategically place an early riser farther from a child who sleeps in later. 

When children get dropped off for an overnight shift at Davis鈥� house, they must be bathed and ready for bed. She finds out from families what their bedtime routine looks like on a typical night 鈥� books, music, a bit of TV 鈥� 鈥渟o we can mimic what you鈥檙e doing at home.鈥� 

Most children sleep in twin-sized rollaway beds; she also has cribs, elevated cots, floor mats and air mattresses. She will put the beds out in the common area 鈥� spread throughout a spacious living room, dining room and back room 鈥� before the kids go to sleep. Then Davis posts up in her comfortable recliner chair. She has a refrigerator and table right next to the chair. She does not sleep when the babies sleep. 

In the morning, Davis helps the children brush their teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast. 

Soon, as she begins to think about winding down her working years, she plans to move away from traditional care and only offer the 鈥渢wilight shift.鈥� She鈥檚 a night owl, after all. 

Some center-based programs do offer care during nontraditional hours, but it’s uncommon and the programs that do so primarily serve a specific population, such as the children of shift workers near a large manufacturing plant or . 

鈥淭here are very, very few center-based programs that offer late night and overnight care,鈥� said Bromer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unpredictable. No one needs overnight care every night.鈥�

Many home-based providers will request a week鈥檚 notice or a few days鈥� notice for nontraditional hour care, but when families鈥� schedules are constantly changing, it鈥檚 not always possible. That is incompatible with the staffing setup in most centers, Bromer noted. 

Then there鈥檚 the practical reality, which is that 鈥� especially late at night, very early in the morning and overnight 鈥� want their children to be in a residential home, not a fluorescent-lit commercial building. 

Most centers don鈥檛 have space for beds, pointed out Natalie Renew, the executive director of Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based childcare. What they have, instead, is thin cots. If given the option, many families would likely opt for rollaway beds like what Davis has in her home over 鈥渇limsy cots鈥� in a center for their child鈥檚 overnight sleep. 

鈥淚n a home-based environment, children are an extension of the family, eating meals in the home, watching Jeopardy,鈥� Renew said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a little more intuitive.鈥�

For parents who work unconventional hours, it helps a great deal to know their child is sleeping in a bed inside someone鈥檚 home, even if it鈥檚 not their own, said Jackson. 

鈥淚t gives that parent more of a home feeling, versus in a commercial property, where it鈥檚 more of a business,鈥� she said. 鈥淔amilies need us. They need the continuity of care. They need to know their babies are being treated with the utmost of respect.鈥�

In many places, it can be hard to come by licensed providers offering care outside of standard business hours. Davis recalled a mom who would take the bus from southeast D.C. to her program in northwest D.C. to drop off her 6-month-old baby before going to her job as a security officer. She had to switch buses along the route, and when traffic was bad, it would take her two hours door to door. 

Access is one of the reasons that care from trusted family, friends and neighbors is by far the most popular option for parents who work nontraditional hours. (It is also the most care arrangement for families during traditional hours.) This could look like two neighbors who both work nonstandard hours taking turns watching each other鈥檚 kids in their homes. It could be a family friend helping out for a small fee. Often, though, it鈥檚 a grandparent or other family member.

These types of informal arrangements make up the 鈥渂ulk鈥� of nontraditional hour care, said Bromer of Erikson. Parent surveys have found that they prefer this care type for its flexibility, affordability and nurturing environment. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not paid care,鈥� in many cases, Bromer added, 鈥渂ut it is childcare.鈥�

Tonia McMillan is an FFN provider in Southern California caring for her grandchildren during nontraditional hours. McMillan had a nearly 30-year career as a licensed home-based provider, during which time she did occasionally provide care outside of standard hours to families. She retired from that career in 2023, feeling ready to close that chapter. 

But then McMillan鈥檚 two adult sons 鈥� both single dads 鈥� had new babies on the way. At the time, she and her sons decided to 鈥渁ll get under the same roof鈥� to help each other with expenses, and that included childcare. 

Today, McMillan lives in a five-bedroom house with her sons and two of her four grandchildren 鈥� now ages 9 and almost 2 鈥� whom she regularly cares for in the evenings. During their dad鈥檚 late-night shifts with a trucking company, McMillan feeds them and puts them to bed. Some days, if he gets home especially late, she鈥檒l also get the kids up in the morning, give them breakfast and get the older one to school. It works well, she said. 

鈥淭he only difficulty for me is my age,鈥� said McMillan, who is 67. 鈥淗aving to lift car seats in and out of cars 鈥� That鈥檚 part of the reason I retired. There鈥檚 such a physicality to doing childcare that people don鈥檛 realize. But here I am again.鈥�

There are days when McMillan has to make sacrifices to be able to care for her grandchildren 鈥� she鈥檚 very social, she said 鈥� and that can be discouraging. But she loves that she is able to help and said she鈥檒l keep doing it for as long as her son needs her. 

Still, she doesn鈥檛 view it as charity, and she doesn鈥檛 want others to see it that way either. McMillan gets about $1,200 per month in subsidy reimbursements from the state of California to take care of both children. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to see this role being downplayed or portrayed as 鈥榶ou鈥檙e the grandmother, it鈥檚 your duty,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hat strips away the importance of this work 鈥� how it fills a void, how it takes care of a gap. But it also binds families and makes them stronger and able to do what needs to be done for their children, for their household. It is such an important role that serves such an important purpose.鈥�

McMillan emphasized the importance of being able to provide childcare to her grandchildren in a space that is both theirs and hers. She can put the two children down in their own beds and then retire to her own room. 

鈥淚 can walk around in my moomoo,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to worry about if my hair is combed.鈥�

But the value runs deeper than that, too. 

鈥淭he comfort of being in a familiar surrounding with a familiar person who loves them unconditionally, it matters,鈥� McMillan said. 鈥淢y son doesn鈥檛 have to worry about calling or checking in, any of that. Just the trust factor alone carries so much weight. It carries so, so much weight.鈥�

Bornfreund 鈥� a senior fellow at New America, where she previously was director of early and elementary education policy 鈥� shines a light on academic pressure on young children. In her book, she digs into the history of kindergarten and how it鈥檚 changed, chronicles her visits to over 50 classrooms in 13 states, and speaks to education and policy experts about ideas for transforming kindergarten to prioritize how kids learn best.

Kindergarten is regarded as the connector between pre-K and early elementary grades, but Bornfreund views the entire journey from pre-K through third grade as critical for young children鈥檚 development. 

In order for these years to lay a sturdy foundation for everything that follows, the kindergarten experience should , including connections with peers and teachers. Over the years, however, kindergarten has become increasingly according to Bornfreund, particularly in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act, which became federal law in 2002. 鈥淭he new emphasis on testing and accountability under the law put pressure on schools and teachers to achieve at higher levels for each child,鈥� she wrote.

The book laments the state of kindergarten today, where classroom experiences are overly scripted and funding is insufficient in many communities. At the same time, Bornfreund finds teachers who are providing meaningful experiences for young learners against the odds. In the conversation below, she shares her perspective on what a strong kindergarten experience looks like and offers insights on how schools, families and policymakers can reshape kindergarten to help children thrive. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why are children entering kindergarten with such a wide range of abilities?

That kindergarten year is the first accessible-to-all opportunity into formal public education. Even as widespread as pre-K has become, not everyone has access to that public opportunity, but every child does have access to kindergarten. If they attended a high-quality pre-K, the kindergarten year can often be somewhat of a repeat for them. If they were in childcare or any other kind of early childhood environment, it’s going to be pretty jarring. Or if they didn’t have any formal preschool experience at all, it can be fairly jarring. And so there does need to be more attention to 鈥� all the different types of experiences that children have before they get into kindergarten.

What are the key differences between children who have had some kind of formal experience before kindergarten and those who have not?聽

While pre-K often does build early literacy and numeracy skills, it’s also focused on the whole child. So the executive function that helps students to be able to sit and listen and line up and understand what it means to wait their turn, but also the social and emotional development. And that is one of the areas that is lacking in a lot of kindergarten [classrooms], not because teachers don’t understand that it’s important or don’t want to be able to focus more on the whole child, but because the schedule in many places 鈥� is so rigid, and the expectations of what teachers should be doing with students in kindergarten classrooms don鈥檛 allow for time to focus on those whole-child areas. 

Where did you find school districts that draw upon the research with the most fidelity?

The really transformed, starting with pre-K, and built their own curriculum. It’s called the focused on preschool, pre-K, kindergarten and they’ve also gone up to second grade.聽 鈥� It engages students in a lot of playful learning practices, and it has a heavy focus on not just building those reading skills, but also building the background knowledge opportunities for children to talk and interact with each other. Boston has really transformed the majority of their elementary schools now, and that has spread. Those approaches have spread to other parts of Massachusetts as well as Maine. The Focus Curriculum is open source, so anyone can take and use it or adapt it for their state specifics or regional differences.聽

Is it a more rigorous academic program or is it more play-based?聽

Both. It’s aligned with Massachusetts standards, and it incorporates within the curriculum these play-based approaches. 

And that’s something you’d like to see spread more widely?聽

Yes. Or other curriculum materials like that. And I would just say [that] for young kids, including kindergarten through at least second grade, the play-based approach is the rigor for those kids, because it’s how they learn best, when looking at the science of early learning and development. And it doesn’t mean free play, that kids are just doing whatever all day 鈥� Looking at Boston, that play-based learning is guided play. Teachers are curating the kinds of materials that are in different center activities. They are moving around the room when children are engaged in those activities, asking probing questions to 鈥� support children in using different vocabulary or getting at the specific standard that teachers are wanting to focus on in those particular centers. So it’s structured, it’s guided by the teacher and it’s rigorous. 

What鈥檚 your perspective on delaying kindergarten, as some experts recommend, especially for boys?

I would say that the problem isn’t that 5-year-old boys aren’t ready for kindergarten, or that some kids aren’t ready for kindergarten. It’s that kindergarten has become unready for 5-year-olds. Five-year-olds are active social learners, particularly young boys 鈥� and kindergarten teachers aren’t able to 鈥� or, in some cases, aren’t sure how to 鈥� deliver those active social learning opportunities. That’s the real challenge. So red shirting 鈥� or holding kids back a year isn’t going to solve that problem. 

Why is relationship-building so important in kindergarten classrooms?

Before children can learn from their teachers, they have to be able to trust them. That鈥檚 not a nice-to-have. Those relationships have to be in place between the teacher and the student, regardless of the grade, but it’s particularly important in kindergarten, when many children are coming together for the first time with another adult or with other children. They’re a core piece of that learning. 

How does technology support relationships and play? Or does it interfere?

I visited several classrooms in different places where children are on tablets 鈥� for much of the day or for too much of the day. There’s a place for technology. I think some of the programs that children are using are suited for supporting differentiation or just meeting specific skills that children are developing. 鈥� But the technology doesn’t build relationships. They’re a tool, not a teacher, and we shouldn’t treat them in schools as if they can replace a teacher and a relationship. 

Were there classrooms you walked into while writing this book and you were like, “Aha, this is it. This is what it ought to be like”?聽

There were a lot where I felt like I just wanted to stay all day, but in this one particular room [in Maine], I got into the classroom before students started coming in, and as students were coming in, the teacher was greeting them and asking them questions. This was a Monday. One question she asked was, “How did that softball game go this weekend?” 鈥� She was just picking up on things that she knew about students and digging in and asking them how certain things went and following up on that. And then students, during their morning work as everyone was coming in, there had been strong routines built because they knew exactly what they were going to be doing. They got their 鈥� morning STEM toys out, and they were sitting at tables and doing different things with their table mates. And that was just more of a before the day started free activity, a lot of choice in that, but kids were talking, they were working together. 鈥� Then they came together for their morning meeting. 鈥� That start of the day is a really important way to help children feel welcome and ready to learn and ready to be in a community with both their teacher and fellow classmates.

What else stood out from your travels?

I visited a classroom in Oklahoma [and] the teacher noticed the energy of her class was dipping. Her kids needed a break. So she called [for] a little dance party 鈥� two minutes to help everybody reset 鈥� and then got back to what her instruction was. In Ferndale, Washington, the superintendent has made play-based learning a priority for the whole district in kindergarten, and they鈥檙e moving it up to first grade too. The way that works is, there’s an hour of dedicated time that follows reading instruction. The students are essentially taking what they’ve learned in that reading block and then applying it to play-based learning. 

What鈥檚 one recommendation for making the transition from pre-K to kindergarten smoother?

One thing I would say is to give pre-K through first grade teachers dedicated time to plan together. 鈥� Having that dedicated time to think together and to plan together is one of the most high-leverage things that schools can do. Teachers appreciate it too.

What advice do you have for parents?聽

Ask questions about what kindergarten looks like. What opportunities are there for play-based learning, for building relationships, for science? One of the things I point out is that science is almost all but gone from a lot of kindergarten classrooms because there’s just not the time for it. So really probing and asking those kinds of questions of the teacher, but also of the principal is important for parents to be doing. 

What about policymakers?

Kindergarten is really the only grade where we fund it like an afterthought, but then [we] call it this important foundation. We should invest in what it takes to deliver on the teaching and learning that aligns with how we know students learn.

I鈥檝e been around long enough to know that when it comes to meeting the needs of children with disabilities, specifics matter. Head Start currently has a robust set of with numerous related to services for children with disabilities The require programs to follow federal law and promise added flexibility in how that鈥檚 done, but offer no guidance, stripping away detailed requirements.聽

If the proposal is approved, programs would no longer be required to give developmental assessments to each child or accommodate all children so they can fully participate. 

It removes a specific directive that programs can鈥檛 turn children away because of a disability or chronic health condition. It removes the detailed guardrails on temporary suspensions and a prohibition on expulsion, which are important protections for children with disabilities. It also strikes requirements that programs support parents through the IEP process, which can be confusing and hard to navigate.

Head Start鈥檚 performance standards make sure children are given early support and opportunities that can shape their entire future. If those requirements disappear, children with disabilities lose the services, protections and pathways that make inclusion possible.

Since the 1960s, Head Start has provided early learning, health, nutrition, family support and developmental services to children whose families often face the greatest barriers to care. For children with disabilities, it has played an especially important role.

A decade before children with disabilities won the right to a free, appropriate public education, young children with disabilities were already being included in Head Start programs. Head Start helped establish a basic expectation that children with disabilities belong in early learning settings alongside their nondisabled peers.

Key to that progress are the standards built by Congress, advocates and the Office of Head Start, making room for children with all types of disabilities, including Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida, not just those with speech and language delays.

That鈥檚 important because children with disabilities are often turned away from other early childhood programs. Parents are told their child鈥檚 needs are too significant, that staff aren鈥檛 trained, that accommodations aren鈥檛 available or that another setting would be better. Families get the same message, again and again: Your child doesn鈥檛 belong here.

Head Start has been one of the few places where the answer is different: Yes, your child belongs, and yes, we know how to support them.

Federal law requires Head Start programs to include children with disabilities. The standards help make that requirement mean something in a child鈥檚 day. They catch delays in development early, oftentimes before it can affect learning. They shape whether a teacher knows who to call when a developmental concern comes up, whether a family gets help starting an evaluation, whether services continue while paperwork moves, and whether a child is supported in the classroom instead of sent home.

One of the central elements of a quality Head Start program is partnership. Partnerships with school districts, Medicaid agencies and parents. These partnerships work because the performance standards spell out the nature of the engagement. It鈥檚 not enough to tell a family that these services are available. Staff in all the partner agencies must understand fully their roles and responsibilities under multiple federal laws. When they don鈥檛, which will happen if the performance standards are abandoned, children miss out. 

Without these standards, a child鈥檚 experience could depend far too much on where that child lives, what resources a local program has, and whether a parent knows how to navigate a complicated system. Children鈥檚 disabilities will be diagnosed later, which will put them at greater risk once they enter elementary school. Families with money and time may be able to hire specialists, pay for private evaluations or find another preschool. Families with fewer resources may have no alternative.

Children with disabilities are still eligible for special education services through the public education system, but without detailed standards they may no have access to the full array of Head Start鈥檚 comprehensive services, including physical and mental health care and parent engagement. That doesn鈥檛 give children more opportunity. It gives families less to count on.

Serving preschool children well, including those with disabilities, isn鈥檛 easy. It takes skilled teachers, family partnership, coordination with health providers and school districts, and a deep respect for each child鈥檚 development. Head Start staff do this work every day, often with too little pay and too few resources. Without the guidance of required performance standards, these essential supports won鈥檛 be maintained.

Children don鈥檛 get a second chance at early childhood. The first years of life are when communication, relationships, confidence and learning begin to take shape. When a developmental delay is identified early, a child can get the support they need to thrive. When a child with a disability learns alongside nondisabled peers, all children learn that difference is part of life and that every child belongs in the classroom. 

I鈥檝e spent my career working with families, educators and advocates who know what happens when systems treat children with disabilities as someone else鈥檚 responsibility. Head Start鈥檚 standards help prevent that. They give programs clear responsibilities and families clear expectations. They help ensure that a child鈥檚 access doesn鈥檛 depend on how much a local program knows about disability or how hard a parent can fight.

The federal government should be strengthening that commitment.

Children with disabilities and children from families with low incomes already face too many barriers to early learning. Weakening Head Start鈥檚 standards would add another one.

This proposal should be judged by one question: Will it make it easier or harder for a child with a disability to be welcomed, supported and included? It鈥檚 very clear to me that this proposal eliminates and weakens the performance standards, that children with disabilities will be among the first to be harmed, and that harm could last a lifetime.

Head Start鈥檚 performance standards grew out of decades of experience with children and families. They must be maintained, enforced, and strengthened,  not dismantled.

The magic of Head Start is what happens once children and their families are enrolled, and for children with disabilities, that requires strong standards and a federal commitment to inclusion. That鈥檚 the Head Start worth protecting.

CHICAGO 鈥� A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is calling for an overhaul of the nation鈥檚 childcare system, which they say is failing children, parents and providers. 

The group of 13 Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who have spent the last year studying childcare access and affordability problems, offered an array of policy recommendations during the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit in Chicago this week.

During a panel discussion Monday, lawmakers underscored the persisting challenge with childcare that costs families too much and pays providers too little. That has led to vast access gaps in many parts of the country as demand for childcare far outstrips supply.  

鈥淓very state is experiencing a childcare crisis,鈥� said Jenna Bannon, associate director in the Children and Families Program of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In its 33-page  laying out causes and potential solutions to childcare shortages, the lawmakers鈥� policy group  called for more private sector employer participation, higher pay for childcare providers and a reconsideration of childcare regulations that may be outdated.

鈥淭he childcare system is at a crossroads,鈥� the report says, 鈥渁nd decisions made now will shape how well systems meet the needs of families and economies in the years ahead.鈥�

Many of the policy prescriptions inherently cost money. But Maryland state Del. Aletheia McCaskill said states can鈥檛 go it alone. McCaskill, a Democrat and a childcare provider, said the issue requires investment from outside sources, including philanthropic organizations and businesses. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take more than just taxes,鈥� she told Stateline. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take real investment by other folks. We have to do this with everybody playing their part. The government, absolutely, but we can鈥檛 do it all.鈥�

During the presentation, McCaskill urged other lawmakers to reframe childcare discussions in economic terms.

鈥淲hen you talk about childcare, you can鈥檛 talk about children. Imagine that,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to talk about the economy, pockets and how all this works together.鈥�

South Dakota state Sen. Tim Reed, a Republican, said businesses are increasingly interested in assuring their employees have access to childcare. 

Reed was previously the mayor of Brookings, the state鈥檚 fourth most populous city. Before the pandemic, he said, businesses reported workforce challenges as their biggest constraint. And the lack of workers, they said, was directly linked to a lack of accessible childcare.

Reed pointed to a local bank that provided childcare for the children 鈥� and even grandchildren 鈥� of employees years before it became a prominent issue across the country.

鈥淎nd you know what? They鈥檙e the first place that people want to work because they have childcare,鈥� Reed said during Monday鈥檚 panel. 鈥淥nce you get businesses involved in this 鈥� because they do understand the economic realities of it 鈥� that鈥檚 when you can become successful.鈥�

In 38 states, the costs of childcare outpaces the average cost of in-state college tuition, according to , a nonprofit advocacy group. For 2025, that organization calculated an average annual cost of childcare of about $13,000, with average prices of infant care surpassing $15,000. Those costs vary widely by state, though, with center-based infant care ranging from $6,492 a year in Mississippi to $27,067 a year in Massachusetts. 

Monday鈥檚 discussion聽聽where Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last year announced the nation鈥檚 first free universal childcare system, funded by state investment earnings from oil and gas revenues. 

New Mexico state Sen. Linda Trujillo, a Democrat, said during the discussion that the new universal system doesn鈥檛 yet guarantee universal access. In her community of Santa Fe, for example, she said the city lacks about 1,200 spaces for infants to 5-year-olds. 

Several lawmakers noted the changing federal environment, which has raised funding questions about many social service programs, including healthcare and food assistance. 

Bannon, of NCSL, said the states are now leading the charge on childcare as Democratic and Republican state lawmakers increasingly explore new legislation to childcare access.

鈥淗istorically, the federal government played a really big role, and the states really kind of looked to the feds to guide them,鈥� she told Stateline. 鈥淎nd I think now there鈥檚 been kind of a role reversal and states are stepping more into the space, and the feds are watching them to see what they do.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

The classroom at the Northeast Community Action Partnership Early Head Start was part of a five-week program that uses the recorders 鈥� often called talk pedometers 鈥� to gather data on teacher-child interactions and train their educators to guide them toward longer, more in-depth conversations. The program is offered by the national nonprofit , or Language Environment Analysis, which uses the technology to research young children’s language skills.

The Buffett Early Childhood Institute, an education research center at the University of Nebraska, partnered with seven rural and urban Head Start locations to use Lena technology this spring with more than 1,300 children. It was Nebraska鈥檚 first statewide implementation, funded by a five-year, $1.3 million geared toward helping states create programming to improve child literacy skills.

Lena has existed as a research nonprofit for more than two decades, but its professional development program, Lena Grow, started about six years ago. Last year, Florida lawmakers to provide Lena Grow to more than 400 preschools. The program has been over the past two years with a $3.2 million grant. Tennessee currently uses the technology in more than .

鈥淚t鈥檚 such a huge opportunity to be able to utilize these grant funds because it sets a really wonderful foundation for [children] as they enter kindergarten,鈥� said Paula Thompson, a University of Nebraska-Kearney professor and one of the grant project directors. 鈥淚t will hopefully have positive outcomes as we look toward that ultimate goal of increasing third grade proficiency.鈥�

The work follows decades of discussion over how preschoolers best learn language. 

A found a dramatic difference in the number of words heard by children, depending on their family鈥檚 income 鈥� often referred to as the 30-million-word gap. has found that it鈥檚 not so much the number of words children hear, but the quality of the language they are exposed to.

Researchers have that talk and interaction between adults and children in their first few years of life often impacts future cognitive development and academic achievement. This engagement is measured in 鈥渃onversational turns,鈥� or the back-and-forth exchange of words between children and adults. 

鈥淭he term ‘serve and return’ is kind of a basic analogy for these conversational turn-taking events,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淚t’s been a foundation in language and literacy for years, and we just continue to strive toward better understanding it.鈥� 

Lena records and collects data about conversational turns through the device in each child鈥檚 purple vest. Daycares, preschools and Head Start centers use the data and training to increase the number of conversational turns between adults and children.

Lena Grow was designed to be used by all children in a classroom, but it is especially helpful for kids who don鈥檛 talk much or are at risk of 鈥� meaning they get fewer than five back-and-forth exchanges with an adult per hour. An of 33,256 children using Lena Grow found that 13% experienced language isolation.

鈥淭he way to improve literacy is actually to invest in and support language development in these early years,鈥� said Alexandra Daro, director of applied research for the Buffett Institute. 鈥淭he more back and forth you can get in a particular conversation, the better children are able to pick up on the language that you’re using.鈥�

A child鈥檚 use of conversational turns has been to early literacy skills, social development and IQ scores. 

A June shows that the 51 children who participated in Nebraska鈥檚 initial Lena Grow program increased their conversational turns by 21% over the course of five weeks 鈥� from 33.5 to 40.6 per hour.

Children in center-based childcare average 15 hourly turns, but an optimal early talk environment is roughly 40, according to Lena. Youngsters who began Nebraska鈥檚 Lena Grow program with fewer than 15 hourly conversational turns boosted their talk by 111%, from an average of 9.7 to 20.5.

During the professional development program, early childhood centers have the children wear their vests one day per week. The recorder collects the number of conversational turns per child, in whatever language they are speaking, while the teacher continues the day like normal.

Norfolk educator Cassie Neidig said the data brought attention to children the adults weren’t talking to as much, such as Elvis, a 3-year-old who is nonverbal. It also showed that some toddlers were vocalizing words but not creating conversational turns with adults.

鈥淚 thought I was talking to Elvis a lot,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize how much more we talked to Marlo versus the other [children] 鈥� he鈥檚 our best talker because he鈥檚 the oldest. But even though he鈥檚 talking a lot, it鈥檚 not necessarily with conversational turns.鈥�

Neidig said the toddlers loved the vests when they were first introduced to them, but there have been struggles because the children are so young.聽

鈥淲e鈥檝e had a couple of issues just because they want you to let them play, and they don鈥檛 want to have to put them on. But otherwise, we鈥檝e had a great time with it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e just let them talk, and I do not treat it any differently than a normal day other than trying to focus on whatever goal we are focusing on that week.鈥�

One student with sensory issues struggled wearing one at first, but got used to it within a couple of hours. Placing stickers on the front of the vests also helped the kids warm up to the idea of wearing them once a week.

At Dodge County Head Start in Fremont, Nebraska, the 5-year-olds in the Lena program were excited to wear their vests, said Brittany Brown, a Head Start education specialist. One boy said the bulky recorder on the front made him feel like Iron Man 鈥� the device reminded him of the glowing reactor in the center of the superhero鈥檚 suit.

鈥淭hey feel a little empowered, and they really like having it 鈥� there’s no hesitancy to put the vest on,鈥� Brown said.

After a day of recording, the data is uploaded and analyzed. Then, a Lena coach 鈥� often a local staff member trained by the nonprofit 鈥� teaches the educators participating in the program ways to increase the number of turns. 

鈥淭he teacher is able to see if there is a certain hour where there’s a dip, and they’re able to discuss with their coaches ways to increase those conversational turns throughout the day,鈥� said Rocy O鈥橩eefe, the nonprofit鈥檚 chief growth officer.

During the coaching sessions, educators choose strategies to implement in the classroom. For example, Lena recommends that while teachers talk, read or sing with a child, they should comment on what the student is doing, name things the child is interested in, wait for responses, imitate them or get down on the children’s eye level so interactions are face-to-face.

鈥淭he coaches will work with teachers to set a goal based on the observations of the data 鈥� either a classroom average goal, or they are looking at individual children who might need some individualized attention,鈥� Daro said. 鈥淭hen the teachers practice throughout the rest of the week.鈥�

Amy Bloomquist, coaching coordinator and area manager, was trained by Lena to be a coach for the Norfolk Head Start program. She said teachers have responded well to working on a specific topic each week to increase conversational turns. They also talk to families about the program after parents have given permission for their child to wear the recording device. 

鈥淓ach week they’re sending an informational flyer home with the families, sparking some conversation between the teachers and the families,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e also giving them some tips on how to increase conversational turns at home.鈥�

In Nebraska, 22 Head Start centers are eligible to participate in the program, and Thompson said the Buffett Institute hopes to work with as many as it can by the end of the five-year grant. Its main goals for the next few years are not only for Nebraska children to improve their conversational turns, but for Lena Grow to increase 4-year-olds’ literacy scores on an assessment of early childhood development called Teaching Strategies Gold, or TS Gold. Lena Grow has been to improve language and literacy scores on these assessments in other states, such as Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio and Washington, D.C. 

鈥淭he dream goal is to also eventually be able to work with the school districts that these kids are entering into to look at improvement in TS Gold [scores] as they transition into kindergarten,鈥� Daro said. 鈥淪o, big dreams, but that’s what we’re going for.鈥�

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation and Overdeck Family Foundation provide financial support to Lena and 社区黑料.

Appalled, Jessie turns around to find the twins鈥� discarded toys in the yard, looking worn and weary. 

鈥淲hat happened to you?鈥� Jessie asks them. 

鈥淭ech,鈥� the toys reply in unison. 

These toys explain to Jessie that, for years, technology has been 鈥渋nvading鈥� homes, capturing kids鈥� attention and effectively ending imaginative play. 

鈥淵our kid still plays?鈥� one asks. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember play.鈥�

Jessie is skeptical, so they prove it to her: The toys climb to the roof of the twins鈥� house and look across the neighborhood, where they can see the blue light from screens glowing back onto children鈥檚 faces through each window.

鈥淣o wonder she can鈥檛 make a friend,鈥� Jessie says, referring to Bonnie. 鈥淪he鈥檚 the only one out there still playing with toys.鈥� 

It鈥檚 the type of exchange that stays with you 鈥� perhaps because, when depicted in a fictional animation, it鈥檚 clear just how representative it is of our current reality. 

The latest film in Disney-Pixar鈥檚 multibillion-dollar Toy Story franchise, which was released on June 19 and pits traditional toys against digital technology, comes at exactly the right time, multiple child development and media experts said in interviews. Children, even in their early years, are awash in screens and devices, and their overwhelmed parents often don鈥檛 know how to go about establishing guardrails 鈥� or what those guardrails should even be. All of this comes as AI is emerging as a threat to children, now embedded in toys and being used to generate videos that are served to children on YouTube without any real quality checks. Meanwhile, a chorus of critics 鈥� from the to the of one of the largest teachers unions in the country 鈥� are adding their concerns to the conversation.聽

鈥淚 think this is one of the most important issues of our time. I really do,鈥� said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at Brookings Institution who studies child development. 

鈥淲e are at this inflection point,鈥� she added, 鈥渨here we actually have a technology that has the capability, if used incorrectly, not just to captivate kids鈥� attention but lessen kids鈥� attention. It takes away human-to-human interaction by displacing time and their imaginations.鈥�

Indeed, 鈥淭oy Story 5鈥� addresses exactly that. Soon after Jessie learns what鈥檚 been happening to children all over the neighborhood, 8-year-old Bonnie gets a tablet of her own, a frog-shaped device called Lilypad. 

Lilypad instantly grabs hold of Bonnie鈥檚 attention. Bonnie 鈥� a child who had previously relished in the rich stories and scenes she鈥檇 created with her analog toys using just her imagination 鈥� becomes zoned out, using the device day and night. She forgets about her beloved toys and the worlds she had dreamed up for them. 

Bonnie鈥檚 parents bought her the device in hopes that it would help her make friends. After all, everyone else her age seemed to be using one. While Lilypad does help Bonnie connect with her peers through a group chat, she soon learns that鈥檚 not quite the same thing as finding a true friend. After getting invited to a sleepover that goes all wrong, Bonnie finds out that digital connection is no replacement for authentic human connection. The child becomes more and more despondent and detached as the film progresses, leading her toys 鈥� Jessie, Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang 鈥� to take charge on her behalf. They want to oust Lilypad and also help Bonnie make a real friend. 

The movie portrays technology as a force that can come at the expense of human relationships, which is often what experts warn about when it comes to children and screens. 

鈥淲e see human displacement as a very real threat,鈥� said Michelle Culver, founder of the Rithm Project, a nonprofit working to reclaim and evolve human connection in the age of AI. So she loved that 鈥淭oy Story 5鈥� was, in many ways, 鈥渁 celebration of friendship.鈥� 

Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and author of the forthcoming book 鈥淗uman Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity and Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI,鈥� felt the movie did a good job of demonstrating 鈥渉ow screen time can erode creativity and connection and lead to bullying.鈥�

鈥淓ven though the movie is about tech,鈥� Suskind said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 probably about something deeper that we鈥檙e all grappling with: the desire and the need for human connection, the important role the early years play in navigating human relationships and learning how to have relationships.鈥�

Suskind saw 鈥淭oy Story 5鈥� the day it came out. She went with two colleagues at the TMW Center for Early Learning and Public Health at the University of Chicago, including Liz Sablich, who brought her two young children along. 

Sablich鈥檚 7-year-old son Jack had some astute questions and observations about the film later that night, after taking some time to process what he鈥檇 seen, his mom said. One of the first things he said, Sablich recalled, was that Bonnie seemed 鈥渉ypnotized鈥� by her device 鈥� that was the word he used. 鈥淚t was like she worshipped it,鈥� Jack told his mother. 

Sablich agreed and explained that some technology is actually designed to do that. Jack wanted to know why. When she told him that, in some cases, the more a person uses the technology, the more money a company makes, he became visibly upset and said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not right. That鈥檚 not fair. They should care more about the people.鈥� 

Jack was also perplexed that Bonnie kept her device in her bedroom, right next to her bed, at all times. (Jack is only permitted access to his tablet during travel, Sablich said.) He said he never wanted to use his tablet again and didn鈥檛 want his mom to use her phone. Sablich used that opportunity to explain how technology can work for and with us, too. For example, she was able to use her phone to arrange a play date for him the next day. 鈥淲e can use it in limited ways to make it easier to play with friends and do things in the real world,鈥� she told him. 

鈥淚 was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward I thought the message of the film was and that it sparked such an important conversation,鈥� Sablich said. 

That鈥檚 exactly the type of dialogue experts are hoping the film will prompt. 

鈥淲e have to get this in the national conversation,鈥� said Hirsh-Pasek. 鈥淭he group that鈥檚 being left out of the national conversation is little kids, the 0 to 10 crowd.鈥�

The film is giving families and young children an opportunity to 鈥減ause and reflect,鈥� said Sunny Xun Liu, director of research at the Stanford Social Media Lab 鈥� and to ask some important questions.

鈥淲hat are our values as a society for technology, especially for such young children?鈥� Liu said. 鈥淲hat values should we hold together as a community and a culture about technology and screens? It gives us opportunities to think about this topic as families, communities and a society together.鈥�

That Disney, a powerhouse media brand trusted by millions of American families, opted to tackle this topic at all was 鈥渂old,鈥� Suskind said. Michael Levine, an early learning expert with more than two decades in the field of children鈥檚 media, called it 鈥済utsy.鈥�

鈥淭he fact they鈥檝e responded to the cultural moment 鈥� is really smart and, I think, brave,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ats off.鈥�

Culver, at the Rithm Project, was impressed by how much 鈥渄imension鈥� the movie had on the topic of technology, showing that, in addition to the harm devices can do, they can also help bring people together when used appropriately. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 always the opportunity for good,鈥� Suskind noted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 whether or not we make the design choices that actually allow it. I think Disney tried to show that.鈥�

Ohio lawmakers have passed a bill that would require schools to teach students to graduate high school, get a job, and get married 鈥� in that order 鈥� before having a baby. They call this order of events the success sequence.

聽passed 58-36 during Wednesday鈥檚 House session and the Ohio Senate concurred with the changes made to the bill later that night before going on summer break.

Ohio Republican state Reps. Haraz Ghanbari, Gayle Manning, and Jason Stephens joined Ohio House Democrats in voting against the bill.

State Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, introduced the bill, which originally began as legislation that would allow Ohio to join the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists, which allows licensed professionals to provide services across state lines.

The bill passed the Ohio Senate unanimously in November.

The Ohio House Education Committee made changes to the bill, including adding the success sequence.

鈥淵oung people are statistically far less likely to live in poverty when they complete high school, work full time, and marry before having children,鈥� said Ohio Rep. Sarah Fowler-Arthur, R-Ashtabula.

鈥淭his gives young people tools to make informed decisions about education, work, family, and their future stability.鈥�

The Heritage Foundation 鈥� the right-wing think tank that published 鈥� provides model legislation for the success sequence.

The bill requires the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to have a curriculum list for the success sequence for grades 6-12 and this would be a graduation requirement.

Following these sequences of events means people are 鈥渙verwhelmingly less likely to live in poverty in adulthood,鈥� the says.

However, a found those who finish high school, work full time, and get married are less likely to experience poverty, but the order did not matter much.

鈥淚 feel like some of us must have missed the basic statistical lesson that correlation is not causation,鈥� said state Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna.

鈥淚t completely misses the fact that there are so many other explanations for why so many people struggle in life so much. 鈥� Teaching that graduation, then work, then marriage, and then kids equals success also leaves out all of the unique ways that people live in our state.鈥�

, a standalone success sequence bill,

State Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, shared the story of his mom who graduated high school, got a job, got married, and eventually gave up her job to raise her two children.

鈥淗er path did not follow a fairytale outcome,鈥� Brennan said. 鈥淪he suffered horrible abuse from her husband, lost everything when he left. She鈥檚 forced to work two low-paid, non-union jobs, supplemented by public assistance to keep clothes on her kids鈥� backs, food on the table.鈥�

She later died of breast cancer.

鈥淭he so-called success sequence did not save my mother,鈥� Brennan said. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 shield her from poverty or systemic societal problems. 鈥� Just because some individuals who follow a certain pathway avoid poverty, it doesn鈥檛 mean those steps cause success for everyone.鈥�

Brennan also said teaching the success sequence is one more burden on teachers.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e already stretched thin, and this part of this bill adds another requirement,鈥� he said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

The law鈥檚 passage followed nearly two decades of groundwork and an eight-year advocacy campaign led by Let鈥檚 Grow Kids, a local organization focused on building broad public and political support for childcare reform. The mission? To achieve high-quality, affordable childcare for the whole state. 

A from New America chronicles the years of advocacy and organizing that paved the way for Vermont to pass Act 76, including the incremental legislative strategy that developed bipartisan support; efforts to build a coalition of stakeholders; and the strategic pivots and political organizing that were instrumental in passing the law. By recounting Vermont鈥檚 roadmap, the report鈥檚 author, Rebecca Gale, who has been covering childcare in the state for years, shares lessons learned to highlight what鈥檚 possible when it comes to state-led childcare reform. 

Here鈥檚 a look back at Gale鈥檚 reporting on some of the key actions and policy changes that have led to progress in Vermont.

While childcare has gained visibility in political campaigns, it鈥檚 more often a secondary issue, rather than a key priority for candidates. That may be starting to change. In April, Aly Richards, who led Let鈥檚 Grow Kids for nearly a decade, announced her bid for governor. In an interview with Gale, Richards discussed why the governor鈥檚 office might be the best next step for someone who knows how central quality childcare is for families 鈥� and states 鈥� to thrive.

Let鈥檚 Grow Kids, a nonprofit organization formed in 2015 to improve Vermont鈥檚 childcare infrastructure, sunset its operations in October 2025. According to its CEO, it was always intended to be dismantled after a decade, and the sunset strategy was critical to its success in spurring change. Here鈥檚 an inside look at how the organization鈥檚 efforts drove progress that led the state to make childcare more accessible and affordable, and why the time-sensitive nature of Let鈥檚 Grow Kids was key to its success.

Act 76, a law which passed in Vermont in 2023, has been a game changer for many of the state鈥檚 childcare providers, offering a notable financial boost. For some, it鈥檚 doubled their income. The law, which was designed to increase access to high-quality childcare for families and to support the state鈥檚 early care and education workforce, has had a number of successes in its first year of implementation. Here鈥檚 a look at how family childcare providers in the state have been impacted.

In June 2023, Vermont鈥檚 legislature overrode Republican Gov. Phil Scott鈥檚 veto to approve a number of state-wide priorities, including $125 million to shore up its childcare infrastructure. The state鈥檚 successful effort followed more than a decade of advocacy and grassroots organizing focused on strengthening its childcare system. The law, , expanded childcare subsidies to reach more families and increased wages for providers. Supporters view Vermont鈥檚 approach as a national model for expanding affordable, accessible child care and strengthening the workforce.

In June 2023, Vermont鈥檚 Republican Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill to strengthen the state鈥檚 childcare system, but even after the governor鈥檚 veto, the state legislature had sufficient support to consider an override. Richards, CEO of Let鈥檚 Grow Kids, said the decision to veto could be traced back to a campaign promise not to raise taxes. Without the payroll tax increase, the program could not afford to pay providers more. 鈥淭he Governor agrees childcare is essential but won鈥檛 raise taxes. Those two things cannot live together. The solution is public investment. We know this is hard work. That is why we have a bipartisan movement. We are making hard choices together, but we are doing so responsibly,鈥� Richard said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe, many states across the U.S. were navigating childcare setbacks. But in May 2021, after years of advocacy and organizing around strengthening childcare, Vermont passed , key legislation to reform childcare in the state. Despite the groundswell of political will for the program, Vermont still faces major funding hurdles. Gale offers a look into the state鈥檚 progress and challenges.

The way she recalls it, nearly everyone in the group whose child had a summer or even late spring birthday was thinking about holding them back from kindergarten an extra year. Bollman鈥檚 son had an August birthday, making him the youngest among the bunch. 

The conversation stuck with Bollman, she said, and soon, she found herself asking any teacher she encountered during the next year for their opinion. 

鈥淣ot one teacher told me to send him early,鈥� Bollman recalled. 鈥淭hey all said it was a good idea to hold him back 鈥� 鈥榚specially with a little boy,鈥� they鈥檇 say.鈥�

The idea of delaying a child鈥檚 entry into kindergarten 鈥� a practice often referred to as redshirting 鈥� has gone mainstream in recent years, so much so that a parent of a child nearing school age might get the impression that just about everybody is doing it. 

But that鈥檚 far from the case. 

A recent from NWEA, a research and assessment company, finds that rates of kindergarten redshirting in recent years have held remarkably steady with trends from the and , averaging about 5% each year and peaking in fall 2021 at 6.4%. 

The practice gained attention in 2022 when social scientist Richard Reeves, in his book 鈥�,鈥� proposed redshirting all boys to account for their slower pace of development, relative to girls. Reeves鈥� proposal followed writings from author Malcolm Gladwell, who in his 2008 book 鈥溾�� that birthdays, relative to cutoff dates, contribute to a person鈥檚 long-term academic and athletic performance. 

Still, recent attention to redshirting seems to have amounted to minimal, if any, increase in the uptake of it, said Megan Kuhfeld, director of growth modeling and data analytics at NWEA. 

鈥淎 lot of families probably consider it and then opt out of doing it,鈥� Kuhfeld explained, adding that, after reflection, many probably realize, 鈥溾�榊ou know what, I don鈥檛 want to pay for an extra year [of preschool].鈥� We鈥檙e capturing those that went through with redshirting.鈥� 

NWEA evaluated data from more than three million kindergarteners between fall 2017 and 2025 (and controlled for the 1-2% of kindergarten students who repeat the grade each year). The findings show that redshirting remains uncommon, and that among families who delayed kindergarten, the students tend to be white, male and enrolled in more affluent schools. 

The analysis also found that the academic advantages experienced by redshirted students, who are starting kindergarten as among the oldest in their class, tend to fade quickly. By third grade, most redshirters score on par with their peers who started kindergarten on time. 

But one of the limitations of this study, Kuhfeld acknowledged, is that it doesn’t capture students鈥� social, emotional and behavioral advantages, which are often the driving force behind a family鈥檚 decision to hold a child back a year. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 very possible there is a long-lasting behavioral component,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 able to see that. That鈥檚 an important caveat.鈥�

It was social-emotional development that ultimately drove Bollman and her husband to make the decision to redshirt their son. 

Bollman wasn鈥檛 concerned that her son couldn鈥檛 handle kindergarten academically. Rather, she noticed that, at 4 years old, he struggled to cope when he lost a game or didn鈥檛 succeed at something on the first try. 

鈥淚 worried if he went into an environment where he was having a hard time keeping up with his peers, that he would kind of get discouraged and it would lay not-the-best groundwork for his academic life,鈥� Bollman said. 鈥淎 year later, he was more emotionally mature where he could handle those setbacks.鈥�

Now that her son has finished up his kindergarten year, Bollman feels sure it was the right decision. It wasn鈥檛 without downsides, though. She estimates that her family spent $8,000 for him to attend preschool three days a week during the year that he could鈥檝e been enrolled in kindergarten. 

Diane Schanzenbach, an economist at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy who studies education issues, noted that there are financial costs on both ends of the redshirting decision. On the front end is the additional cost of a year of preschool, which about $11,500 in the U.S. On the back end, it鈥檚 a year of lost earnings, if that child eventually enters the labor force a year late but retires around the same age as everyone else. 

Schanzenbach, who has about redshirting in the past, sympathizes with parents who are on the fence about kindergarten, recognizing that they often have to decide many months before their child would actually start school. 

鈥淧arenting is really hard,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he kid you鈥檝e got today is not the kid you鈥檝e got in a week, in a month, in a year. You鈥檙e trying to make the best possible decisions under a ton of uncertainty鈥� but there鈥檚 a lot of reasons to stick with the normal path.鈥�

It鈥檚 clear that the vast majority of families come to a similar conclusion, since redshirting rates have not meaningfully increased over the decades. In fact, in 2025, in states with a Sept. 1 kindergarten cutoff, more than two-thirds of the 4.4% of students who were redshirted were born in June, July or August, NWEA shared. Those summer kids are more likely to be true edge cases, where families feel the child, at 4 years old or newly 5, is just not ready for the expectations put on children in kindergarten.  

Children who are redshirted are more likely to be from families with higher socioeconomic status, the report found. It鈥檚 all part of the 鈥渁rms race鈥� in education, particularly among wealthier communities, to try to give their child an advantage academically and athletically, Kuhfeld said. (The term 鈥渞edshirting鈥� is actually borrowed from college athletics and refers to a student-athlete delaying competition until sophomore year to allow for more development. When they compete the following year, they鈥檙e known as a 鈥渞edshirt freshman.鈥�)

鈥溾�榃e want to give them an extra year so they can be really ready to go,鈥欌�� Kuhfeld said, describing the mindset of parents who redshirt their kindergarteners. 鈥淚t鈥檚 both, 鈥楧o you have the means?鈥� and 鈥楢re you in a community where this is more normalized?鈥欌��

Elia Garrison, a parent in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, opted to redshirt two of her six children 鈥� both boys with summer birthdays. But she wasn鈥檛 trying to join an education arms race. She was trying instead, she said, to protect her children from the intense academic pressure and competition that begins the moment they start school. 

鈥淥nce the rat race starts in kindergarten,鈥� Garrison said, 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 stop.鈥�

Garrison has noticed the way that kindergarten has become much more rigorous and structured than it was when she was growing up in the 1980s. When one of her kid鈥檚 kindergarten teachers told her that 鈥�,鈥� it resonated with Garrison. 

鈥淚 wanted my son to have that one more year of play-based fun鈥� in preschool, she said, referring to her fifth child, who has a June birthday. 

The COVID-19 pandemic also featured prominently in her decision to redshirt him. She had gone to the local school district鈥檚 meeting for incoming kindergarteners in spring 2020; she had been planning to enroll him for the fall. A few weeks later, the pandemic hit. 

Garrison imagined her young-for-his-grade son experiencing kindergarten over Zoom, and she changed her mind. They鈥檇 try again the following year. 

鈥淒evelopmentally, it was a great decision with him,鈥� she said of her son, who will be in third grade this fall. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 because we redshirted him, but I feel like he was able to grasp concepts better than had he been rushed into first grade and second grade.鈥�

If he鈥檇 been born in April or May, she said, she wouldn鈥檛 have held him back. That was where she drew the line. She ultimately decided to redshirt her sixth 鈥� and last 鈥� child as well. His birthday is the day before the Sept. 1 cutoff.

鈥淚鈥檓 OK with holding them back a little bit, within reason,鈥� Garrison said. 鈥淚鈥檓 OK with that because we鈥檙e in such a hurry 鈥� to make our kids grow up 鈥� that pushing them creates problems later on 鈥� unnecessary goals and unnecessary stresses.鈥�

She emphasized that, above all, it鈥檚 a personal decision that each family has to make for themselves. 

鈥淚 can鈥檛 reiterate it enough: One size doesn鈥檛 fit all,鈥� Garrison said. 鈥淎s a parent, you know your child best. Just because everybody is doing it doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 right for you. Some kids will be bored and will want the challenge of kindergarten, even if they are younger. You don鈥檛 want to hold them back. You want them to have the challenges. It all depends on the parent and the kids.鈥�

Others made a similar point. Kuhfeld clarified that neither she nor NWEA are coming out against kindergarten redshirting. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not endorsing that no one redshirts,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or some kids it does help, but for a lot it doesn鈥檛 鈥� and there are these long-term downsides you should think about.鈥�

Schanzenbach, who believes that redshirting is 鈥済enerally not worth it,鈥� noted that, if she had been in Garrison鈥檚 case with a child who would鈥檝e been starting kindergarten virtually, 鈥淚 for sure would have redshirted my kid.鈥�

At the end of the day, Schanzenbach said, whatever a parent decides, they can鈥檛 ever know what would鈥檝e happened if they鈥檇 chosen the alternative. Maybe a young kindergartener would鈥檝e had a nurturing teacher who helped him with his social-emotional development and gave him time and space to thrive. 鈥淚t鈥檚 literally impossible to know,鈥� she said.

Bollman, in Arizona, has another son 鈥� a toddler 鈥� who will be enrolling in kindergarten before she knows it. But his birthday is in January, and he鈥檒l be starting kindergarten 鈥渙n time.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a relief,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hat it鈥檚 not a decision I have to make.鈥�

In 2025, one-third of states had a waitlist or a freeze on applications for childcare assistance for most families, through the Child Care and Development Block Grant, according to new data published in a from the National Women鈥檚 Law Center.聽

The number of states with a waitlist or freeze had increased from the prior year 鈥� from 13 in 2024 to 17 in 2025. But perhaps more concerning, said Karen Schulman, the center鈥檚 senior director of state childcare policy, is the total number of children on those waitlists. 

Between February 2024 and February 2025, the number of children on state childcare waitlists nearly doubled, to 225,000, according to the NWLC, which collected data from state childcare administrators across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

Those waitlists only grew as the months wore on. By the second half of 2025, more than 400,000 children were on waitlists in those states, marking a 78% increase from February. In the months since the data was collected, at least five more states, plus Washington, D.C., have implemented waitlists, and two more began freezing intake, according to NWLC. 

鈥淎 range of factors are pulling at states,鈥� Schulman said, 鈥渟o you have more families needing help but a strain on resources that provide that help.鈥� 

Some states are struggling to adjust to the end of pandemic-era funding, the last of which in September 2024, and many states are trying to balance tight budgets while also planning ahead for federal funding cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, she explained. Meanwhile, rising costs have changed many families鈥� financial circumstances, and more may be seeking out assistance. 

Plus, Schulman said, some states have increased the reimbursement rates paid to providers in an attempt to get more of them to participate in the subsidy program; that has redirected some of the dedicated funds for the program.  

It鈥檚 not a surprise that the CCDBG program, which is the main source of federal support for families struggling to afford childcare, is failing to reach everyone who qualifies for it. As of this year, it is to be serving only about one in six of all eligible children, due to inadequate funding. 

While the 400,000 children on waitlists make up a small slice of the total population of eligible children, that number is significant because it represents the families who have expressed a need for the benefit and are being denied it or told it will be delayed, Schulman explained. She also noted that the number of families seeking help is very likely underestimated because of complexities with data tracking. California maintains waitlists at the local level, rather than at the state level; Colorado has waitlists in some counties and frozen intake in others; and Georgia, although it doesn鈥檛 use the term 鈥渇rozen intake,鈥� effectively has a freeze in place since it only serves families meeting priority criteria. 

Whether it鈥檚 a waitlist or a freeze, “There are tremendous impacts for a family who is waiting for assistance,鈥� Schulman said. 

While families are waiting for a childcare subsidy, they may have to stretch their budgets to pay for care out of pocket. That could mean putting off other bills, such as rent and utilities, or struggling to afford food. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e just meeting their basic needs if they have to pay for childcare themselves,鈥� Schulman said. 鈥淭hey might have to patch together unstable arrangements that could fall apart at the last minute and put their job in jeopardy. They may not be able to go to work at all, which could put them in even greater financial straits.鈥�

All of these outcomes, she said, could have impacts on the family鈥檚 future financial, emotional and physical health. 

Meanwhile, early care and education programs in low-income areas, where many families rely on subsidies to afford childcare, may face another set of repercussions. They could end up cutting already-low staff wages, Schulman said, or go out of business, putting their enrolled families in a bind. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 just a ripple effect throughout the whole community, affecting the economy of the community, the workforce of the community, whole neighborhoods,鈥� Schulman said. 

Kim Kofron, executive director of early childhood education at Children at Risk, a Texas-based statewide advocacy organization, said that one of the challenges is that families who join a waitlist may incorrectly believe that they鈥檒l soon circulate off it. 

Anecdotally, Kofron said, she hears that waitlists in Texas are about two years long. (The state had more than 110,000 children on its waitlist as of February 2025, according to the NWLC.)

鈥淒o they patch together some type of childcare with neighbors and friends? Do they go to a subpar childcare program because that鈥檚 what they can afford? Or do they turn down the job because 鈥� it鈥檚 cheaper to not work and not pay for childcare?鈥� Kofron said, outlining the options for waitlisted families. 

She added: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of questions right now from providers of, 鈥業s it worth it? Is it worth taking subsidies when I can鈥檛 get more kids off the waitlist?鈥欌��

These outcomes are not theoretical for RB Fast, founder of Westwood Academy, an early care and education program in Denver. 

She remembers receiving an email in fall 2024 notifying her that one of the counties she serves was . (In Colorado, waiting lists and freezes are decided at the county level.)

鈥淚 really thought it would be a couple of months,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was not ready for it to be semi-permanent and extended the way it has been.鈥�

Soon, she learned that two more counties would also be implementing a freeze. 

Back then, Fast鈥檚 program, which is licensed for 30 slots, was fully enrolled. She estimates that about two-thirds of those families paid with subsidies. Today, her program is underenrolled, with 22 children, and only three of those families pay with subsidies 鈥� two got in before the freeze began and the third is a child living with a foster family who was granted a temporary subsidy. 

For the remaining families, some manage OK, but others scramble each month, sending panicked emails asking if they can pay late or use a friend鈥檚 credit card for this month鈥檚 tuition. 鈥淵ou can tell they鈥檙e juggling to try to get tuition paid,鈥� Fast said.

She has also seen firsthand the way some families pull together substandard childcare arrangements in the absence of public assistance. Fast knows of a family that had to start leaving their toddler with the great-grandmother while the parents go to work. 

鈥淚鈥檓 sure she loves that child very much 鈥� but at 80, are you in place to give an optimal environment to a 2-year-old?鈥� said Fast, noting the level of attention and activity a toddler requires. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about an inconvenience for one family or a handful of families,鈥� she said of the waitlists. 鈥淚t affects employers, extended families [and] children.鈥�

Fast is in the process of opening her second location, in a nearby suburb of Denver. That program will not be accepting childcare subsidies, she said. Nor will any future program she opens. 

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 feel worth it to me,鈥� she said. 

In doing so, it will become the latest in a wave of states that have established standalone departments for early care and education in recent years, joining the ranks of , and .

The shift toward unified governance structures comes at a time when the sector is getting more attention and, in some states, more investment. That, plus an effort to improve families鈥� experiences in accessing public programs for them and their young children, seems to be driving this trend.

Whether a state鈥檚 governance structure can make a meaningful difference in how its system of early childhood education functions, though, is a question worth asking 鈥� and it鈥檚 one many early childhood policy leaders are trying to answer.

. . . . . 

Every state has a unique organizational framework, but historically, programs and services for young children and their families have been housed across several common agencies, such as an education department, a department of health, and a department of welfare and social services.

That was the case in Colorado before it launched its Department of Early Childhood in 2022, explained executive director Lisa Roy, and it made for a disjointed experience. 

鈥淗aving things scattered across different agencies just makes things confusing for families,鈥� Roy said. 

And that is the case in Illinois now, said Teresa Ramos, secretary of the new department that is slated to on July 1. 

鈥淲hat excites me, over time, is building a system that can more seamlessly serve parents and providers,鈥� Ramos said. She wants to lift 鈥渟ome of that burden鈥� off of families and educators who have to keep track of 鈥渨hich 12 people to call鈥� and ultimately simplify their experience of engaging with government services. 

The other consequence of programs being spread across different departments is that it creates a leadership vacuum in early care and education, said Elliot Regenstein, a lawyer who has studied early childhood governance and recently wrote a on the topic.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a complicated ecosystem,鈥� Regenstein said. 鈥淲hen oversight of that ecosystem is splintered across multiple agencies, with none as their primary expertise, it shows.鈥�

Cynthia Osborne, executive director of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University, which , used the pandemic as an example. During that time, a state education secretary鈥檚 focus was likely on reopening K-12 schools, even though their department also oversaw Head Start and pre-K programs, while the health secretary was probably thinking primarily about hospitals and health care, not child care licensing and quality. 

鈥淲hat you had in early childhood was a system entirely run by middle managers,鈥� Regenstein said. 鈥淗alfway up the org chart, they may or may not be empowered to interact with the legislature. Their orientation was to run a grant program, rather than think systemically about how those pieces fit together.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not a knock on those people. But when it was literally nobody鈥檚 job to think about the system as a whole, it just made everybody鈥檚 job harder.鈥�

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center has identified 13 states that have established standalone departments or offices of early care and education. In those 13 states, there is a senior leader whose entire job is to think about, organize and prioritize issues affecting early childhood. That change is both symbolic and actual 鈥� or it can be, when managed thoughtfully. 

Another dozen or so states 鈥� while not going as far as creating a new department 鈥� have made meaningful changes around early childhood governance and leadership, Regenstein added. 

鈥淭he question I鈥檇 ask,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s has a state taken action to elevate leadership in early childhood and done something to unify oversight? Even if they haven鈥檛 gotten all the way there, I want to give credit for progress.鈥�

Of course, the formation of a new government agency, and the appointment of a senior official to lead it, is not in itself a victory. Only once those pieces are in place does the hard work begin. 

鈥淓arly childhood programs are historically under-resourced. Putting them all together doesn鈥檛 give you some kind of economy of scale 鈥� 鈥榦h, good, we鈥檙e all here and we鈥檙e all under-resourced,鈥� said Elizabeth Groginsky, secretary of New Mexico鈥檚 Early Childhood Education and Care Department, acknowledging the challenge these departments face. 

She added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e focused on building a system of programs and services that are well connected and aligned. We鈥檝e done a really good job. We still have much work to do.鈥�

. . . . . 

One thing all of these states seem to have in common is a governor who is willing to prioritize young children and families and make early childhood education a signature part of their platform. 

Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Jared Polis of Colorado and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico all ran campaigns that emphasized early childhood education and later stewarded the creation of a standalone department. That is no coincidence, Osborne of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center said. 

For this organizing structure to be successful, she said, 鈥渋t has to come from the governor.鈥�

Helene Stebbins, executive director of the Alliance for Early Success, made a similar point. 鈥淲hat matters more than any org chart or structure is leadership. Full stop,鈥� said Stebbins. 鈥淲hen you have a strong governor, it is like wind in the sails.鈥�

That significance doesn鈥檛 evaporate once the department has launched. These governors appoint cabinet-level officials, such as Roy in Colorado and Groginsky in New Mexico, to lead the new agency and work alongside them as they make decisions that are relevant to early care and education providers, children and families. 

In practice, these states end up with a dedicated early childhood advocate attending cabinet meetings with the governor and other department heads.   

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just symbolic. It鈥檚 really important,鈥� said Osborne. 鈥淭he secretary of early childhood is sitting side-by-side with the secretaries of 鈥� education and health. They can make decisions at that level, think about how to work together and leverage resources, in real-time.鈥� 

That鈥檚 an enormous improvement over the 鈥渕iddle manager鈥� dynamic that Regenstein described.

鈥淚t is much more likely that you鈥檙e going to be able to get the resources that you need,鈥� Osborne added. 

In Colorado, that has had a real impact, Polis shared. 

鈥淚t certainly elevated the discussion about early childhood education in our state,鈥� Polis said. 鈥淒r. Roy attends every cabinet meeting. We talk about early childhood education every week. Before, no one owned it in the state.鈥�

That access has given Roy opportunities to communicate directly with the governor about nuances in the field and to get a broader perspective of his competing priorities, she said. 

鈥淭he governor is a partner with me in thinking through these things,鈥� Roy said, adding that 鈥渉aving that access and having his ear has been so important.鈥�  

That kind of centralized leadership and governor鈥檚 support have been essential in enabling New Mexico to make groundbreaking progress on early care and education in the last several years, according to Groginsky. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way this kind of rapid, system-building growth could鈥檝e happened with three different agencies, middle-level managers and staff working cross-departmental,鈥� she said, referring to the recent transformation of early childhood education in the state, including the launch of the first statewide universal free child care initiative in the U.S. 

It is much more efficient and effective, she added, to channel all that time, energy and resources 鈥渋n one direction, under one leader.鈥� 

. . . . . 

This recent burst of activity in the development of early childhood education departments has precedent. In the early 2000s, a trio of states 鈥� Georgia, Massachusetts and Washington 鈥� each created a new agency to focus on early childhood. 

Georgia鈥檚 Department of Early Care and Learning, , is considered to have been the first state-level early childhood education department, said Amy M. Jacobs, the agency鈥檚 commissioner since 2014. She said her office has received numerous requests and questions from leaders in other states who are now trying to stand up a similar governance structure (which she describes as a 鈥渙ne-stop shop鈥� for families). 

To those leaders, she typically tries to impart a few key lessons. 

One, she said, is to take their time. It鈥檚 OK to go slowly, especially if it means getting it right. Georgia鈥檚 department underwent many iterations before the final pieces were in place in 2017 鈥� a full 13 years after it launched. 

Another, Jacobs said, is to create a system that makes sense in the context of their state. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no 鈥榬ight鈥� way to create your agency. There are no 鈥榬ight鈥� set of programs,鈥� she explained. 鈥淓very state is going to have their own pathway.鈥�

In practice, that means that New Mexico鈥檚 department may have more programs and services under its umbrella than Colorado鈥檚, and that shouldn鈥檛 be a critique of either agency. 

Finally, Jacobs said, it鈥檚 important to understand that anyone involved in this work may need patience if they want to see ideas about the field of early care and education meaningfully change. 

鈥淐ulture change will take longer than you ever think it will,鈥� Jacobs said, noting that after more than two decades, she believes that the perception of early childhood educators as 鈥渂abysitters鈥� has changed and that the field is now highly valued by Georgia state leaders and policymakers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long process. 鈥� It just takes a lot of time to change that mindset.鈥�

The formation of these departments is in itself momentous, many policy experts said, because it signals that early childhood is an issue that鈥檚 so important it deserves 鈥� literally 鈥� a seat at the governor鈥檚 table. But their existence does not guarantee their long-term success. 

Many of these agencies are still very new, having been ushered in by the sitting governor. One of the major tests is whether they can withstand leadership change 鈥� a new governor, perhaps from an opposing party, who maybe isn鈥檛 as keen on putting early care and education toward the top of their platform, said Regenstein. Some states, like Georgia and Massachusetts, have survived that type of leadership transition. 

鈥淲e still cannot answer the question to states, 鈥業s this something we should do?鈥欌�� said Osborne. 鈥淏ut we think there are models of these new departments that really can make it so you鈥檙e prioritizing early childhood, so you can use funds more efficiently, and decisions can be made that will enhance programs.鈥�

In the past year, Christian King, a doula based in Kansas City, has supported more than 40 mothers enrolled in Medicaid through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

In that role, she helps educate and support families about birth and babies, but her work also takes on a more nontraditional approach.

When one mother鈥檚 water was shut off at four weeks postpartum, King helped her find reconciliation services to turn the utilities back on. When another mom couldn鈥檛 afford car repairs, King found an organization in Raytown that provided financial assistance. She helped one client secure a car seat from the local health department and another fill her closet with baby clothes.

King, 35, hopes that soon, 鈥渏ust like going to the dentist and going to the eye doctor, obtaining a doula and having a doula present is also one of those things that you just have to have on your team as part of services for maternity.鈥�

Doulas do not deliver babies. They advocate for the physical and mental wellbeing of mothers and their families.

For the past 15 months in Missouri, anyone enrolled in Medicaid while pregnant and postpartum can have a doula by their side for free. Now, a group of bipartisan lawmakers are hoping to expand the program in an effort to continue combating the state鈥檚 poor infant and maternal outcomes.

鈥淭he statistics tell a devastating story of the lives lost that could鈥檝e been saved if we put in the proper measures,鈥� said state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat from Kansas City who proposed one iteration of the . 鈥淭here are third-world countries that have better maternal mortality rates than we do.鈥�

The bill is estimated to cost around $300,000. While substantial amid a predicted state budget shortfall, state Rep. also filed legislation to expand the program, said she believes the long-term savings of having fewer Missourians who require medical attention will make up for the cost.

On average, 70 women die each year in Missouri during childbirth or in the first year postpartum. Of those deaths,

In Missouri, than women on private insurance, according to a 2024 report published by the state鈥檚 Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review that looked at women who gave birth between 2017 and 2021.聽 A 2023 and also pointed to doulas as a solution.

In fall 2024, the Missouri Department of Social Services issued an , citing 鈥渁n immediate danger to the public health, safety or welfare of pregnant women in Missouri.鈥�

Since the program鈥檚 inception, there have been about 625 participants insured through Medicaid who accessed doulas during their pregnancy and postpartum, said Baylee Watts, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services. As of this month, 108 doulas were enrolled in the program.

鈥淭he department is encouraged by the level of engagement so far,鈥� Watts said in a statement. 鈥淎nd views the doula benefit as an important component of broader efforts to improve maternal health outcomes across Missouri.鈥�

Legislation filed by state Rep. Tara Peters, a Rolla Republican, has moved the farthest this year, clearing committee in February as part of a 聽Her bill seeks to increase the number of covered doula visits from six to 16.

The average out-of-pocket cost for a doula in Missouri is about $1,500, according to the Missouri Doula Association.

鈥淚鈥檝e just noticed how much extra care a doula can provide, especially for women in high need situations,鈥� said 鈥淒oulas can provide some great education and support for people who maybe don鈥檛 have the extra support.鈥�

This support can also look like serving as an interpreter between medical professionals and pregnant people, navigating insurance, ensuring access to nutritious food or coordinating transportation to medical appointments.

, who previously served as executive director of Monarch Family Resource Center in Farmington, said expanding the number of covered visits can be particularly helpful for women who experience postpartum depression in the year after giving birth.

Her legislation, like Peters鈥�, expands the number of reimbursable visits from six to sixteen, and includes access to doulas for prenatal, birth, postpartum and lactation support.

She said the legislation also hopes to correct some issues doulas have had getting full reimbursement after being in the room for a scheduled c-section, listed as a scheduled surgeries, a classification she said muddled the reimbursement process.

The Department of Social Services previously said the reimbursements could lead to savings for the state in the coming years, including by potentially reducing the Cesarean rate. Watts said it鈥檚 too early to get an accurate look at this result.

said doulas can be a lifesaving set of eyes and ears in homes where women experience domestic violence, a leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths in Missouri.

鈥淭he doula birth worker can also have a voice in those situations and see what鈥檚 going on outside of that medical office,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd maybe be able to provide some rescuing relief from dangerous situations for mom.鈥�

To be eligible, and certified through a national or Missouri-based doula training organization. From there, they will be added to a list of eligible doulas overseen by .

Sandra Thornhill, a social justice doula who has advocated in Jefferson City for better legislation for doulas, said it was beautiful to see this policy issue reach across the aisle. And she was happy to see some of the proposals pushing for increased visits, especially in postpartum.

She said it鈥檚 not a question of if doulas should be reimbursed, but of how the state honors the traditional practices and values of doulas in that process. She is wary of any policies that place community health workers under medical or state authority. Instead she hopes to see more collaborative models.

鈥滿y concern is not with recognizing doulas in the Medicaid policy, but with how the bill structures authority and governance over that work,鈥� said Thornill, who describes herself as a womb warrior and policy griot. 鈥淭he question is whether the policy structure strengthens community birth workers or will it place unnecessary burden or medical authority that doesn鈥檛 reflect the roots of the work.鈥�

But she said the progress made in acknowledging and supporting doula鈥檚 work in the past few years is striking, especially as many doulas live 鈥渂irth to birth鈥� as they struggle to pay the bills.

Prior to the state鈥檚 Medicaid reimbursement plan, to help families in need for free as they navigated growing their families.

鈥淭hey do it because they love their people and their community so much that they鈥檙e willing to make this great sacrifice,鈥� Thornhill said. 鈥溾�〩owever, it is not healthy. And it is not fair for the community to have to suffer like that when there are resources available to change that. But again, those resources cannot come with a slap on the wrist. They cannot come with a backlash of 鈥榥ow you鈥檙e under our thumb.鈥欌��

A representative with America鈥檚 Health Insurance Plans voiced opposition to Washington鈥檚 bill in a committee hearing last month.

鈥淲e are very concerned about issues with education, standardization and making sure doulas are all on the same page and we know exactly how they鈥檝e been trained,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here seems to be some resistance out there and a lot of independence within the organizations.鈥�

Washington鈥檚 legislation also seeks to ensure health benefit plans offer coverage for midwifery services. She said this is especially crucial in rural parts of the state, where families don鈥檛 have access to nearby hospitals with maternity wards.

鈥淐urrently, our law does not explicitly require private health plans to cover midwifery. This would close that loophole,鈥� Washington said, adding that this change would shift power back to patients to choose their own provider, especially in rural communities 鈥渨here the hospitals are closing at alarming rates.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

A new analysis from NWEA, an assessment company, suggests that these children are experiencing learning disruptions even now. 

While kindergarten achievement levels in math and reading largely held steady during and since the pandemic, by first and second grade, students are performing below pre-pandemic averages, according to an of NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment data from spring 2017 to spring 2025. In math, at least, first and second graders have shown slow, incremental progress. Gaps in reading achievement, however, seem stubbornly stalled. 

The performance dips in first and second grade are similar to those seen in older grades, said Megan Kuhfeld, director of growth modeling and data analytics at NWEA, who co-led the research. 

鈥淭he general pattern of stagnation and lack of recovery in reading is very similar in first and second grade as grades three to eight,鈥� Kuhfeld said, adding that a slow recovery in math is also observed in the later grades. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very parallel across, basically, all the grades except for kindergarten.鈥�

So what鈥檚 happening to students as they matriculate from kindergarten to first grade to cause a performance drop?

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the big mystery of the results,鈥� Kuhfeld said.

She was willing to speculate about the cause, leaning on anecdotal evidence from kindergarten teachers and elementary school leaders. 

Chronic absenteeism rates in kindergarten, which are often higher than in any other grade before high school, may mean some students aren鈥檛 getting adequate instructional time, Kuhfeld offered, ultimately standing in the way of them grasping the foundational reading and math skills typically acquired in kindergarten.

And many kindergarten teachers have reported that students are showing up with more nascent social and emotional skills than their peers in prior years. They have less experience with important life skills such as sharing, cooperating and self-regulating. 

鈥淭eachers are spending more time having to teach how to behave in a kindergarten classroom 鈥� that would normally be the purview of preschool teachers,鈥� Kuhfeld said. 鈥淭his time spent on behavioral management and behavioral regulation, cumulatively, could be affecting achievement.鈥�

At Western Hills Primary School in Fort Worth, Texas, where students鈥� MAP Growth assessment results generally align with what NWEA has found nationally, principal Andrea Johnson said both factors could be at play. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing kids who, if they don鈥檛 reach immediate success, we see them dysregulate,鈥� said Johnson, whose school serves students in pre-K through first grade. 鈥淭hey struggle.鈥�

At Western Hills Primary School in Texas, kindergarten and first grade performance in math and reading on NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment generally mirror national trends. (Courtesy of Andrea Johnson)

She believes that may be a latent impact of the pandemic on these younger students. Many of them had extra time at home with parents and caregivers, when early care and education programs were closed. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e used to someone being close and someone solving their problems for them,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e talk a lot about productive struggle. You鈥檝e gotta let them do it. Give them that mentality, where they鈥檝e gotta connect to that struggle.鈥�

She has definitely seen high rates of absenteeism among students in pre-K and kindergarten, she added. 

鈥淚 think they think, 鈥榩re-K and kinder, they don鈥檛 really matter that much,鈥欌�� Johnson said, adding that she often finds herself trying to communicate to families how crucial those years are for future learning and development.

Most measures of post-pandemic recovery have examined the impacts on students in later grades, making NWEA鈥檚 analysis a rare snapshot of students in grades K-2. 

Curriculum Associates, a curriculum and assessment provider, has also evaluated math and reading performance among students in the early grades, finding some similarities and key differences from NWEA鈥檚 results. 

NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment and Curriculum Associates鈥� i-Ready Inform assessment are both widely used in U.S. schools, reaching a combined 19 million K-8 students. Both measure student achievement in math and reading, but they differ in approach.

Kristen Huff, head of measurement at Curriculum Associates, pointed out that these two assessments have distinct designs and methodologies 鈥� and that they are administered to different samples 鈥� which may account for variations in findings.

鈥淔rom the big picture, we鈥檙e seeing the same thing,鈥� Huff said. 鈥淪tudents today who were not in school 鈥� some were babies 鈥� when the pandemic hit are not performing at the same level as their pre-pandemic peers in either reading or math.鈥�

But in a published in July 2025, Curriculum Associates actually found that students in kindergarten are seeing achievement level drops in both math and reading, and that declining math performance in the early grades is 鈥渕ore drastic鈥� than in reading. 

At a high level, she said, both sets of findings send a similar message, which is that America鈥檚 children are not seeing the type of recovery needed to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels. 

鈥淚t opens up the question of what is happening,鈥� Huff said. 鈥淲e can no longer, in my opinion, say that that disrupted learning in 2020 and 2021 is the sole or primary cause of what we鈥檙e seeing. There is a larger, systemic issue 鈥� or issues 鈥� that are impacting this.鈥�

In fiscal year 2025, 1.59% of all federal spending was dedicated to supporting children from birth to age 3, down about 20% from its peak of 1.98% in 2021, when adjusted for inflation. 

That鈥檚 according to , an annual report from First Focus on Children, a nonprofit, bipartisan advocacy organization that seeks to elevate children and families in federal policy and budget decisions. 

For the 2025 edition, the authors tracked nearly 150 federal programs that invest in infants and toddlers, including mandatory programs such as Medicaid and SNAP and discretionary programs such as the Child Care and Development Fund, Head Start and Preschool Development Grants. Their findings, they said, confirm that the U.S. can and should be doing a lot better when it comes to babies.

And with major funding cuts to Medicaid and SNAP looming 鈥� programs which help to meet the basic needs of America鈥檚 youngest population and make up about half of all federal spending on babies 鈥� the next few years are only expected to be worse. 

鈥淎ll the research shows this is the best investment you can possibly make for any age group, and yet we shortchange it,鈥� said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus and one of the report鈥檚 authors. 鈥淲e make far fewer investments for kids 鈥� but particularly babies and toddlers 鈥� than we actually should be making.鈥�

Is there a magic number of dollars to invest in young children? In an interview, Lesley and his co-authors said no. But they did note that while the world鈥檚 largest economy spends $1.59 out of every $100 on babies, it spends about $13 on defense.

Lesley also pointed out that children from birth to age 3 make up about of the U.S. population, meaning federal spending on them is not even half of their population share. And some would argue that infants and toddlers, being an especially vulnerable, wholly dependent group, warrant more than their fair share of spending. 

鈥淢any things about human infants and toddlers are expensive,鈥� said Elizabeth Gaines, founder and CEO of Children鈥檚 Funding Project, a nonprofit that works with states, communities and Native nations to support and expand funding for children. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e vulnerable creatures. We should be spending more of our resources on the most vulnerable of us.鈥�

Many countries have better infrastructure for supporting children and families than the U.S. does, said Melissa Boteach, chief policy officer at Zero to Three, a national nonprofit advocating for infants and toddlers. Most have paid family and medical leave and universal health care systems, which the United States does not provide. That leaves many populations, including the youngest, to fend for themselves. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 paltry,鈥� Boteach said of federal investment. 鈥淏abies are 100% of the future. They鈥檙e in a period where their brain development is so rapid, the investments have such a long-term impact, and yet we continue to underinvest in babies.鈥�

While overall spending on babies is down about 20% over the past four years, discretionary spending has fared even worse. Since 2021, investment in programs that support child care, early learning, environmental safety and health for babies has declined by more than half 鈥� from 2.05% in 2021 to 0.96% in 2025. 

Many of these programs received historic levels of funding in 2021 as part of the , in response to the pandemic, making it an outlier year, acknowledged Chris Becker, vice president of budget policy and data analysis at First Focus and an author of the report. As a result of all that spending, he said, the child poverty rate in the U.S. was , lifting nearly 3 million children out of poverty and illustrating what could be possible if the nation invested more in its youngest citizens. 

鈥淐hild poverty exists. Food insecurity exists for babies. Homelessness exists for babies,鈥� Becker said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what number solves that, but it is solvable.鈥�

H.R. 1, also referred to as the 鈥淥ne Big Beautiful Bill Act,鈥� which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025, may only increase the child poverty rate in the country, the authors of the Babies in the Budget report said. The legislation includes an estimated $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, which will gut the largest sources of federal spending on children from birth to 3. It will then be up to individual states to decide whether to make up the cost difference in those programs or let benefits lapse.

Trump has cast himself as a 鈥溾�� president, promoting rhetoric about boosting birth rates and supporting parents 鈥� a message by Vice President JD Vance and other allies. But the legislation tells a different story: Federal investment in babies and toddlers remains limited, and the largest funding streams for young children face steep cuts.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 even like to think about what is going to come from SNAP and Medicaid cuts,鈥� said Gaines of Children鈥檚 Funding Project. 鈥淜ids in states that step up may end up being OK. Kids from states that largely voted this administration into office may not be OK.鈥�

The president鈥檚 鈥� though not in any way binding and merely used as a blueprint so Congress can see what the administration wants to prioritize 鈥� included program and funding cuts across the board, said Becker of First Focus. But 鈥渂abies are hit especially hard,鈥� he said, with proposed elimination of dozens of programs serving babies and a reduction of more than $2.5 billion in discretionary spending.

There is a dichotomy between the administration鈥檚 words and actions on children and families, added Boteach. 

鈥淏udgets are moral documents,鈥� she said. 鈥淪how me your budget, and I鈥檒l tell you what your priorities are. You can say your priorities are whatever you want, but the words are empty if they鈥檙e not reflected back in a document that actually puts resources into what you say your priorities are.鈥�

Some leaders in the Trump administration have argued these programs for children are too costly, but Gaines doesn鈥檛 accept that as an answer.

鈥淭he resources are there. This is a nation of abundance,鈥� said Gaines. 鈥淲hen people say the money is not there 鈥� it clearly is. Choices are being made about where we invest our dollars publicly.鈥�

To illustrate her point, she noted that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a expansion of immigrant detention facilities. In 2021, the federal government spent on child care relief, and it was transformative for the field, she said. 

鈥淚 think if we asked the public whether they want their money on ICE detention centers or child care centers,鈥� Gaines added, 鈥渢hey鈥檇 say child care centers.鈥�

Could those two trends be related? New research and surveys indicate yes.

In , Boston University economics Ph.D. candidate Abigail Dow finds that when child care prices increase, some American families decide to put off having more children, and many don鈥檛 have more children at all. 

Dow looked at child care prices across the country in a compiled and published by the Women鈥檚 Bureau at the Department of Labor with data from 2010 to 2022. 

She then isolated a 鈥渟hock鈥� to child care prices 鈥� an event, unrelated to something like a recession or a spike in inflation, that made the cost of care go either up or down. The shock she identified was that when states mandate smaller group sizes and/or lower child to staff ratios, child care prices rise, so she studied what happened to fertility decisions when states passed such regulations.

鈥淢y key takeaway is that child care costs are high in the U.S., and I do find they鈥檙e a barrier to having children,鈥� Dow said. She found that a 10% increase in the price of child care for children from birth to 2 years old led to a 5.7% decrease in the birth rate among women aged 20 to 44. Her research also found that the price increase leads to women delaying when they have children: a 10% increase prompts women to push back their first birth by four months and to extend the time between a first and second child by half a month. Dow found that women鈥檚 decisions about whether to have second and third children were particularly hampered by high child care prices. 

The findings are strongest for women ages 30 or older. This is, Dow posits, because they have more to lose if they can鈥檛 get child care: they鈥檝e invested more time and resources into their careers and likely earn more, making the cost of having to give up on work to care for more children in the absence of affordable child care higher. Younger women have less to lose by having a child and dropping out of the work force if child care can鈥檛 be secured.

The research is novel: while there have been studies in European countries which suggest that women rethink having children when child care prices rise, Dow knew that those situations may not be applicable to the U.S., where the government spends much less on child care, it鈥檚 a primarily private system, and there is no guarantee of paid family leave. 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 a robust empirical analysis of: How do child care prices affect fertility rates?鈥� Dow said. 

Dow noted that child care prices aren鈥檛 the only factor dampening the country鈥檚 fertility rate 鈥� other research has found that things like housing and health care prices also make an impact. But it鈥檚 clear that the cost of raising children is top of mind for American parents when they鈥檙e thinking about the sizes of their families. In of 3,000 nationally representative respondents by YouGov, the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University, and Deseret News released in November, a record share of participants 鈥� 71% 鈥� said that raising children is unaffordable, a 13 percentage point increase over 2024. That high cost of raising children was listed as the single most important reason survey respondents offered for why they鈥檝e limited the children they either had or planned to have. That response was twice as prevalent as the next two reasons they gave 鈥� a lack of personal desire and a lack of a supportive partner 鈥� and for the first time in the survey鈥檚 10-year history, it was the top reason respondents gave.

The survey also found that support for government resources aimed at parents through direct payments and better programs had increased since 2021, and opposition to such interventions was 10 percentage points lower. A majority favor universal day care, while just 18% oppose it. Survey respondents also supported increased tax credits for parents.

鈥淚f you think about, 鈥榃hat do I have to think about when I鈥檓 raising a family for those early years,鈥� child care is going to be front of mind,鈥� Dow said.

The situation is poised to get worse for Americans considering whether and when to have children. Dow鈥檚 data only goes through 2022. Since then, the billions of dollars in pandemic-era federal relief for the child care sector has disappeared. In its wake, states like Arkansas and Indiana have cut back on support for the sector. Indiana stopped enrolling new children in its child care subsidy program, and the state has reduced reimbursement rates for providers, leading more than 100 providers to shutter. Arkansas has also cut provider reimbursement rates, put new subsidy applicants on a waitlist, and instituted new copays for parents who receive vouchers. More of the cost burden will now fall on parents in states that pull back.

Dow cautioned that her research shouldn鈥檛 be interpreted as an argument for relaxing regulations in order to bring child care costs down and boost births. 鈥淭hese regulations are really important for child health and safety,鈥� she pointed out. 鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely not in the business of saying we should be making these regulations more lax purely to make child care more affordable for parents.鈥� But, she said, her research makes it clear that parents, and particularly mothers, make decisions about whether to have children and how many to have based at least in part on whether they can afford child care. 鈥淎nything we can do to make child care more affordable seems important from a policy perspective,鈥� she said. 

In late November, the leader of a Native American Head Start program on a reservation in Western Washington State opened an email from the federal government to see that her annual application for funding had been denied.聽

The government shutdown had already delayed the much-needed funds by weeks, threatening a closure of her center, which serves toddlers and preschoolers in a tribe of less than 1,000. And now, a week after the government had re-opened, her application had been 鈥渇lagged for containing language that is not allowable under current federal guidance.鈥�

The culprit? Two trainings for teachers 鈥� one focused on inclusionary practices for kids with autism and the other on tools to support young children as they process trauma. Integral to both 鈥� and also part of the rejection 鈥� an acknowledgment that Native American children would receive priority enrollment in her Head Start classrooms and programming, as federal policy stipulates. 

鈥淏ut we鈥檙e supposed to do those things,鈥� the education director, who asked not to be identified because she fears retribution from the Trump administration, told 社区黑料. 鈥淪o for them to pull them? I鈥檓 just 鈥� I鈥檓 not understanding.鈥�

Ultimately, although she deeply believed the training sessions and prioritizing indigenous children were inherent to her center鈥檚 success and part of its stated mission, she wiped the offending language. Her updated grant was almost immediately approved.

Until last week such existential calculations were being forced on Head Start programs across the country by the Trump’s administration 2025 executive order banning practices involving diversity, equity and inclusion. On Tuesday, a federal judge issued temporarily halting the administration’s anti-DEI edict. 

鈥淭his is a huge victory for kids!鈥� Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Head Start & Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, said in a statement. 鈥淲hen a Head Start program has their funding withheld because of their efforts to provide effective education to children with autism, serve tribal members on a reservation, or treat all families with respect, it is an attack on the fundamental promise of the Head Start program.鈥�

The federal early education and support program for low-income families turned 60 last year, a milestone that coincided with perhaps its most challenging and chaotic year. In 2025, the Trump administration  froze 鈥� then quickly unfroze, then delayed 鈥� grant funding, shuttered five regional offices and fired scores of employees. And during the government shutdown, roughly 10,000 kids across 22 programs lost access to services.

The administration also took aim at Head Start’s of better preparing young children in poverty for school by forbidding providers from overtly addressing issues of race, gender or disability, experts said. The banned word list for grant applications included “disabilities,” 鈥渦nderprivileged鈥� and 鈥淣ative American.鈥�

The Washington State Native American Head Start director said on reservations 鈥渏ust about every one of our children have been touched by trauma鈥� that relates to their race and the painful history of indigenous people in the U.S. 

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 know how to work with kids where things are being triggered,鈥� she added, 鈥渢hen how are we going to move forward and have the best education for these kids so they are not shutting down all the time?鈥�

Thrilled but cautious

The Jan. 6 injunction was part of a lawsuit filed in April 2025 against Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials, alleging that the administration was attempting to illegally dismantle Head Start, which serves roughly 700,000 children and families a year.

Roughly 80% of Head Start鈥檚 funding comes from HHS and it has long been a stated goal of the right wing to eliminate the program.

The ruling means that for the duration of the ongoing case, the administration can鈥檛 enforce the DEI ban nor can it punish Head Start providers for including DEI-related language in their applications or practices in their programs. The judge also ruled the administration cannot fire any more employees at the Office of Head Start, though the sweeping layoffs that have already occurred stand. 

Back in September, the same judge granted a temporary injunction halting the administration from banning undocumented preschoolers and other groups of immigrant children from enrolling in Head Start programs.

In a mandated announcement Friday afternoon, the federal Office of Head Start acknowledged the court鈥檚 ruling, saying, certain actions against “DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) … may not be implemented or enforced鈥� for the time being, though they didn鈥檛 provide any guidance for providers who were forced to remove training and programming in past applications.

The Office of Head Start and HHS did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether further guidance was forthcoming. 

The Washington grantee expressed cautious optimism in response to the ruling, paired with significant anxiety about what comes next. Her approved application is a binding contract, she said, and since it does not include the trauma and autism trainings or prioritization of native kids, she fears she鈥檒l be deemed out of compliance and forced to pay back the money if she proceeds in that direction anyway. 

She said she could try to re-submit an updated application that includes the previously banned words, but 鈥渢hat would be calling more attention to us, and I really am afraid of the retaliation,鈥� especially given the non-permanent nature of  the injunction.

鈥淲henever you put 鈥榯emporary鈥� on something, I鈥檓 always cautious,鈥� she added. 鈥淵es, if more things come out I feel like there will be support and it鈥檒l take care of this, but you can鈥檛 be certain of that in this political climate.鈥� 

It鈥檚 possible the Trump administration could appeal the injunction and it鈥檚 not clear how long it will take the underlying case to work its way through the courts.

In the meantime, Ryan, executive director of Washington’s Head Start Association, emphasized that the Trump administration 鈥渃an鈥檛 enforce a contract that is going against the law.鈥� But, he acknowledged, 鈥渨hat that means on the ground is different, because there鈥檚 so much fear of retaliation.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 getting a sense that people will move with a lot of caution at first here to see what happens,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don’t know if they’re going to want to make wholesale changes right out of the gate.鈥�

Linda Morris, senior staff attorney at the ACLU鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Rights Project and one of the attorneys who filed the suit,  said that while this ruling 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 undo those harms that the administration already inflicted,鈥� it鈥檚 still 鈥渁 huge win for families and it鈥檚 a huge win for Head Start providers.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled with the decision,鈥� said Morris.

The initial DEI ban, she said, had put Head Start providers in 鈥渁n impossible bind,鈥� since they were being required to remove programming and words from their grant applications that were required by the statutory text of the Head Start Act. 

They were 鈥渋n constant fear of being forced to comply with an unlawful directive and potentially be out of step with their mission and their obligations under the Head Start Act or,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hey risk being punished and losing their funding and even being forced to close.鈥�

鈥業f it weren鈥檛 real life, it would be hilarious鈥�

Morris and her ACLU colleagues first filed the lawsuit last spring on behalf of a number of state Head Start Associations as well as parent organizations. Initially, the complaint challenged the mass layoffs and restructuring of the federal Office of Head Start as well as the DEI ban, alleging all were causing irreparable harm.

In July, they updated the complaint following the Trump administration’s unprecedented move to exclude families from Head Start based on immigration status.

The complaint was again updated after the executive director of a Head Start agency in Wisconsin had her Jan. 1 grant application returned with instructions to remove 19 words and phrases, including 鈥渋nstitutional,鈥� 鈥渉istorically,鈥� 鈥渆quity,鈥� 鈥渂elong鈥� and 鈥減regnant people.鈥� Later that morning, the Office of Head Start followed up with a 鈥渃omplete least of [nearly 200] words鈥� banned from Head Start applications.

In response, senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) issued a Dec. 18 to RFK Jr. expressing 鈥渙utrage.鈥�

鈥淭he chaos you are creating is already jeopardizing services for nearly 700,000 young children across this country,鈥� they wrote, adding that 鈥渢he ambiguous policy was not accompanied by clarification on what the Administration considers 鈥楧EI,鈥� and Head Start programs were left with no meaningful guidance on compliance.鈥�

Ultimately, the Wisconsin provider updated her application to fit this new criteria, but, she wrote in a court record, 鈥渃ompliance is challenging because many of the words on the list are integral to Head Start programming requirements.鈥� The grant application itself, she noted, 鈥渁lready includes some of these prohibited words in pre-populated text 鈥� and application questions specifically request responses that include these words.鈥�

鈥淭his has put me in an impossible situation,鈥� she continued.

Jennie Mauer, the executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, said this grantee was one of three in her state serving roughly 860 young children to have their applications returned this month because of the DEI ban. Another was accused of non-compliance for writing that they would make an effort to 鈥渦tilize small businesses, minority businesses, and women-owned businesses.鈥�

鈥淚f it weren鈥檛 real life, it would be hilarious,鈥� said Mauer. 鈥淭here are things that are in the form like, 鈥楾ell us how you鈥檙e going to serve children with disabilities,鈥� but then you can’t say the word 鈥榙isability.鈥� How do you wrap your head around that? It鈥檚 infuriating. I鈥檓 just wringing my hands over here.鈥�

The latest ruling, she said, 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that everything is better, but it means that these worst-case scenarios aren’t going to come to fruition,鈥� at least not immediately.

And while she鈥檚 hopeful the government will comply with the judge鈥檚 order, damage has  been done to Head Start communities, she said, leaving program leaders, providers and families worried.

鈥淵ou feel like we’re in this sort of Cold War environment where people are afraid,” she said. 鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 be afraid of your government.鈥�

Note: 社区黑料 replaced two of the photos that ran in an earlier version of this story.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty grim,鈥� said Natalie Renew, executive director of Home Grown, a national initiative committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based child care, about the outlook for the sector.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anyone is particularly optimistic about child care鈥� in the new year, added Daniel Hains, chief policy and professional advancement officer at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 

A handful of early care and education experts noted that 2025 did herald in a number of key victories in the field. 

Some states in policies shaping child care and early childhood education. In 2025, , and were among those that made new investments in the field. New Mexico took its gains in recent years a step further by free universal child care for all families, regardless of income, beginning last November. 

Alongside those wins for early learners and their caregivers came some challenges. Head Start was caught in political crosshairs more than once throughout the year 鈥� first when it was for elimination, then when many of its regional offices across the country were , and later when programs serving thousands of children nearly lost access to services during the prolonged government shutdown. And some states, such as Indiana, by the end of federal pandemic relief dollars, began to for families and programs, slashing provider reimbursement rates, instituting co-pays for families who use subsidies, and changing subsidy eligibility, among other actions. 

Now, those experts say, the that many states have experienced as historic pandemic-era investments expired is going to run headlong into another kind of budget shortfall in 2026. That鈥檚 one of four main issues they said they鈥檒l be watching in early care and education in the new year. 

1. Child Care Spending: States Begin Tightening the Belt

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law in July 2025 includes significant cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. The cuts effectively shift the costs of those programs from the federal government to states. If states decide to pick up the tab, they鈥檒l likely have to pull back on other services.

Most of the cuts won鈥檛 go into effect until after the 2026 midterm elections, but states will start planning ahead.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 less painful to do it slowly than all at once,鈥� explained Melissa Boteach, chief policy officer at ZERO TO THREE.聽

Unlike the federal government, states can鈥檛 spend more than they earn; they have to balance their budgets. So they鈥檒l be looking for ways to increase revenue, such as through new taxes, or cut costs by eliminating or scaling back programs and services. 

鈥淯ncertainty is the word,鈥� said Aaron Loewenberg, senior policy analyst at New America. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of anxiety and uncertainty at this point about what the next year or two could look like.鈥�

As states look to reduce costs, they will have fewer dollars to invest in early care and education. Certainly the prospect of bold new projects and initiatives seems less likely, experts said, but it鈥檚 also possible that existing programs could be scaled back. 

What will emerge, said Hains of NAEYC, is a divide between states that have the will and resources to fund ECE, and states that don鈥檛. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be looking at two very different countries: States that have revenue to invest in child care and early learning 鈥� [like] Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut, Montana 鈥� while other states are going to be in more constrained and challenging situations.鈥�

Ultimately, funding cuts will be felt by children, families and early educators. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way to nickel and dime investing in children,鈥� Boteach said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, if we鈥檙e going to really transform outcomes for children and families, it requires resources. 鈥� Children in this country are going to suffer because we are disinvesting rather than investing in their future.鈥�

2. Expanding Access: Can Promises of Universal Child Care Be Fulfilled? 

New Mexico鈥檚 pledge of free, universal child care has buoyed the spirits of many early childhood educators and advocates. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 an enormous bright spot in an otherwise very difficult year,鈥� Boteach said.

The initiative is in its early days 鈥� the income limitation was lifted on Nov. 1, 2025 鈥� so this year will offer state leaders a chance to make good on their promise. Early childhood policy experts will be watching closely. 

Loewenberg of New America said he鈥檒l be looking at how leaders navigate in the system, whether families feel it鈥檚 successful, and how such a policy could be replicated in states that don鈥檛 have the oil and gas revenues that New Mexico uses to fund universal child care. 

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on New York City as Mayor Zohran Mamdani settles into his new role and pursues his own for universal child care. 

鈥淚鈥檓 holding out excitement or negativity to wait and see what happens,鈥� said Loewenberg. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e past the point of saying, 鈥楾his is great because people are talking about it.鈥� The difficult work is being able to make it work. That remains to be seen.鈥�

One critical step is working out the funding mechanism for universal child care, which will likely require from the state government. 

Hains does find the policy pledge in itself encouraging. 

鈥淩eflecting back on the last decade or two in this work, how amazing is it that we are at a place where mayors and governors are putting forward real, meaningful proposals of child care as a public good that鈥檚 available to everybody?鈥� Hains said. 鈥淎s a whole, looking at the big picture, it鈥檚 exciting that child care feels like something that elected officials can deliver on.鈥�

3. Workforce Instability: Immigration Enforcement Creates Chilling Effect

In 2025, the Trump administration intensified immigration enforcement, which has had deleterious consequences for early childhood educators and, in turn, the families who rely on them.

An estimated early childhood educators are immigrants. In large urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, immigrants make up of the child care workforce, Boteach pointed out. 

New America, a left-leaning think tank, released a in December that found a strong association between the increase in ICE activity and the number of foreign-born child care workers: Between February and July 2025, as ICE arrests increased after President Trump took office, there were 39,000 fewer foreign-born child care workers than the same period in 2024. 

With more funding for immigration enforcement, detention and deportation included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the trend is expected to continue in 2026. 

鈥淚mmigration enforcement, to me, right now, is the number one disruptor both to parent behavior and provider behavior,鈥� said Renew of Home Grown. 鈥淚t is hugely disruptive.鈥� 

Because arrests have been , they have created a culture of fear among immigrants, even those with legal status in the country, New America found. And now that are fair game for ICE activity 鈥� prior to Trump鈥檚 second term, they were protected under a 鈥渟ensitive locations鈥� exception 鈥� many educators and parents worry about what may unfold before children鈥檚 eyes. 

鈥淭he amount of stress, the amount of worry about targeting in your community, can affect providers鈥� mental health and then the health of those kids in their care,鈥� Boteach said. 

In effect, the escalation in immigration enforcement may impact both the availability and the quality of early care and education, she added.

4. Bright Spots: Solutions Emerge Amid Challenges

Even in a challenging political and budgetary environment, there are bright spots to keep an eye on in 2026. 

For one, Loewenberg pointed out, Head Start is still a viable, funded federal program. A year ago, that was not a sure thing.

A second is that a number of states with protected revenue streams for early care and education, including New Mexico and Vermont, will continue to invest in the field. Others are jumping in to commit more dollars to the sector 鈥� , and among them.  

Finally, early care and education is proving to be a viable campaign issue. In addition to Mamdani鈥檚 victory in New York, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia both won their gubernatorial races by talking about child care. 

鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing in the elections that candidates that ran on child care, ran on helping families and children, won,鈥� Boteach said. 鈥淭hese are winning political issues, which means both parties should be vying to talk about these issues and govern on these issues.鈥�

Indeed, Hains feels that the country is moving from a place of 鈥渨hether鈥� child care is a government responsibility to 鈥渉ow鈥� and how much the government should be involved.

Amid these developments 鈥� some amazing research and resources have emerged for the field. As the year comes to a close, zero2eight asked early care and education experts to share what they consider to be the sector鈥檚 must-read research of 2025. What emerged from their responses were a collection of reports, studies and data tools relevant to a number of urgent themes. These include the sector鈥檚 ability to respond to current events, new ways of thinking about preschool gains and economic analysis of some of the ongoing challenges facing the early care and education workforce. 

Here are some of the themes, studies and resources identified by the field鈥檚 insiders as essential to moving the sector forward.

1. Timely Research and Resources for Challenging Times

Steeply rising costs, and have all contributed to a challenging, fast-changing landscape for families and early educators, and reliant on public benefits. The following new research and tools offer timely insights into how such pressures are reshaping families鈥� lives and the early care and education sector, with some offering inspiration for how to respond. 

Working Paper: 

Authors: Thomas S. Dee, economist and the Barnett Family Professor at Stanford University鈥檚 Graduate School of Education

Key Takeaway: Immigration raids coincided with a 22% increase in daily student absences, with especially large increases among the youngest students. 

This study highlights the field鈥檚 鈥渁bility to innovate and be nimble to understand impacts of policy and policy enforcement,鈥� said nominator Cristi Carman, director of the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford Center on Early Childhood who studies family well-being. It examines the collateral damage of unexpected immigration raids in California鈥檚 Central Valley, documenting a clear pattern in children鈥檚 school attendance, said second nominator Philip Fisher, director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, adding that 鈥淚CE raids are associated with increased school absenteeism.鈥� According to the working paper, young children are expected to be the most likely to miss school, with students in kindergarten through fifth grade estimated to be far more likely to miss school as a result of immigration raids than high school students. 

Report:

Authors: Children鈥檚 Funding Project staff, including Bruno Showers, state policy manager; Lisa Christensen Gee, director of tax policy; Olivia Allen, vice president of strategy and advocacy; Josh Weinstock, policy analyst (former); and Marina Mendoza, senior manager of early childhood impact

Key Takeaway: Facing dwindling federal funds, several states have innovated ways to provide dedicated funding for early care and education and youth programs.

With pandemic-era relief funds running out, states are in desperate need of models for how to continue supporting early care and education, said Erica Phillips, executive director of the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), who nominated this recent report. The report 鈥� from Children鈥檚 Funding Project, a nonprofit that helps secure sustainable public funding for children’s services 鈥� offers exactly that by providing a crucial, 鈥渧ery comprehensive overview鈥� of how some states are building long-term, dedicated revenue streams for child care, early education and youth programs as federal money runs dry. As the report鈥檚 authors explain, stable, dedicated funding is critical to thriving programs, letting states and providers to 鈥渂udget more than one year at a time, allowing them to make longer-term investments in quality improvement, facilities, staff education, and other key elements of evidence-based programs and services.鈥� 

Data Tools: and

Authors: The diaper need mapping tool was published as part of a research collaboration between the Urban Institute and the National Diaper Bank Network. The affordability tracker was published by the Urban Institute. 

Key takeaway: Families are facing mounting economic insecurity 

The Urban Institute recently released two innovative data tools for policymakers, advocates and researchers that illuminate the increasing economic precariousness facing too many families, said Carman of the RAPID Survey Project. The interactive, produced in partnership with the National Diaper Bank Initiative, shows how many diapers each county across the nation needs to address diaper shortages facing homes with young children that are below 300% of the federal poverty level. illustrates the rising cost pressures facing families across various indicators, including how the price of groceries has changed in counties and congressional districts in recent years. 鈥淏eing able to see and understand scale and drivers of economic insecurity nationally is very powerful,鈥� wrote Carman. 

2. New Research Reveals Preschool鈥檚 Overlooked Impacts

The body of early education research about how preschool affects children often measures child outcomes such as kindergarten readiness, standardized test scores or later graduation rates. While those are all important, Christina Weiland, professor at the Marsal School of Education at the University of Michigan and the Ford School of Public Policy, wrote in an email, 鈥渨e’ve long suspected they aren’t the full picture of preschool’s effects.鈥� Weiland nominated the following working paper as part of what she considers to be a new wave of research that explores a broader set of outcomes than the field has typically examined, such as parent earnings, and subsequent schooling environments. 鈥淭ogether, these studies suggest benefits of preschool programs that have been largely overlooked,鈥� but that are key to fully understanding the potential benefits of early learning investments for children and families, noted Weiland.

Working Paper:

Authors: John Eric Humphries, faculty research fellow at Yale University鈥檚 Department of Economics; Christopher Neilson, research associate at Yale University; Xiaoyang Ye, Brown University; and Seth D. Zimmerman, research associate at Yale School of Management 

Key Takeaway: New Haven’s universal pre-K (UPK) program raised parents鈥� earnings by nearly 22% during pre-kindergarten, with gains persisting for at least six years.

Weiland said that this notable study, published in 2024 and updated in 2025, expands the preschool picture by looking at how UPK might impact parents鈥� earnings,鈥� and uses that to estimate the program鈥檚 returns on investment. It found that New Haven’s UPK program raised parents鈥� earnings by nearly 22% during pre-kindergarten, with gains persisting for at least six years, concluding that the returns to UPK investment are 鈥渉igh.鈥� As one of the first studies looking at 鈥渆arnings data in modern-day pre-K studies,鈥� noted Weiland, it offers more evidence that the field is 鈥渓ikely underestimating the return on investment early education programs have.鈥� 

3. Spotlight on the Early Child Care Workforce

Back in the spring, child care economist Chris Herbst spoke with zero2eight about how the COVID pandemic demonstrated how the child care workforce is 鈥渓ike a leaf blowing in the wind鈥� 鈥� 鈥渟ensitive to all kinds of changes in the policy and economic environment because it is is inextricably linked to the larger labor market.鈥� Because of this, a new surge of recent research by economists has focused on the workforce, with researchers seeking to understand how early care providers respond to policy and market changes. Nominators pointed toward two such studies. 

Working Paper:

Authors: Katharine C. Sadowski, assistant professor at Stanford鈥檚 Graduate School of Education

Key Takeaway: An increase in minimum wage changes who provides child care

Combining 鈥渞ich data with sensible research designs,鈥� this study examines how an increase in the minimum wage could impact child care quality and access, noted nominator Aaron Sojourner, senior economist at W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 

Author Katharine C. Sadowski鈥檚 findings suggest that an increase to the minimum wage doesn’t lead to a decrease in the number of child care programs or the number of people working in the sector. However, minimum wage policies can influence who provides child care: larger enterprises, such as child care centers, are more likely to open and remain in operation, while smaller, self-employed providers, such as home-based child care programs, are less likely to open or remain in business. Among the smaller establishments that do stay open, the owners are less likely to have advanced degrees, the study found, potentially impacting the quality of child care provided, according to the author. 鈥淯nfortunately, minimum wage policy is binding and too important for a lot of child care employers and employees due to chronic underinvestment in the sector,鈥� wrote Sojourner, adding that this is the first paper he鈥檚 seen to leverage 鈥渞estricted-use data available through the U.S. Census Research Data Center system to generate insights on the sector.鈥�

Study:

Authors: Chris M. Herbst, foundation professor in Arizona State University鈥檚 School of Public Affairs 

Key Takeaway: The education of the early education workforce has dropped over time, possibly due to the sector鈥檚 low wages 

This study found that the education levels and cognitive test scores of the early education workforce have been declining over time, suggesting lower teacher quality, which could have implications for children’s development. The study links this dip in teacher skills to the proliferation of early education programs which might divert future child care workers away from four-year colleges. It also looks at how low wages 鈥� which have remained low even as wages for other jobs for similarly-skilled workers have increased 鈥� might lead highly qualified individuals to choose other occupations. 

鈥淭his is analogous to what,鈥� wrote Jessica Brown, assistant professor of economics at University of South Carolina, who nominated the study. It 鈥渦nderscores the importance of the discussion of compensation in early childhood education.鈥� Brown notes that it鈥檚 a difficult topic for the field to discuss, because 鈥渘o one wants to imply that the current workforce is not high quality. But the reality is that compensation challenges mean that child care is not a very attractive job, and that has implications for the quality of the workforce.鈥�

But when filmmaker Rob Reiner latched onto the science about how young children develop, he not only used his moviemaking platform to convince the public of the importance of kids鈥� early years, he became a real-life policymaker to champion the cause. 

After successfully steering the passage of a 1998 tobacco tax in California to fund programs for kids from birth to 5, he chaired the statewide commission overseeing how some of the funds were spent. The entertainment community remembered Reiner鈥檚 legacy as a director this week, after he and his wife Michelle Singer Reiner were found dead in their home. But others reflected on how he kept early-childhood development in the spotlight. 

鈥淭here are plenty of Hollywood actors, directors and leaders who engage in politics, write reasonably sized checks and do their best to make a difference. That was not Rob,鈥� said Ben Austin, a former Clinton White House staffer who handled communications for the California Children and Families Commission and quickly rebranded it as First 5. Twenty-seven years later, the work continues. 鈥淭his was not a side hustle.鈥�

For an education reporter, it was a big deal. I first interviewed Reiner and his wife in a suite at what was then the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1997. Early-childhood education was my beat, and he was there to talk to the nation鈥檚 governors about his I Am Your Child campaign. He wanted to start a movement and had the high-level connections to do it. The effort kicked off earlier that year with and a featuring celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Billy Crystal. With big-name corporate sponsors like Johnson & Johnson and AT&T, the initiative included a special edition of Newsweek and a series of parent-focused videos that translated the latest science on early brain development to a general audience.  

As a new mom, I couldn鈥檛 help but feel a personal connection to the topic. I reported on the policy goals of the campaign, like parent education and improving the quality of child care, while taking in the advice about reading and having back-and-forth conversations with my infant daughter. 

It was a 1994 report called , from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, that sparked Reiner鈥檚 activism. The authors explained how the first three years of life were a critical period of both risk and opportunity. 

鈥淎n adverse environment can compromise a young child’s brain function and overall development,鈥� the authors wrote. 鈥淎 good start in life can do more to promote learning and prevent damage than we ever imagined.鈥�

Michael Levine, a co-author, remembers sitting in the Reiners鈥� home theater in 1995, presenting the research to a small group, including actor Warren Beatty, actress Kate Capshaw and then-Disney Channel President John Cooke. Reiner, Levine said, wanted to replicate a Hawaii program called , which promoted understanding of child development and parents鈥� relationships with their babies. Then Beatty spoke up.

鈥淗e said something to the effect of 鈥業’ve been listening to this whole conversation about programs and philanthropy. What we can do is sell early childhood to America,鈥� 鈥� Levine recalled.

That pivotal moment took place in the same home where police said the Reiners were stabbed to death. The Reiners鈥� young children were there at the time, Levine said. On Sunday, their son , 32, was arrested for the murder. On Monday, police said their daughter found their bodies.

Despite being a far-left Democrat, Reiner found agreement with Republican governors, like Pennsylvania鈥檚 and of Ohio, over early-childhood issues, Levine said.聽

While I Am Your Child was a nationwide effort, Reiner kept his political strategy focused on California. In November 1998, voters narrowly passed his ballot measure, creating a 50-cent tax on tobacco products, beating back a $30 million effort from cigarette makers to defeat it. The revenue would fund programs to improve the health, school readiness and well-being of young children.

Reiner鈥檚 ability to combine his creative talent with political mobilization was 鈥渦nprecedented in the early-childhood field,鈥� Levine said. 

, I met Reiner in his Castle Rock Entertainment office in Beverly Hills, where posters of his hit movies, like “A Few Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally” line the walls.

First 5 was facing legal challenges, including a repeal effort sponsored by the president of a business called Cigarettes Cheaper. An author, , was also poking holes in the whole idea behind First 5, arguing that Reiner was oversimplifying the science and creating stress for parents about making the most of their kids鈥� early years. Reiner brushed off the criticism.

鈥淟et鈥檚 say there is no evidence,鈥� he told me. 鈥淲ould you then say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 not invest in child care for young children; let鈥檚 not invest in health care for young children?鈥� 鈥�

The repeal effort failed and until 2006, First 5 occupied almost as much of Reiner鈥檚 time as his movies. He presided over statewide commission meetings, and could 鈥渃ode switch鈥� between directing a scene and handling First 5 business, Austin said. In 2002, Austin remembers grabbing some time with Reiner on the set of 鈥淎lex and Emma,鈥� a love story starring Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson.

鈥淲e鈥檇 schedule with the producer like 15 minutes for me to talk to Rob in his trailer about early-childhood policy,鈥� he said. 

One of Reiner鈥檚 biggest wins during that period was getting First 5 leaders in Los Angeles County to toward expanding preschool.

鈥淭his is a historic day for the children, not only of L.A. County, but of the country,鈥� he said at the time. 鈥淭his is going to be the model.鈥�

He didn鈥檛 want to stop there. In 2006, he got a measure on the ballot that would tax California鈥檚 wealthiest residents to pay for pre-K for all 4-year-olds. With 鈥渟trong will and enormous confidence,鈥� he had little patience for those who might hurt the initiative鈥檚 chances of passing, said Bruce Fuller, a University of California Berkeley professor who advised Reiner鈥檚 team on the proposal. 

鈥淩einer was not necessarily the world’s greatest listener,鈥� Fuller told me. The plan called for the California Department of Education to set standards for the program and county school superintendents to run it. Fuller thought that was a mistake because it would take kids away from private providers 鈥� an opinion Reiner鈥檚 team rejected. But Fuller described Reiner as someone 鈥渨ho committed a ton of time and had a big heart to advance the issue.鈥�

Voters rejected the pre-K plan. But today, despite , First 5 continues to fund the statewide commission and 58 county-level agencies. They pay for a broad range of services, from home visiting for teen parents to training preschool providers. In 2018, I wrote of articles marking the 20th anniversary of the ballot measure. 

Reiner didn鈥檛 agree to an interview that time. But First 5 L.A. shared some of his as he reflected on what drew him to become an early-childhood education advocate. 

He was partly motivated by his own early experiences.

鈥淎s somebody who went through therapy, I started thinking about my early years and how they affected me,鈥� he said. 

But he also saw a political opportunity. 

鈥淕oals 2000 had just come out,鈥� he said, referring to the . 鈥淭he first goal was 鈥楢ll children will start school ready to learn.鈥� And I looked at all this and I said, you know, it seems to me if you could meet that one goal, if you could just make sure that every child has what they need to be healthy and ready to experience kindergarten, maybe all those other goals would kind of fall into line.鈥�

Milo has been coming to work with Wiseman since he was 8 weeks old. He started in the infant classroom, and now he鈥檚 in a classroom for 1-year-olds. Wiseman said having Milo in a nearby classroom with teachers she knows and trusts has been a great relief.

鈥淚 knew I wouldn鈥檛 stop working after I got pregnant and I couldn鈥檛 imagine not working, but I also couldn鈥檛 imagine putting him in a different space than where I was,鈥� said Wiseman.聽鈥淚t helps to not have to be paying for it.鈥�

Milo鈥檚 child care tuition is covered by (CCAP), which was to employees working in a licensed child care program, like Wiseman, the benefit of free child care. Under the program, anyone who works for or more as a licensed child care provider in the state of Kentucky is automatically eligible for full child care assistance, regardless of their total household income. The program was designed to help recruit and retain child care workers amid facing the industry as temporary child care relief funds from the American Rescue Plan were coming to an end.

鈥淭he purpose of this program was to increase staffing in child care programs when wage inflation was causing child care providers to leave for more lucrative positions in retail and hospitality industries,鈥� said Sarah Vanover, policy and research director at Kentucky Youth Advocates. Vanover was previously the director of Kentucky鈥檚 Division of Child Care and was the force behind expanding CCAP鈥檚 traditional income-based subsidies to include early childhood educators. Vanover points out that in the U.S., child care workers make , and that low wages make recruitment and retention of staff a constant struggle. 

Kathy Donelan, the owner of Aunt Kathy鈥檚 Child Care & Preschool, knows all too well that would-be hires can easily go to a nearby Amazon warehouse, or even the gas station across the street, and make more money 鈥渄oing less work鈥� there than working in child care. 鈥淚t takes a real special person to come here,鈥� Donelan said. Before CCAP covered the child care tuition for her educators, Donelan had always extended the offer for each of her educators to enroll their own children in the program, but the teachers who utilized this benefit would earn a reduced wage. In 2022, when the CCAP assistance kicked in for her teachers, Donelan was able to change her policy so that her employees could get free child care and get their regular salary.

Stephanie Milleck, the director of Aunt Kathy鈥檚, said she saw her salary go up when the CCAP began covering the cost of her daughter鈥檚 child care. Both of her kids are now in elementary school, but she is still able to take advantage of the CCAP benefit during the summer when they participate in a summer camp program at Aunt Kathy鈥檚. Milleck works with Donelan on hiring for new positions and says the free child care makes the job more attractive to candidates with young kids and helps with retention. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 a mom of a new baby, we know we will have them for at least five years,鈥� Milleck said. 

New data provided by Beth Fisher from Kentucky鈥檚 Division of Child Care shows that as of 2025, 5,510 families have utilized the program that provides free child care for child care providers, and that has included 9,657 children. Another 4,000 child care providers applied for the program, and were found to be income-eligible for child care subsidies for low-wage workers, and Vanover explained they were routed to that program instead. 

For Megan Senn, a preschool teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, this program has been 鈥渓ife changing.鈥� Senn, who has a master鈥檚 degree in early childhood education, said she loved teaching but couldn鈥檛 make ends meet on the low wages she received when she was a Head Start teacher a decade ago. At the time, she was making less than $30,000 a year working full time, and had to rely on food stamps. In 2016, she moved into a series of management roles at Head Start and later the YMCA, where she oversaw six child care centers, at a significantly higher salary. She was making over $70,000 a year, but Senn said she missed working directly with kids in the classroom. 

It was CCAP that allowed Senn to go back to teaching. She found an early childhood teaching position that would pay her close to $50,000. She estimated that the cost of child care would be between $20,000 to 25,000 a year for her twins. 鈥淚f you take that off the table, I could take a pay cut and go back to the classroom,鈥� she said. Senn began working at Virginia Chance, an independent school in the Louisville area. When her twins turned 2 years old, CCAP paid the full cost for them to attend preschool there.

Being a teacher and being able to afford to send her own children to the same school she teaches in, has been game-changing,  said Senn. 鈥淭hey get a beautiful education and I don’t have to think about tuition costs and worry if I am bringing in enough money.鈥�

The program is showing results because the math makes sense. Vanover explains that best practice is to have . 鈥淚f the state pays the child care expense for one of those ten children in order to attract the child care provider, that still opens spots for nine more children who will have parents and caregivers working in the community and providing income tax,鈥� Vanover said. 

have seen the success of Kentucky鈥檚 program in retaining child care providers and shoring up their early childhood workforce and are trying to follow suit. In August, Rhode Island launched a based on Kentucky鈥檚 model and Vanover said she鈥檚 been invited to speak to the Ohio Legislature about setting up a similar program, and has received interest from Utah as well.

While the program has garnered attention for its impact, there are still some areas for improvement. Although the it鈥檚 benefitted a majority of licensed child care centers in the state, not all early educators are eligible. Providers who care for their own children in a family child care program that they own are excluded. Vanover explained that the federal laws governing child care payments through Child Care and Development Block Grants from receiving payment to care for their own child, and Kentucky has modeled their program based on those same rules.

But many home providers go into child care because they want to care for their own kids, in addition to those in the community, said Natalie Renew, director of Home Grown, a national collaborative supporting home-based child care providers. 鈥淚f [owners of] home-based providers could participate in this policy, it would support supply building and encourage more start up,鈥� Renew said. As it stands, the policy is 鈥減rejudiced against home-based providers because staff in centers can work in the same place as their children, but those [who run] home-based care cannot.鈥� 

鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging,鈥� said Vanover, in addressing the ways owners of home-based programs are excluded from the program. She said the legislature is considering modifying the program so that more home-based providers may be able to access the benefit in certain instances, for example, if their child attends a licensed after-care program at another location. 

Some providers have also critiqued the enrollment process. Donelan said four out of her 24 employees are enrolled in CCAP, adding that a fifth staff member has been trying to access the benefit for over a year, but has been unable to do so due to bureaucratic hurdles. One challenge is that although the program doesn鈥檛 require income eligibility, applicants must provide extensive paperwork requiring up-to-date paystubs and income verification for all adults living in their home 鈥� and any delay in processing the applications requires that new paystubs are submitted. Donelan said she鈥檚 had to intervene with CCAP on behalf of teachers during delays. 

Another issue is that providers who have the summer off must withdraw from the program at the end of May and reapply in July. Senn鈥檚 school closes during the summer, and she said the reapplication  process takes about two weeks and involves multiple follow up phone calls adding that it can take up to two and a half hours to get through to someone.  

But this July could be the last time Senn needs to reapply since her 4-year-old twins will move into kindergarten.鈥淚 am truly thankful and it could bring me to tears how this [program] has just helped me. We have quality teachers that want to be in the classroom but choose not to be because it doesn鈥檛 bring enough to the table for their family,鈥� she said.  鈥淚t鈥檚 heartbreaking because we need it so badly. Every state should have something like this.鈥�

Some states and localities have created a source of dedicated funding, meaning a revenue stream that鈥檚 designated specifically to be used for child care, creating more stability for providers and families. And according to a recent published by the Children鈥檚 Funding Project (CFP), a national nonprofit that helps states and localities secure money for children鈥檚 issues, these funds have helped states navigate the turbulence.

Dedicated funding tackles a simple, yet bedeviling problem: year after year, advocates must fight for state general funds, but it’s frequently a losing battle since too many factors are outside of their control. The health of a state鈥檚 economy, the priorities of constantly rotating elected officials, and the actions taken by Congress and the president all shape how much available funding a state has during a given budget cycle 鈥� and how it will be divvied up. Since states are legally required to maintain a balanced budget, the squeeze is real. And unfortunately, even states that are very friendly toward early care and education issues will cut them when faced with tough math. 

Dedicated funding sidesteps the general fund scrum. The CFP report explained that 鈥渟tate dedicated funds are distinct streams of public revenue that are set aside for specific purposes, typically dedicated through action by a legislative body, approved by voters via ballot measure, or a combination of these approaches.鈥� Because they have their own built-in power source, they are relatively insulated from the vagaries of state governance.

There’s no singular model for advancing a dedicated fund. The funding source and path to enactment vary by state and locality, depending on what taxes can be levied, how existing revenues may be used, and the political feasibility of potential legislative or ballot measures.

According to the CFP report, 22 states have some version of a dedicated fund to support children and youth 鈥� and the rate of adoption has increased in recent years, including at the local level. The report notes that jurisdictions have tapped a range of funding sources including taxes on nicotine, marijuana, gambling, payroll, sales, and capital gains, and, in the case of New Mexico, oil and gas revenues. The mechanism for establishing funds is also diverse, as some states have a fairly low bar for citizen-initiated ballot initiatives, while others don鈥檛 allow propositions at all and instead require legislative action. Increasingly, states are that hold the revenues , allocating an annual percentage for early childhood services.

The value and viability of dedicated funding sources was borne out in last month鈥檚 elections. In Colorado, for instance, 鈥� including a consortium of three ski-heavy mountain counties, and one politically mixed county in northern Colorado 鈥� voted for dedicated funding measures via lodging or sales taxes. Those revenues will be especially important as Colorado wrestles with statewide funding challenges that are leading to in many counties.

Other states established their dedicated funding practices years ago. California, for example, has one of the longest-standing dedicated funding sources due to the 1998 a campaign famously spearheaded by filmmaker Rob Reiner. Proposition 10 levied a 50-cent tax on tobacco and the revenues built a network of early childhood programs operating under hub organizations known as the First 5 Initiative.聽聽聽

Of course, simply establishing a dedicated fund is no panacea. To create a successful solution, the funds have to be adequate. Kentucky, for example, established a fund sourced from its Tobacco Master Settlement agreement, which draws down around $26 million a year. This amount isn’t insignificant, but it’s not enough funding to majorly transform its early care and education system. Where and how the funding flows, and who has a say in deciding that, is also key. 

Additionally, precedent shows there can be a risk of uneven results if the funding source itself is variable, such as tapping so-called 鈥渟in taxes.鈥� This has been proven most dramatically in states like California that rely on tobacco taxes. As fewer individuals smoke (which, most would agree is broadly a positive development), the revenues from tobacco taxes have steadily declined, provided through First 5 programs across the state.

As a majority of states face down what is likely to be years of budget pain, dedicated funding sources for early care and education should be a top-tier strategy. State experiences to date suggest that champions would do well to identify funding sources that are both relatively stable and can generate substantial revenues, such as payroll taxes or income taxes for high-earning households. Whatever specific tactics are chosen, the more that child care funding can be taken out of the Hunger Games arena that is state budgeting, the better.

鈥淭he bigger, the better, because the children depend on one another,鈥� said Principal Susan Engdall. In a Montessori classroom, 鈥渢he teacher is sparse, so children have got to be creative and figure things out.鈥� 

It鈥檚 a philosophy that not only teaches kids to solve problems, but fosters stronger reading and memory skills by the end of kindergarten than other models of early education, according to from the University of Virginia and the American Institutes for Research. The first nationwide study of public Montessori programs shows that they also achieve more positive outcomes at a lower price tag, mostly due to those larger class sizes. Over the three-year span, public Montessori programs cost $13,127 less than traditional preschool and kindergarten programs, the study found.

Angeline Lillard, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia and lead author of the report, attributed the findings to Dr. Maria Montessori鈥檚 theory on how children naturally learn through imitation, choice and the use of that teach practical skills and academic concepts.

鈥淭his is a method that a really brilliant Italian physician made up by watching children,鈥� she said. 鈥淪he studied them in free environments and said, 鈥榃hat are they like and how can we help them?鈥� 鈥澛�

The findings add more complexity to a long-running debate over whether the benefits of early childhood education fade out over time. Some studies show that children who don鈥檛 attend preschool often catch up to those who did, leading whether such programs are wise public investments. A found that students who attended Tennessee鈥檚 pre-K even had lower test scores in elementary school than those who didn鈥檛 participate.

In the new study, the results were particularly strong among children from lower-income families, but Lillard stressed that only programs that stay true to Montessori principles are likely to see such positive results. 

鈥淚 see all these schools that claim to have Montessori when what they offer is just a shadow of it or 鈥楳ontessori toys鈥� sold on the web,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 expect most of the folks implementing 鈥楳ontessomething鈥� are also trying to help children, but without [taking] time to understand the model.鈥�

鈥楩or all children鈥�

Publicly funded programs make Montessori education, long preferred by wealthy families who can afford , more accessible to low-income and working class parents. They include charter schools in a network of Montessori microschools called Wildflower, and district programs like Milwaukee鈥檚 seven Montessori schools. The district was among the first, over 50 years ago, to offer Montessori in the public sector.

One of the district鈥檚 鈥減assion points鈥� is ensuring that Montessori is not 鈥渙nly for certain kinds of people, but for all children,鈥� said Abigail Rausch, the district鈥檚 Montessori coordinator. 

Rae Johnson, whose son is now 16, said she could never have afforded a private program in Milwaukee as a single parent working at Starbucks and picking up freelance writing assignments. But Montessori seemed like a good fit for Elijah.

鈥淗e always marched to his own beat,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 knew that traditional school just was not going to work for how he operated.鈥� 

At first, Johnson didn鈥檛 understand Montessori鈥檚 emphasis on 鈥減ractical life鈥� skills, like pouring water without spilling or cutting with a knife. At 5, he would come home with a loaf of bread he baked at school.

鈥淚’m like 鈥楾his is what you did all day?鈥� But then he would be like 鈥極h mom, can we bake?鈥欌�漵he said. 鈥淭hat turned into a math lesson, like 鈥極K, if you want to make a cake, let’s do some fractions.鈥� 鈥�

The Montessori model is among the curricula used in 11 state-funded pre-K programs, according to the . Students traditionally enter Montessori at age 3, but most state-funded pre-K programs begin at age 4. That means districts often face the challenge of paying for the extra year.

The Phoenix Elementary district, which recently because of , began charging $500 per month this year for 3-year-olds entering Shaw Montessori because funds supporting the program were 鈥渘eeded elsewhere,鈥� said Engdall, the principal. The waitlist to get in dropped to zero, but at town hall meetings, she heard requests from parents for things like more field trips and hands-on learning that 鈥渁lready encompass鈥� what Montessori offers, she said. She expects demand to bounce back.

In addition to allowing children more freedom in the classroom, the Montessori method is in sync with the , Lillard said. Classrooms emphasize phonics, and their materials, like , make learning letter sounds and sight words a more concrete activity. In the study, students who won a spot in a public Montessori program through a lottery had 鈥渟ignificantly higher scores鈥� on a standardized reading test than those who didn鈥檛 get in. 

Montessori students also performed better on an that asked them to do the opposite of what the researcher said. If the adult told them to touch their head, they were supposed to touch their toes. 

Lillard speculated that the results for Montessori students might have been even stronger if the researchers hadn鈥檛 started the study the year after the pandemic, an unprecedented disruption that led to in children鈥檚 development. Because students were at home in 2020, they didn鈥檛 have an opportunity to interact in person and learn from older peers. 

鈥淐OVID impacted all classrooms, but it might have had especially strong impacts for multi-aged, peer-learning models,鈥� she said. 

Classrooms don鈥檛 have duplicate copies of the same materials, so children, Rausch said, have to practice patience and negotiation if another child is already busy with something they want to use. 鈥淗ow do you plan your day? How do you communicate with someone else? You don鈥檛 just grab it out of their hand,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e teaching these really complex skills to 3-year-olds.鈥�

In the study, Montessori students scored higher on a test of understanding other children鈥檚 perspectives than those who didn鈥檛 attend. But kids who went to more traditional preschools, or stayed home, were a little better at getting classmates to share. 

The fact that social-emotional learning programs are common in public schools, and likely teach topics like sharing, could account for the slight difference between the two groups, Lillard said.

On another test, non-Montessori kids were more likely to keep working on a difficult puzzle when Montessori children gave up 鈥� a finding that surprised the researchers. Montessori teachers encourage students to stick with a challenging task until they master it. 

鈥楢 high payoff鈥�

Overall, the results back up earlier research on public Montessori, like in South Carolina that found higher growth in math and reading among Montessori students than among those in traditional schools.

But like all studies, this one has limitations. Comparing kids who did and did not win a seat through a lottery isn鈥檛 the strongest research design. Families who apply don鈥檛 necessarily represent all families; more tend to be white and financially better off.

鈥淚t may be that there were other features of the schools that parents found desirable,鈥� said Steve Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research. He also questioned whether high absenteeism following the pandemic could have affected the results for either Montessori students or kids in the control group. 

He still thinks the results are promising, and said even non-Montessori programs could adopt multi-age classrooms that include 5-year-olds. But what the field needs is more evidence that the benefits last beyond kindergarten, he said. 

鈥淣one of this is to suggest we should ignore or discount the results, only to be cautious,鈥濃�嬧�� he said. 鈥淐ertainly, Montessori deserves more attention. There would be a high payoff to additional rigorous research.鈥�

In December, Indiana鈥檚 Family and Social Services Administration that, due to the end of pandemic-era federal relief funding, it would stop enrolling new children in its main child care subsidy program, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), and institute a waiting list. The number of child care vouchers available per month dropped by from last December to September, according to the state agency. The waitlist now has over 30,400 children and the state has it won鈥檛 issue any new vouchers until 2027. 

Miller鈥檚 program is one of many that鈥檚 feeling the strain. All of the families with infants at Room to Bloom rely on subsidies to afford care, but those infants have aged out and moved into toddler classrooms. Because families can鈥檛 enroll new babies, she鈥檚 had to completely shutter her infant classroom. That took a big toll on her financially. 鈥淵our highest rates of pay comes from your infants,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e no longer have that stream of income coming in.鈥�

Then, on Sept. 4, Miller received an from Indiana鈥檚 Family and Social Services Administration鈥檚 Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL) with even worse news. The department was drastically cutting CCDF voucher reimbursement rates. 鈥淭hese adjustments address a $225 million funding gap through 2026 created by the prior administration’s unsustainable use of temporary COVID relief funds and ensure continued compliance with federal requirements,鈥� the email stated.  

According to the email, providers would see a 10% decrease in the vouchers that pay for infants and toddlers from birth through 3 years old, 15% less for children ages 3 to 5, and a 35% drop for school-aged children cared for after school and during the summer. To arrive at these cuts, OECOSL said it had surveyed 25% of licensed providers and calculated reimbursement levels 鈥渢hat reflect current operating realities.鈥�

鈥淲e did not have any warning whatsoever鈥� that the reductions were coming, Miller said. 鈥淲e were blindsided.鈥� Since Miller鈥檚 program serves children from birth through age 5 during the day and provides after-school care for older children, she knew she鈥檇 be impacted by cuts across all the age bands, so she reworked her budget to be able to absorb the cuts without having to ask her families to pay any extra. She eliminated field trips and programming like baby sign language and STEM.

But about three weeks later when she went into the system to view her reimbursements, she discovered that the state had cut deeper than the email suggested. She found that her original rate of $155 a week for a school-aged child was not in fact being reduced to $100.75, which would have been a 35% cut. Instead, she received $49 per school-aged child, which is about a 68% drop. At first she thought it was a mistake, but then she made some calls and eventually was told that the percentage cuts were taken from a new, lower base rate. 

That $49 a week is supposed to cover everything Room to Bloom offers school-aged children: transportation from school, a teacher who offers homework help, an established curriculum. She said her reimbursement rate for children ages 3 through 5, meanwhile, has also been reduced by $68 dollars a week, while the rate for the youngest kids decreased by $14. Miller can鈥檛 afford to absorb that kind of cost on her own. She鈥檚 reduced staff hours, dropping some to part-time status, which may make it harder to retain quality employees. 

Even that is not enough. 鈥淯nfortunately now we have to ask our families to pay a CCDF shortage just so we can stay afloat,鈥� she said. She鈥檚 not asking any parents to pay the full amount that she鈥檚 losing, but she鈥檚 asked most to kick in something. Those with school-aged children have been asked to pay $51 a week. 鈥淚 will tell you, that鈥檚 hard,鈥� she said, adding that before the cuts, parents didn鈥檛 pay at all. Some families simply don鈥檛 have that kind of money. For them, she鈥檚 just eating the cost. 鈥淲e have to take care of them,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 cannot allow these students to be left hanging. I cannot do it.鈥� 

Miller is far from alone in her experience. The cuts Indiana has implemented in its child care program since the end of last year are wreaking havoc on providers across the state. The state did not respond to a request for comment on the number of child care programs that have closed this year. According to Hanan Osman 鈥� executive director of the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), which is gathering data on closures 鈥� more than 100 child care programs closed in September and October following the steep reimbursement rate cuts. Of those closures, 49 were due to economic hardship, while 16 were because of low enrollment. 鈥淭hose programs are done forever,鈥� Osman said. 

The decrease in vouchers means that collectively, providers are losing an estimated $1.9 million a week in revenue, while the reduced reimbursement rates have led to an estimated $1.8 million weekly loss, according to Early Learning Indiana, a state-level nonprofit that鈥檚 on the impact of the CCDF cuts on revenue.

More child care closures are expected to come. In an of 443 providers conducted by Early Learning Indiana, nearly 80% said they were receiving decreased funding from CCDF vouchers. Just 16% said they were fully enrolled, about 19% had closed at least one classroom, and 11% said they believe they will have to close entirely over the next year.

Indiana is not expected to be the only state to experience this crisis. All states have been grappling with a severe decline in federal funding. In 2022, the American Rescue Plan sent states $39 billion to prop up the struggling child care sector, but the grants stopped flowing at the end of 2023. The Biden administration鈥檚 鈥淏uild Back Better鈥� legislative package, which included $100 billion for child care, was meant to ensure continued funding, but when it failed to pass it left an enormous, unfilled hole. 鈥淎ll of that is coming down,鈥� said Jennifer Wells, director of care at Community Change, which organizes child care providers to advocate for policy change. 

The events unfolding in Indiana illustrate 鈥渁n example of what happens when this funding gets cut,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not going to be isolated to Indiana. We know it鈥檚 going to spread.鈥� Already Arkansas has followed suit; on Sept. 19, the state that it was cutting reimbursement rates for providers and instituting new copays for parents, although after the reimbursement change was paused for 30 days. Its voucher waiting list is . 鈥淲e know it鈥檚 going to snowball across the country,鈥� Wells said.

鈥淚ndiana is in crisis,鈥� said Martha Rae, a former Indiana child care provider and current advocate. 鈥淒umpster fire in a flood zone 鈥� that鈥檚 how we feel right now.鈥�

Indiana has now potentially poured gasoline on the fire. On Oct. 10, OECOSL sent an email, shared with 社区黑料, to families who receive vouchers that said, 鈥淲e understand that some families may be noticing higher out-of-pocket costs since the recent provider subsidy rate adjustments.鈥� After noting that providers set their own rates, in bold it told parents that they 鈥渉ave the right to choose a provider that best fits their family鈥檚 needs and budget.鈥� It added, 鈥淵our child care voucher belongs to you, and you may use it at any eligible CCDF provider.鈥� Advocates and providers fear this message will prompt parents to move to programs that are charging less or aren鈥檛 charging any extra at all. It will 鈥渃reate competition amongst providers,鈥� Rae said. 

Alyssia Thompson, who runs the Agape Learning Academy, a child care center in Merrillville, Indiana, is already watching this happen. It鈥檚 become 鈥渟urvival of the fittest 鈥� shark tank,鈥� she said. Thompson said she knows of providers who are charging 鈥渢he bare minimum鈥� to try to siphon children from other programs. 鈥淧arents are going wherever they can afford,鈥� she said, even places that 鈥渕ight not even have a license.鈥� The only reason she hasn鈥檛 lost families, she said, is because so many of them have been with her for so long. 

As with Miller, Thompson has experienced a far larger reduction in her reimbursement rates than the OECOSL email indicated. Typically, she would be reimbursed $160 a week for a school-aged child, but that鈥檚 dropped to $48, a 70% reduction. The rate for her preschool-aged children was reduced by 24%. 鈥淲e were given false information,鈥� she said.

Thompson had to make cuts to try to make the math work, such as getting rid of her cleaning service. 鈥淎nything I was paying to outsource to do, we have now just picked it up,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow we have to do everything.鈥� She鈥檚 asked parents to bring in snacks to reduce the cost of food. Even so, she鈥檚 had to ask each family to pay an extra $25 a week. 

Even with those changes, she may not be able to keep the doors open. The possibility of having to close her program 鈥渉as definitely been a discussion,鈥� she said. She鈥檚 confident she has enough money to operate for the next six months. But, she said that over the next four months, if she doesn鈥檛 see any signs that the state is changing course and she hasn鈥檛 been able to make up enrollment with parents who don鈥檛 use vouchers, she will notify her parents about closure. 

Early educators and advocates are mobilizing to push back on the cuts. 鈥淎s soon as these providers got word of these cuts happening, they were immediately set on fire,鈥� Wells said. The Indiana AEYC organized 鈥淚NAEYC Calling Day鈥� on Nov. 5 and the association asked providers and families to call state legislators  to make the case for investing in child care. With a budget surplus of this year, they hope to convince lawmakers to dedicate money to the sector. 

If they don鈥檛, Miller is consumed with fear about what will happen to the school-aged children in her program. 鈥淭hose are the most vulnerable students,鈥� she said. She worries that if they can鈥檛 afford what she now has to charge them parents will decide to leave children home with an older sibling or even by themselves. That, she frets, will put them in danger; they鈥檙e not old enough to be cared for by anyone but an adult, she said.

To the state, Miller has a message: 鈥淔ix this crisis that you have put families and child care providers in.鈥� She added, 鈥淪ome way, somehow, it needs to be fixed.鈥�

For some programs, the promise of incoming funding will be enough to restart operations. But many won鈥檛 be able to open their doors until they receive their federal dollars, which could take up to two weeks, said Tommy Sheridan, deputy director at the NHSA. 

Sheridan said the Trump administration understands the urgency and is 鈥渕oving as fast as they possibly can.鈥�

That said, this interruption had an opportunity cost, and it’s led to instability for families and providers, he said, adding that the shutdown caused staff to focus on issues they “should not be worried about,鈥� such as fundraising and contingency planning.

Some providers fear greater delays since the Trump administration shuttered half of the Head Start regional offices earlier this year. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be working as hard as they can, but they鈥檙e going to be doing it with half the capacity,鈥� said Katie Hamm, former deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development under President Joe Biden.

And even once the funding comes through, closed centers will need to go through a series of logistical hurdles, including reaching out to families who may have found alternative child care arrangements and calling back furloughed staff, some of whom have found employment elsewhere. 

鈥淗ead Start is not a light switch,鈥� Hamm said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just turn it back on.鈥�

This interruption has also further eroded trust between grantees and the federal government that was already shaky, she added.

The Administration for Children and Families did not respond to a request for comment on when programs can anticipate communication from the office or their funding.

Since Nov. 1, approximately 65,000 kids and their families 鈥� close to 10% of all of those served by Head Start 鈥� have been at risk of losing their seats because their programs had not received their awarded funding during the longest government shutdown in history. The early care and education program delivers a range of resources to low-income families including medical screenings, parenting courses and connections to community resources for job, food and housing assistance. 

At the peak of the Head Start closures, roughly 10,000 kids across 22 programs lost access to services, according to Sheridan. A number of the remaining programs were able to stay open through private donations, loans, alternative funding streams and staff鈥檚 willingness to go without pay.

Valerie Williams, who runs a Head Start program with two facilities in Appalachian Ohio, was excited to tell parents that classrooms would be reopening soon. Her centers have been closed since Nov. 3, impacting 177 kids and 45 staff, many of whom already live paycheck to paycheck, she said.

A number of families were doubly impacted, losing access to Head Start鈥檚 resources as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, simultaneously. In the days leading up to the closure, Williams and her staff prepared families as best they could, sharing information about resources for food, assistance for utilities and heating and guidance on child care options. 

On Thursday, Williams wrote to parents via an online portal that she hopes to restart the normal school schedule sometime next week. The post was quickly flooded with comments. 

鈥淭his is super exciting!!鈥� wrote one parent. 鈥淏est news in a long time. Carter has been asking every day. Hope to see u guys very soon.鈥�

鈥淵ayyy,鈥� wrote another. 鈥淭he kids miss you guys so much!”

Still, Williams knows reopening won鈥檛 be seamless. Along with program leaders across the country, she鈥檒l need to call back furloughed staff, place food orders and handle a number of other operational challenges.

And despite the excitement, the transition back may also prove tricky for some kids.

鈥淚 do think that it will feel like starting school again for a lot of our classrooms,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been out for two weeks 鈥� You鈥檙e going to work on separation anxiety issues, you鈥檙e going to have to get into that routine again and the structure of a classroom environment. So I think that will be a big issue for a lot of our teachers.鈥� 

As of Friday afternoon, Williams was still awaiting communication from the federal Office of Head Start with information about the anticipated timeline for next steps. 

鈥淎s soon as we get that notice of award, [I want to] start our staff and kids back immediately,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he very next day.鈥�

Now that the shutdown has ended, what’s next for Head Start?

Funding for Head Start is complex. Some 80% comes from federal grants that are released to local providers on a staggered schedule throughout the year. This year, grant recipients with funding deadlines on the first of October and November were left scrambling, as the federal shutdown dragged on.

The government began to resume operations late Wednesday night after President Donald Trump signed a bill, funding through Jan. 30 and allowing programs that didn鈥檛 receive their funding on time, including Head Start, to use forthcoming dollars to backpay expenses incurred over the past month and a half.

Here鈥檚 what Hamm predicts will happen next: The Office of Head Start will recall all staff to resume, including those who were furloughed during the shutdown. The employees will review grant applications, a process which requires them to flag any language that might be reflective of diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Next, money will be sent along to the remaining regional offices, and eventually dispersed to individual grantees. The NHSA is hopeful that this process will be completed by Thanksgiving for all grantees.

There are two things the federal government can do to help centers open faster, according to Hamm. First, they could waive a typical protocol that leads to a period of seven days between when a member of Congress is notified that their state will be receiving funding and when the funding actually goes out, Hamm explained. 

Officials could also notify grantees, in writing, about how much money they鈥檒l get and when it鈥檚 expected to come through, so they can begin planning. 

Unlike SNAP, which received guaranteed funding through the budget year, money for Head Start remains uncertain beyond Jan. 30. While the fear of another shutdown has caused 鈥渜uite a bit of worry鈥� among the Head Start community, Sheridan said it would likely lead to fewer program disruptions, since it wouldn鈥檛 fall at the start of the fiscal year.

To prevent similar chaos moving forward, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin introduced in the final days of the shutdown that would guarantee uninterrupted service for fiscal year 2026. 

鈥淭he 750,000 children and their families who use Head Start shouldn鈥檛 pay the price for Washington dysfunction,鈥� Baldwin, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, wrote in a statement to 社区黑料.

Multiple funding threats and deep staffing cuts by the Trump administration over the past year have plunged programs across the country into uncertainty. In the wake of that recent upheaval, a leadership change is also underway. The acting director of the Office of Head Start, Tala Hooban, accepted a new role within the Office of Administration for Children and Families and will be replaced by political appointee Laurie Todd-Smith, according to an email statement from ACF. Todd-Smith currently leads the Office of Early Childhood Development, which oversees the Office of Head Start. 

Sheridan described this move as anticipated and not particularly concerning, though others were less sure. Joel Ryan, the executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start, noted that Hooban was a longtime civil servant and strong supporter of the Head Start program. Without her, he fears 鈥渢here鈥檚 nobody internally with any kind of power that will push back,鈥� on future threats to the program.

Another worry plaguing providers: current funding for Head Start has remained stagnant since the end of 2024, meaning that through at least Jan. 30, programs will be operating under the same budget amid rising costs across the board.

In previous years, the program鈥檚 grant recipients typically got a cost-of-living adjustment, such as the bump ($275 million) for fiscal year 2024. In May, a group of almost 200 members of Congress signed to a House Appropriations subcommittee, requesting an adjustment of 3.2% for 2026. A recent statement from NHSA suggested that instead, the proposed Senate bill for next year includes a jump of just , or $77 million.

鈥淚f we don’t see a funding increase in line with inflation, that means that Head Start will be facing a cut of that degree,鈥� said Sheridan. 鈥淚t’s just kind of a quiet cut, or a silent cut.鈥�

鈥淚 think what will end up happening,鈥� said Ryan, 鈥渋s you鈥檒l end up seeing a massive reduction in the number of kids being served.鈥�

A video illustrates a cartoon Brachiosaurus trudging along. The dinosaur has bright colors and a friendly voice carefully designed to draw the attention of a toddler. As the green leaf-eater goes to speak, a banner ad floats across the screen.

Experts caution that this experience can distract the child. 鈥淭here’s advertising embedded into the video, or at the bottom of the video, or the side,鈥� said Kaitlin Tiches, a medical librarian at Boston Children Hospital鈥檚 Digital Wellness Lab. That can be especially problematic if the ad isn鈥檛 developmentally appropriate for the viewer. 

The tough choice about whether to allow babies and children to consume content online is nothing new. Neither is that comes with it for many parents who opt to allow their little ones to access digital media, from the American Academy of Pediatrics that suggests to avoid it for babies under 18-months-old and to limit it for kids under age 5.

At a time when kids are gaining access to digital devices earlier 鈥� many of them as infants or toddlers 鈥� and cuts to public broadcasting have put an end to many of the high-quality programs American children have been raised on for generations, the decision has become more complicated.

, which comes with its own unique blend of allure for parents and children has become a staple in many homes. The streaming site is seeing a surge in popularity, especially among families with children under 2, even though child development experts have expressed about the use of the platform for young children.

According to a recent published by Pew Research Center, 62% of toddlers ages 2 and under watch YouTube, a significant spike from the 45% reported in 2020. There was also an uptick in toddlers who watched YouTube daily, rising from 24% in 2020 to 35% in 2025. 

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a very striking rise,鈥� said Colleen McClain, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great example of a theme from our report, which is that tech starts young.鈥� 

What to Know Before Letting Kids Hit Play on YouTube

The YouTube boost arrives as concerns continue to swirl about the site. Tiches warned of unfettered advertising and the company鈥檚 focus on profit over education. She pointed out that traditional children鈥檚 media has clear parameters around advertising  鈥� the episode plays, then cuts to commercial break. But on YouTube, prevalent banner ads appear throughout the screen, with other ads interjecting in the middle of an episode. That children鈥檚 learning. 

鈥淚 think because YouTube creators are monetized, there鈥檚 a lot of pressure to successfully create videos, and with the young children on these platforms, it鈥檚 a big market,鈥� Tiches said. 鈥淎ds might be very long and again, if parents are not watching with their children, then the children might not know how to skip them. Then, it鈥檚 minutes of an ad that may not be appropriate for very young children.鈥�

While creators can mark whether their video is child-friendly, the ads 鈥� and videos themselves 鈥� may not be developmentally appropriate. A found that only 19% of the videos infants and toddlers watched on YouTube were age appropriate. That report was based on data about young kids and YouTube by Common Sense Media, which revealed that roughly one-fifth of advertisements contained age-inappropriate content including violence, drugs and sexual content. About one-quarter of ads were child-appropriate, with most (74%) deemed 鈥渘eutral,鈥� for companies like Volvo, State Farm Insurance and Casper Sleep Inc.聽

But even those can influence children on consumerism, which may not be the intended point of watching content. 

Curation and quality control are important, experts said. Shortly after the Common Sense report came out, its lead author, Jenny Radesky, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan , 鈥淵ouTube is kids’ favorite playground right now.鈥� She added: 鈥淲e have to ask whether it’s being maintained in the right ways, if the equipment is safe and giving kids freedom to explore and have positive experiences? Or are they being steered towards experiences that benefit marketers and brands, but don’t support their developmental growth?”

Many entities, such as PBS, have their for children鈥檚 programming, thanks to the , a law that requires broadcast television to air a dedicated amount of educational content and limited advertising during children鈥檚 programs. Streaming services like YouTube do not have to adhere to those rules. YouTube鈥檚 asks publishing for a primary audience of children to mark their content as 鈥淢ade for Kids鈥� and to ensure they鈥檙e 鈥渃omplying with the Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable laws.鈥� 

鈥淭he content I鈥檓 viewing on Netflix or Disney has been selected by that company; if they say it’s child-focused, depending on the company, I can have a little more reasonable awareness or trust,鈥� said Kate Blocker, director of research and programs at Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development. 

鈥淚 could post a video and say it’s educational, but what does it mean?鈥� Tiches added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not necessarily a lot of oversight into what is considered truly educational, or [ensuring] the value of it is rooted in early education practices.鈥� 

Blocker said some parents, while well aware of issues on social media sites, may view YouTube as a separate entity akin to watching traditional television or a streaming service. But Blocker points out the platform more closely mimics the former, with the ability to comment on videos, have an auto-play feature and deliver suggested content driven by algorithms. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of national dialogue and awareness building around social media and its particular harms, but generally speaking I don’t think people connect that thought to YouTube,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e thinking of Instagram and TikToks and teens  鈥� [but] not making the same connection to the content on YouTube.鈥� 

Some parents are somewhat cognizant of limiting their children鈥檚 screen time, at the very least. According to the Pew report, roughly one-quarter of parents said that they believe they can 鈥渄o more鈥� to limit their toddler鈥檚 screen time access. As the child gets older, that share becomes almost half: 47% of parents believe they can do better limiting their 8- to 12-year-old鈥檚 screen time. 

鈥淚 have a 3-year-old, and we don鈥檛 let her use a phone or tablet or anything,鈥� one parent said in a focus group conducted by Pew in March. The parent added that they let their 3 year old use a laptop for a week鈥檚 subscription to an educational platform. 鈥淚t got me thinking there probably are opportunities to use technology as an educational tool 鈥� but I鈥檓 so scared about the consequences 鈥� that I鈥檓 probably hesitant to use it at all.鈥�

The Pew report highlighted that children found YouTube content educational and entertaining, but the research did not delve into why parents turn toward the platform. The screen time, Pew鈥檚 McClain said, could be driven, in part, by parents simply battling with high stress levels. 

鈥淔rom qualitative research, we鈥檙e hearing more and more that it’s really hard; parents are struggling,鈥� Blocker said. 鈥淪ometimes you need something to keep your little one still, to do the dishes or help your older one with homework.鈥� 

Some may turn toward YouTube because of its easy accessibility across various devices. Others may be drawn to its free model at a time when the cost of cable subscriptions and streaming service continue to rise. And with funding for public media 鈥� most notably PBS 鈥� in recent months, families are left with less reliable options for high-quality children鈥檚 programming.  

鈥淩egardless of the platform, it can feel overwhelming,鈥� Tiches said. But families might  have an easier time figuring out whether programs on a more traditional network, like PBS, have had input from educational or developmental experts, versus on YouTube, where parents have to search for information about the creator, Tiches added.

How Parents Can Help Kids Stream Smarter

Experts acknowledge that it is not feasible to expect parents to avoid screen time entirely. from The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages use of screens for babies under 18 months old and recommends that parents who want to introduce digital media to their 18- to 24-months old toddlers do so by co-viewing high-quality programs. According to the Pew report, most of them are: 74% of parents of kids age 12 and under watch YouTube with their children, and more than 90% of parents of kids 5 and under do. 

鈥淚 think it speaks to the way parents are navigating all this technology for their kids,鈥� McClain said. 鈥淧arents are really navigating these decisions on a daily basis, dealing with a lot of emotions around them and trying to do the best for their kids.鈥� 

If watching together is not possible, Blocker suggests that having the content on a large screen 鈥� not a small screen plugged in with headphones 鈥� is preferred, so the parent is still able to hear the content. 

Tiches added that parents can look into who is making the content their children are consuming, and at the very least, should look at the type of content that it is. If a video is fast-paced, consider finding something more calming, especially for kids under 2.  

鈥淵ou can tell sometimes from the title if there are shapes, colors, numbers, letters 鈥� that鈥檚 going to be a lot of information, but probably not as beneficially educational,鈥� she said. 鈥淰ersus really focusing on circles, for example, or words that start with the letter 鈥楢.鈥欌��

Beyond what parents can do though, there is a push for more legislation from both the federal government and technology companies. 

鈥淧arents don鈥檛 want to do this alone,鈥� McClain said. 鈥淥ne of the things that stand out in our work is [that] parents are people: they work, they struggle with their own screen time. And that, combined with [the fact that] they want technology companies to do more, really paints a picture.鈥�