Child care is one of the hottest topics in public discourse today, and for good reason. The sector is finally (if a bit slowly) getting the attention it deserves, and several universal truths have emerged:

1. The ROI for early childhood investment is staggering. From a purely economic standpoint, few investments pay off as strongly or as consistently as early childhood. The National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs estimates returns between $4 and $9 per every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood programs.
2. Child care is a bipartisan issue. Although specific strategies and priorities may differ from right to left, all of society benefits from well-funded and well-functioning early care and education systems.
3. Child care is ripe for modernization. We’re not going to see sustainable gains by pouring more money into the old way of doing things. Better data and technology infrastructure can reduce barriers to entry, improve efficiencies, and give policymakers the data they need to make informed decisions.

May 2026 Updates

Trying Times for the ECE Workforce

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) both recently took aim at the ECE workforce with notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would increase barriers to entry for the profession and exacerbate the financial hardships on those who care for and teach young children, making experienced educators even less likely to remain in the field than they already are. 

The DOE got things started at the end of April with an NPRM that “essentially requires that every program in institutions that participate in the (federal) Direct Loan Program demonstrate that its graduates make more than those who hold solely a high school diploma (for undergraduate programs) or who hole solely a baccalaureate degree (for graduate programs).” Source: NAEYC Public Comment Guide for the Do No Harm (DNH) Provision. The changes would limit access to federal student loans for aspiring ECE professionals and very likely result in the closure of ECE higher ed programs that would inevitably struggle to meet the earnings premium thresholds. 

The ACF’s Office of Head Start followed up just three weeks later with an NPRM titled Restoring Flexibility to Support Head Start Program Access that will largely undo the wage and benefits requirements of the 2024 Head Start rule. Per the First Five Years Fund State of Play: Rules and Regulations primer, this includes rollbacks of the following initiatives: 

• Developing or updating formal pay scales for all staff
• Paying education staff wages comparable to public preschool teachers
• Providing salaries sufficient to cover basic living costs
• Promoting wage comparability between Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start staff
• Health insurance and paid leave benefits
• Behavioral health supports
• Access to child care subsidies and student loan forgiveness
• Periodic reassessment of benefits packages

ACF’s messaging approach has been to position these items as “costly requirements,” and framing this rollback as a way to “restore flexibility” and “improve access.” What it's really going to do is shift even more of the burden of an underfunded system onto those who are already barely holding on. We urge our readers to provide comments prior to the June 11 deadline. 

Bipartisan Bills of Note

The Rural Child Care Facility Expansion Act was introduced by Reps. April McClain Delaney (D-Maryland) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa). This bill would create a low-interest loan program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for “rural child care providers to renovate, retrofit, expand, or adapt existing buildings to increase childcare capacity.” 

The Supporting Newborn Parents Act of 2026 was introduced by Reps. David Valadao (R-California), Tom Suozzi (D-New York), Blake Moore (R-Utah), and Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan). The bill would provide a tax credit of up to $2,000 per newborn to “help families cover the immediate costs that come with welcoming a child into the world.” Low- and middle-income working parents would qualify for the credit, which would be available as part of their annual tax refund or an advance payment shortly after a child is born. 

The Creating Early Childhood Leaders Act of 2026 was introduced by Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Jahana Hayes (D-Connecticut) in the House and by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (R-New Mexico) and Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) in the Senate. This bill would mandate “that school leadership programs receiving federal Teacher Quality Partnership grants incorporate training on early childhood development and effective instructional leadership from children from birth to age eight.” 

The bicameral Early Childhood Workforce Advancement Act was reintroduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon), Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), John Mannion (D-New York), Mike Lawler (R-New York), and Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia). The bill would make grants available to educational institutions for relevant workforce training programs and “establish, expand, or support career and technical education and career pathway programs of study in early childhood education.” 

Paid Family Leave Garners Momentum

Virginia became the 15th state to pass a paid family and medical leave program on April 22, when Governor Abigail Spanberger signed HB 1207/SB 2 into law. The state will now offer 80% of weekly wages up to 12 weeks for the birth of a new child, care of a family member with serious health conditions, or personal medical events. Employers will need to hold those jobs for participants when they return. Notably, this made Virginia the first state in the southern United States to enact a paid family leave policy, potentially opening the door for others to follow.

Virginia’s announcement came close on the heels of the introduction of Senate Bill 396 in Ohio, which would enact a similar program funded by employer and employee payroll contributions of .4%. While there is little optimism that Ohio’s bill will get passed in this session, it remains a notable indicator of growing bipartisan support for a critical pillar of early childhood policy. 

Pennsylvania is currently debating its own Family Care Act in the Senate after it passed the House in March. The bill has similar timelines (12 weeks) and triggering events as the others, but with a 90% wage replacement rate. It would also be funded by payroll contributions.

As child care access and affordability challenges continue to plague families throughout the country, the old adage that “paid family leave is child care” has never rang more true. 

Read: Virginia’s Paid Family Leave Law Signals Shift in the South (zero2eight)

Updates From the States

Colorado lawmakers in the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to postpone Senate Bill 180 indefinitely, essentially killing its chance of approval this year. The bill, which would have created “a new investment authority that could seek higher returns on certain pots of state money,” would have pursued modestly higher returns through more aggressive investments from certain pools of state money. Ultimately, the heightened financial risk and perceived conflicts with the state Constitution appear to have rendered the proposal untenable. SB 180 was the only bill that would have addressed any portion of the state’s $127 million CCCAP shortfall, meaning Colorado families will likely have to wait until next year to see any movement. 

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed into law an expansion of the state’s employer tax credits for child care. The move makes qualifying businesses eligible for a credit of up to 75% of all costs associated with provider assistance and/or child care programs for employees, along with referral services to connect employees with providers. It also ups the amount of credit for donations made to organizations that expand access to child care services. Total non-refundable credits can now add up to $100,000 annually and carry over for up to three years. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz submitted his suggestions for the state’s 2026 tax bill, including an enhanced child and dependent care credit that would raise the maximum credit to $3,000 for one child under five and $6,000 for two or more, approximately three times the current rate. Children over five would see a similar increase to $1,500 and $3,000, respectively. 

Rounding out the tax credit parade, New Hampshire moved forward with its own governor-endorsed House Bill 1433, which would create the Child Day Care Creation Tax Credit Program, enabling businesses to claim credits of up to 50% for expanding licensed childcare capacity by at least 12 seats, either directly or through a third-party vendor. The program will be capped at $5 million annually. 

Child care has been a hot topic in North Carolina’s legislative session, including the recent introduction of House Bill 1066, which would reallocate nearly $400 million from North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, which paid for families to enroll children in private schools, to “be used to assist in reducing the waitlist for subsidized child care” in the state. House Bill 1086 was re-referred to the House Appropriations Committee. This proposal “would allocate approximately $17 million to support workforce training, mental and behavioral health services, and regulatory changes for child care providers.” This supply-side initiative would establish a pilot for child care workforce academies, add ten new local Smart Start partnerships, including one from each state region, and introduce a new provisional credential for 16- and 17-year-old aspiring ECE professionals.

Oklahoma will become the latest state to commission an Early Childhood Task Force with the goal of identifying opportunities for targeted investment and consolidation of services, which are currently spread out across 19 different programs in six different state agencies, per the bill’s author, Rep. Trish Ranson. The bill was signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt on May 11. 

Trending Original Research and Reports

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released its 23rd State of Preschool report. The headline this year was Georgia becoming the first Universal Pre-K state to meet all 10 preschool quality benchmarks while reaching more than half of four-year-olds. Alabama also excelled, meeting all 10 benchmarks for the 20th consecutive year. Their stories are a contrast to states that have “aggressively increased enrollment and spending without raising quality standards.” In general, the country appears to be making strong progress, with 27 percent of four-year-olds and nine percent of 3-year-olds enrolled in state-funded preschool and average state spending per child reaching record levels ($8,124).  Explore: State of Preschool 2025 Yearbook

Moms First published new research outlining “practical, proven solutions employers can implement today” to support caregiving employees. The report is based on a national survey of approximately 1,700 parents and includes case studies from Chobani, Hilton, JBS, Simple Modern, and UAMS. It aims to address the estimated $70 billion gap in workforce output for U.S. businesses due to child care challenges. Read: Child Care Disruptions Create Up to $70 Billion Opportunity for U.S. Businesses

CPR News launched a beautifully done multi-part series called Raising Colorado. The ongoing series examines the consequences of an inaccessible, unaffordable, and underfunded system in the Centennial State, with emotional stories and perspectives from families, providers, researchers, and state leaders. If you’re a fan of long-form journalism, you don’t want to miss this one. Read: Raising Colorado: The untold costs of a broken childcare system

zero2eight’s Emily Tate Sullivan authored an ominous piece about snowballing child care waitlists throughout the country, a number that has nearly quadrupled in just two years and shows no signs of subsiding. This was another good reminder that it’s well past time to sound the alarm. Read: With 400K Children on Childcare Assistance Waitlists, Families Are Left Scrambling

NAEYC's annual ECE Workforce Survey "demonstrates a clear crisis of affordability for the early childhood education field and the children and families they serve, and the need for stable, sustainable public investments to help ease their shared burdens." The state-by-state breakdown and combination of survey data and testimonials offers a helpful, relatable glimpse into the challenges facing the sector today. Explore: NAEYC's 2026 ECE Workforce Survey

ICYMI: April 2026 Updates

The President is Talking About Child Care Again

Just four months after his comments on alleged widespread fraud in social services programs, President Trump was once again talking about child care. At a private Easter luncheon on April 1, the president told attendees about his instructions to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought; “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care. That has to be up to a state…We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care. You got to let a state take care of day care, and they should pay for it too.” He went on to say that states should fund social services programs, including Medicaid and Medicare because “we have to take care of one thing: military protection.”

This position stands in stark contrast to the president’s campaign promise that “We’re going to make this into a country that can afford to take care of its people and then worry about the rest of the world.” Taken literally, the most recent remarks call into question whether the administration has ambitions to end the nearly four-decade run of the Child Care and Development Fund, the $12 billion linchpin holding up our already unstable early care and education system. For comparison, the first six days of the Iran war/military operation cost the U.S. an estimated $11.3 billion. 

The White House’s FY27 budget request, released just two days after the president’s remarks, looks a lot like last year’s, with level CCDBG and Head Start funding despite soaring costs and the elimination of PDG B-5 and CCAMPIS. They also added a small but alarming note "proposing to allow individual state standards to apply to [Head Start] programs." The request is scarce on details, but NAEYC did a great job of breaking down why that single sentence is cause for concern. It’s worth noting that many of the White House's ECE requests went unheeded when the final budget was passed by Congress last year.

Read: Trump says it’s ‘not possible’ for the U.S. to pay for Medicaid, Medicare and day care: ‘We’re fighting wars’ (NBC News)

Bipartisan Bills of Note

The bicameral Supporting Early-Childhood Educators’ Deductions (SEED) Act was reintroduced in the Senate by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), and in the House by Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-California), David Valadao (R-California), Maggie Goodlander (D-New Hampshire), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania). The Act would expand tax deductions for out-of-pocket classroom expenses to Pre-K and early childhood educators. The deduction was previously only available to K-12 teachers. The “above-the-line” deduction, available whether filers take the standard deduction or itemized deduction, is limited to $300. 

Read: First Five Things to Know About: The SEED Act (First Five Years Fund)

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), another longtime child care champion and military veteran, joined Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) and Sara Jacobs (D-California) to roll out the Helping Ensure Reliable Opportunities (HERO) in Child Care for Military Families Act, which would make it easier for servicemembers to access quality, affordable, and consistent child care. The bill would address both access and supply issues, while also establishing a “Child Care Readiness Data System” to track capacity, staffing levels, vacancies, and turnover. 

Read: Ernst Champions Access to Child Care for Military Families (Joni Ernst Official Website)

Progressives Prioritize Child Care Ahead of Midterms

Longtime child care champion Senators Elizabeth Warren and Patty Murray have teamed up to establish the “Child Care for America” working group, with the goal of teeing up legislation to rapidly address child care access and affordability in the event that Democrats retake the House and Senate after this year’s midterms. The senators are joined by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bobby Scott on the House side. 

In an exclusive reveal through NOTUS, the group specified some of its top priorities, including: 

• Capping family co-pays at 7%
• Free care for the lowest-income families
• Child care as public infrastructure
• Boosting worker compensation
• Significantly increasing federal investment
• Rapidly scaling up supply

We are increasingly hearted to see that child care appears to be emerging as a legislative priority at all levels of government. Given the very strong bipartisan support for federal child care programs among voters, the momentum is going to be hard to ignore no matter what happens in November.

Read: Progressives Launch ‘Child Care for America’ Working Group Ahead of 2026 Midterms (NOTUS) 

Mostly Positive Updates from the States

Tennessee is working fast to address its child care issues from several different angles in the last month of its legislative session. In a heartening show of bipartisan agreement, the legislature has passed, or is in the process of passing: 

• HB 2413/SB 2509, the Tennessee Child Care Red Tape Reduction Act, which expedites the licensing process and eliminates redundancies associated with fire code inspections, among other bureaucratic hurdles for aspiring providers.
• HB 2398/SB 2525, which allows for high school students to work in child care centers either outside of school hours or during school through work-based learning programs. This early exposure to the profession could potentially grow the ECE workforce pipeline and ensure full-time staff are better prepared when entering the workforce.
• HB 1979 / SB 2062, the Promising Futures Act, which uses a new tax on money transfers sent out of the country to pay for two pilots: a workforce scholarship program that would cover tuition costs for parents, and “Care Share Tennessee,” a Tri-Share-like employer-supported child care assistance program with state matching based on income.

Idaho shows up for the second month in a row after another attempt to raise ratios was vetoed by Governor Brad Little. HB 758 would have excluded the children of family child care providers from counts and allowing for remote monitoring of sleeping children. The Senate also shot down a plan to significantly lower the income eligibility threshold for the Idaho Child Care Program.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun has proposed a $200 million diversion of funds to support its CCDF voucher program, relieving at least some of the pressure that has been building since the state instituted an enrollment freeze and waitlists in late 2024. The funds are expected to bring total enrollment in the program up to 57,000, reducing the waitlist from about 35,400 to 21,400. The move marks the largest one-time child care investment in state history. 

Maryland is also taking action to address waitlists by infusing $20 million into its own child care scholarship program. That is expected to be enough to cut the current waitlist of 5,000 families in half, with gradual enrollment starting on July 1. Other bills passed during the legislative session promote more consumer education, codify scholarship exceptions, and extend the state’s child care credential program through FY 2030. The bills are awaiting Gov. Wes Moore’s signature as of the date of this article’s publication. 

Connecticut families got some bad news this month, with new projections estimating only about $30 million in budget surplus funds for its Early Childhood Education Endowment, far less than the $300+ million pledged last year. Much of the money the state had been counting on is no longer available, with Medicaid overspending emerging as one of the biggest obstacles, an issue exacerbated by last year’s federal cuts to the program. The governor and legislature appear to still be committed to their vision of increased funding for child care, but how they’ll get there remains to be seen. 

Trending Original Research and Reports

zero2eight highlighted the growing trend of centralized, state-level departments of early childhood. The common themes include stronger leadership, the importance of cabinet-level senior leadership to bang the drum for ECE, and a need for ongoing iteration of governance and culture shifts. Read: Why Are State Departments of Early Childhood Education So Trendy Right Now?

Child Care Aware of America released a new report on the state-by-state child care and preschool funding landscape, with a focus on investments from states above federally required matching and maintenance of effort funds. The key finding, as evidenced by the title of the report, was that “children, families, and communities across America remain on an uneven playing field when it comes to state child care and preschool funding.” Read: An Uneven Start 2026 - Where Child Care Funding Falls Short—And Why It Matters

zero2eight earns a second mention this month for their reporting on the uncertain future of Washington D.C.’s Pay Equity Fund, which could see a $60 million funding cut, per Mayor Muriel Bowser’s April budget proposal. The Fund, which has been widely seen as a model for addressing ECE workforce compensation gaps and supporting providers in recruitment, retention, and quality efforts, has largely proven successful, as seen in Mathematica’s impact analysis. Its annual return on investment has been calculated to be as high as 23%. Read: Pay Equity Fund for D.C.’s Early Educators Faces Possible Elimination