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.

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

ICYMI: March 2026 Updates

The "Universal" Trend Gains Steam

Are universal child care and Pre-K having their moment? 55 years after the infamous Nixon veto of the Comprehensive Child Development Act, which would have codified early care and education as a right for “all children regardless of economic, social, and family background,” state officials and candidates throughout the country appear to be growing more comfortable making universal child care and/or Pre-K a cornerstone of their platforms. 

Back in January, The Guardian published an article by Elliot Haspel highlighting the evolution of universal childcare as a “mainstream position within the Democratic party.” The article called out gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin and Georgia, a congressional candidate in Maine, and a mayoral candidate in DC as having “taken up the universal childcare mantle.” 

Fast forward a little over a month, and we can see that mantle taking shape in several places. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced the formation of an Early Childhood Care and Learning System Roundtable at the end of February that will, among other things, look to “create a blueprint for universal pre-K in Oregon.” New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani opened March by announcing “the first major milestone in their plan to deliver free child care for two-year-olds in New York City.” State and city officials are taking a phased approach toward the end goal of both universal child care and Pre-K. The following week, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham officially signed the state’s groundbreaking universal child care program into law, adding that “New Mexico is ready to assist in helping others turn the vision into reality for families across the nation.” 

The fact that these ambitious goals—which would have seemed politically improbable just a few years ago—are actually coming to fruition is a positive sign for those who believe ECE should be a universal right. We will be closely monitoring both the progress of these programs and the elections that could bring the issue to the forefront in even more states over the next couple of years. 

Follow-Up Read: Universal Pre-K Is a Hot Policy Idea. But What About Kindergarten? (EdSurge)

Bipartisan Bills of Note

U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Dan Sullvan (R-AK) introduced the Child Care Tax Benefit Outreach and Assistance Act, which would create a new Business Child Care Liaison housed within the IRS to support the business community in better leveraging federal child care tax incentives and other tools, especially the 45F tax credit. 

This bill would help close the knowledge and awareness gap that leads to underutilization of available funding and resources. By establishing a clear point of contact focused solely on removing barriers for businesses to support their employees’ child care needs, Congress has an opportunity to bring more businesses to the table in child care conversations, creating another vital pathway toward addressing the child care access and affordability crisis plaguing much of the country. 

Read: Statements of Support for the Child Care Tax Benefit Outreach and Assistance Act

Along similar lines, the Small Business Dependent Care FSA Opportunity Act, introduced by Representatives Adrian Smith (R-NE), Danny Davis (D-IL), and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), would lower barriers specifically for small businesses interested in offering dependent care flexible spending accounts (DCFSAs) to their employees. 

This bill would incentivize businesses with 100 or fewer employees by creating a tax credit to support establishing and administering DCFSAs. It would also cover the startup and administrative costs, along with employee education on the benefit. The credit would range from $500 to $5,000 per year. 

Read: Smith Leads Bipartisan Bill to Help Small Businesses Support Working Families

Some States Advance Solutions...

Maine moved toward securing a sustainable future for their Child Care Affordability Program with LD 1955, which directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a long-term plan for it by the end of this year. The bill also provides $15 million to hold the program over through FY 26-27. It was sent to Governor Janet Mills just days before she signed LD 1728, which lowered family co-payments and changed the payment model for subsidies to one based on enrollment, rather than attendance. 

Virginia has a couple parallel bills in motion: one to get a better handle on the funding levels needed to fully support its child care subsidy program, and one to launch a Tri-Share model called the Employee Child Care Assistance Program with $25 million in seed funding next fiscal year (the House version) or spread across the next two fiscal years (the Senate version). All of this is happening on the heels of Governor Abigail Spanberger’s recent election, for which she campaigned on a platform of lower costs for families and support of public education.   

West Virginia senators overwhelmingly signed off on House Bill 4191 on March 13, concluding a years-long process to improve child care supply by reimbursing providers based on enrollment rather than attendance (note the common theme) and expanding the state’s business tax credit for employer-sponsored child care facilities. The bill also directs the Department of Human Services to address the “child care subsidy cliff” tied to changes in family income that traditionally have caused an immediate cessation of assistance once parents reached eligibility thresholds. 

...While Others Take a Step Back

Idaho legislators on both sides of the aisle expressed outrage at the introduction of a bill that appeared to include language straight from a well-known vendor’s marketing department. This blatant attempt to skirt competitive bidding by including exclusionary, vendor-specific messaging for both “Program Oversight” and the creation of “up to 600 licensed child care programs” comes on the heels of last year’s narrowly averted disaster (also in Idaho), in which the same vendor’s lobbyists tried to eliminate child-to-staff ratios altogether. Can we all agree that legislation written by corporations with clear conflicts of interest should never make it to the Senate floor, or is that just the naive, sweet summer child in me? 

Here at Child Care Matters and BridgeCare, we believe fair and competitive RFP processes are the best way for states to get the most out of their investments, just like we believe that buyers should be well-informed about what they’re looking for. 

Read: 6 Questions to Ask When Evaluating ECE Software Vendors

Washington is drastically cutting both early learning and K-12 education in the face of an ongoing budget crisis, even while raising spending by nearly $1.7 billion. Its child care subsidy program stands to lose nearly $800 million over the next two years due to a move from pay-by-enrollment to pay-by-attendance, a change that will almost certainly force some providers to close their doors. The state is also cutting a third of its transition to kindergarten slots for savings of approximately $25 million per year. 

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers vetoed a proposed child care tax credit expansion for employers, stating that the expansion was vague and did not provide “the necessary funding for proper implementation and the clarity necessary to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.” Wisconsin is currently experiencing a severe child care workforce and supply crisis, amounting to approximately 33,000 unfilled slots across the state. 

Trending Original Research and Reports

New America published a series of articles under the umbrella of Debunking Either/Or False Choices about Pre-K Curricula. The articles were a response to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s report, A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum, and the common false dichotomies noted within. 

• Read: Social-Emotional and Cognitive Learning (Carrie Gillispie)
• Read: Play and Academics (Aaron Loewenberg)
• Read: Emergent and Scripted (Noelani Mussman)

First Focus on Children released Babies in the Budget, an eye-opening examination of the federal share of spending on infants and toddlers for the past five fiscal years. The big takeaway? In FY 2025, “the United States devoted just 1.59% of all federal spending to children under the age of 3.” We know babies can’t vote, but that’s not nearly enough. Read: Babies in the Budget