社区黑料

For decades, teachers, leaders and supporters of early care and education have been trying to make do with a broken system, advocating for a little extra funding here, proposing a program improvement there and settling for stopgap solutions in the absence of broad federal investment.

It hasn鈥檛 worked. Despite incremental progress over the years, many children still lack access to high-quality early care and education, while families face prohibitively high costs for the care that is available and educators endure poor working conditions.  

Increasingly, these groups are saying enough is enough. Rather than continuing to patch holes in a crumbling system that only serves a fraction of families, many advocates are calling for a complete overhaul. 

Already, some bold new visions have begun to emerge.

One such idea comes from , a policy initiative intended to provide a forward-looking, Democratic counterweight to Project 2025, the conservative agenda that has guided much of the Trump administration鈥檚 decisions during this term, including recent efforts to dramatically weaken Head Start. 

Project 2029鈥檚 childcare proposal, called the , lays out an ambitious plan for a free, universal childcare system. It is intended to recognize that families don鈥檛 all want the same thing, and that care preferences change over time. The childcare arrangement a family wants when their child is an infant often differs from what they want when that child is 3 years old.聽

The proposal, as its name suggests, is designed to offer families flexibility. 

A family can choose to take advantage of a free, publicly funded childcare slot across a range of high-quality options, including community-based centers, schools, Head Start programs, faith-based settings and family childcare providers. Or they can choose a 鈥淐areCredit,鈥� a financial stipend of $1,000 per month that can be used to compensate a stay-at-home parent or other trusted caregiver such as a grandparent, nanny or neighbor. The childcare slot would not be income limited. The CareCredit would be available to families earning less than $400,000. 

Families with a parent who works part-time can choose a hybrid option with a part-time childcare slot and a partial CareCredit. Families earning less than 100% of the poverty level could gain access to both the childcare slot and the financial stipend. 

The plan emerged after Project 2029 put out a call for childcare policy proposals. A team of four co-authors 鈥� Tara McGuinness, Katie Hamm, Alyson Silkowski and Mario Cardona 鈥� put their heads together, combining their many years of collective experience as public servants, as well as a mix of backgrounds in data science, design, policy, parenthood and more. 

鈥淲e went into this knowing we need something at scale 鈥� a large, sustainable federal investment,鈥� said Silkowski, senior policy adviser at New America鈥檚 New Practice Lab, a team focused on improving economic outcomes for American families with young children. 

They also wanted something simple and approachable for families. 

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to present three months of pay stubs. You don鈥檛 have to fill out a 40-page application. There would be a guaranteed seat for you,鈥� Silkowski added. 

The proposal offers a comprehensive vision for childcare, with some explanation 鈥� but not a lot 鈥� of how to implement it. The internal planning process involved discussions on implementation and cost planning, but the plan released to the public was intentionally written to be 鈥渟hort and accessible,鈥� said Hamm, former deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development under President Joe Biden.

The proposal does say 鈥� and Silkowski confirmed 鈥� that the authors believe the plan could be fully implemented for about $200 billion annually and that it could be funded through tax code reforms, such as an increase of the corporate tax rate or a change to the estate tax. That鈥檚 many multiples more than the U.S. government each year on childcare and early education programs (with funding mainly split between the Child Care and Development Fund, which helps low-income families across the country pay for childcare, and Head Start). Yet it鈥檚 in line with what childcare challenges are each year already, through a combination of foregone earnings, productivity declines and uncaptured tax revenue, according to ReadyNation. 

鈥淲e spend a lot of money on a lot of things in this country,鈥� Silkowski said. 鈥淲e spend very little on little kids, even relative to what we spend on kids in K-12.鈥�

The true total cost of the plan would depend on how many families choose the childcare slot versus the financial stipend, since the slot is expected to be more expensive, Silkowski said. 

The concept isn鈥檛 novel. The authors essentially want to fund childcare like a public good, much the same way the government funds K-12 education. They also want families to experience the same ease during their kids鈥� early years as is expected once children start school. 

鈥淵ou should be able to take your child to a childcare slot just as people drop their child off for first grade,鈥� said Hamm. That doesn鈥檛 mean there would be no paperwork involved, she added, but families wouldn鈥檛 have to prove their incomes and working hours like those receiving childcare subsidies do now.

Julie Kashen, founder of a new policy initiative called Women鈥檚 Economic Futures that is focused on policy and research on issues including childcare, thinks there is a lot to like about the Project 2029 childcare proposal, including that it gives families flexibility as their priorities and preferences change. She鈥檚 not bothered by the price tag. 

鈥淲e know that doing this well and checking all the boxes requires a lot of funding. We know that right now we are paying a price for not doing it. It鈥檚 just mostly on the parents and early childhood educators that are not paid well,鈥� Kashen said. 鈥淚 think the fact that it anticipates a robust investment is a good thing, not a bad thing.鈥� 

The proposal has generated buzz among the early care and education community, particularly policy experts. But it hasn鈥檛 been unanimously well received. 

Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women鈥檚 Law Center, called the Project 2029 plan 鈥渁n important and useful starting point,鈥� but she feels like it forces families to choose between a free childcare slot and a cash stipend. 

鈥淚t creates a financial incentive for one person to leave the workforce 鈥� likely women 鈥� when women are . There are real consequences,鈥� said Goss Graves. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 have policies that further put their thumb on the scale that make it harder for women who want to work, to work.鈥�

Instead, Goss Graves would like to see two separate proposals, one offering a cash solution to families with young children and another establishing a universal childcare system. 鈥淚 would decouple these ideas,鈥� she said of the Child Care Choice Guarantee. 鈥淲hen you have young children, it鈥檚 really, really expensive. That time of life is really expensive. I don鈥檛 think that money should only go to stay-at-home parents.鈥�

The Child Care Choice Guarantee seeks to give families options, not force outcomes, but Goss Graves worries the effect will be the same nonetheless. 

鈥淲e should not be penalizing people for using childcare by saying you don鈥檛 get the direct cash that other families will get,鈥� she said. 

The New York Times recently on a draft new rule from the Trump administration that would almost certainly pit families with working parents against families with a stay-at-home parent. The proposal would allow low- and moderate-income married couples in which one parent stays home to care for a child to receive childcare subsidies under the Child Care and Development Fund. Subsidies currently average about $9,000 per child per year. That pot of money is already insufficient to serve the working families eligible for it: Only about ages 5 and under receive subsidies.

The authors of the Project 2029 childcare proposal don鈥檛 claim that their idea is in its perfect form yet, and they accept that it may not resonate with everyone. 

鈥淧art of what we鈥檙e trying to do is have people kick the tires,鈥� said McGuinness, executive director of the New Practice Lab and former senior adviser for the White House and the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration. 鈥淲e鈥檙e super iterative. 鈥� This is really aimed to start generating a new conversation.鈥�

That conversation seems to be well underway. There is growing momentum, from a variety of organizations and from providers and families themselves, to stop talking about the problems in the field and start building toward solutions, multiple people told 社区黑料. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing new and exciting ideas come out of a lot of different corners,鈥� said Kashen. She mentioned the Child Care for America in Congress that formed earlier this year, as well as a for universal public childcare put forward by the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank, in addition to the Project 2029 proposal. 

There鈥檚 also a for universal childcare from Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based childcare, that centers the role of family, friend and neighbor providers, who provide the most common care arrangement in the country. In Congress, Rep. Ro Khanna of California has introduced that would cap childcare costs at $10 per day for families and establish a pay floor of $24 per hour for early childhood educators. And Sen. Patty Murray of Washington has continued to push the , which would make childcare more affordable, expand access to pre-K and increase wages for early childhood educators.  

Another plan in the works, , comes from the Child Care for Every Family Network, a coalition of state and national organizations that are aligning around a vision for a universal childcare system, according to the network鈥檚 executive director Andrea Paluso. 

鈥淲e are imagining a system that is totally universal and available to everyone, and there aren鈥檛 requirements around whether the parent is working or how much they earn,鈥� Paluso said, adding that it would be inclusive of childcare centers, family childcare providers and care. 

Paluso wants to see a system that creates a 鈥渟table, loving environment for children,鈥� with consistent, caring adults. That vision is at odds with our current system, which only exists to help parents go to work (and still doesn鈥檛 reach of the children who are eligible). Her organization鈥檚 campaign proposes serving all children from birth to age 13, including immigrants and children with disabilities. All families, regardless of income or work status, would be eligible. 

Kashen and others are encouraged by the change in tone around childcare and the urgency for a better way forward. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly what we need to ensure this is a high-priority issue over the next political cycle,鈥� she added. 鈥淲e need to see that having a plan for childcare is a must-have for candidates.鈥�

Indeed, that鈥檚 an idea implicit in the Project 2029 name and explicit from the authors of its childcare proposal. 

鈥淚 think we are seeing and will continue to see a lot of really bold visions out there for childcare,鈥� said Hamm. 鈥淢arkers of success鈥� for those proposals, she added, might include a member of Congress introducing legislation based on one of the ideas or a 2028 presidential candidate embracing a version of them in their campaign platform. 

鈥淭hat would be a sign momentum is growing and we鈥檙e on the right path,鈥� she said. 

Whether it鈥檚 the Child Care Choice Guarantee or another vision circulating 鈥� or still being devised 鈥� experts seem to agree that the field is at an inflection point and has a major opportunity to seize in the coming years. 

鈥淭he idea that we鈥檙e going to enter a season where there are multiple and competing and large ideas around childcare,鈥� said Goss Graves of NWLC, 鈥渁nd that we鈥檒l have a chance to really build a system that works for families 鈥� I find that extremely exciting and energizing.鈥�

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