News

Recently, the state finalized the budget for fiscal year 2019-20, running now through June 30, 2020.

About

Alongside monumental increased investments for pre-k and home visiting, child care line items expanded, but only due to increases in funds from the federal government that are appropriated (or allowed to be spent) in the new state budget. Meanwhile, state child care dollars were cut by $36 million and replaced with federal funds.

While Trying Together is excited by the growth of pre-k and home visiting, this budget was a missed opportunity to support greater access to and affordability of high-quality child care. It is critical that our state policymakers know that the early childhood community is paying attention to their actions.

Detailed Budget Overview

Governor Wolf’s enacted budget includes the following:

Child Care

• • $6 million cut from the Child Care Services line item (replaced by federal funds).
• • $30 million cut from the Child Care Assistance line item (replaced by federal funds).
• • $27 million of federal dollars allocated to serve 970 additional infants and toddlers eligible for Child Care Works in high-quality programs; raise tiered reimbursement rates for STAR 2, 3, and 4 providers caring for infants and toddlers; and support apprenticeships for infant and toddler teachers.

Pre-K

• • $25 million increase for Pre-K Counts. This funding will also provide a rate increase of 2.95%, meaning approximately $250 more per child served over the prior rate.
• • $5 million increase for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program to serve more children.

Evidence-Based Home Visiting

• • $5 million increase for evidence-based home visiting programs to serve an additional 800 eligible families.

Why It’s Important

Today, only one-third of children on child care subsidy are accessing high-quality STAR 3 or 4 care. On average, families wait 88 days to access subsidies they need to join or remain in the workforce, with 4,300 children on the subsidy waiting list. However, child care subsidy reimbursements do not cover the cost of quality care. With this, child care staff are often paid low wages, with 50 percent of child care staff receiving public assistance.

We are pleased to see a waiting list initiative to serve more infants and toddlers in high-quality care and an increase in tiered reimbursement that will provide further program stability and consistency in teacher:child relationships. These are initiatives we and partners advocated for and strongly align with our Start Strong PA campaign goals.

Trying Together appreciates Governor Wolf’s continued commitment to early care and education programs in the commonwealth. With this, we recognize that countless families still lack access to high-quality early learning programs that they can afford. Trying Together will be doubling down on our advocacy for greater state and federal funding for child care.

Take Action

To support the work of early childhood and caregivers of young children, we participate in multiple campaigns, including Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, and Childhood Begins at Home. However, the success of these advocacy efforts is only possible when the early childhood community is visible and heard by our elected officials.

Visit our Take Action page and take action on the campaigns that matter to you. By doing so, you can thank lawmakers for greater investments in pre-k and home visiting and let them know that you expect to see them restore and grow investments in high-quality child care.

To stay up-to-date on how to advocate for these issues, sign-up to receive public policy updates.

See the full budget history here.