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Tag: PA budget impasse

News

September 29, 2025

PA Budget Impasse Hurts Providers, Families, and Businesses

The Pennsylvania state budget is now months overdue, and early learning programs across the state face an impossible situation because of this delay. 

Currently, 3,200 pre-k providers are being denied payment for over 66,500 slots, leading to closed classrooms or programs forced to self-fund with costly loans.

“We are seeing the ripple effects of this budget impasse on working families in Pennsylvania,” explains Emily Neff, director of public policy for Trying Together. “Children are not just losing out on critical early learning opportunities –  families are also suffering because they are unable to find the care they need in order to work. Child care businesses are making hard decisions to let go of teachers or take out high interest loans. Employers then experience workforce disruptions, which hurts their bottom line.” 

To effectively advocate for a solution and show the real-time impact of this impasse, the Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA campaigns are collecting crucial information from Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program grantees. These campaigns ask those impacted by the impasse to complete a survey to share how their program has been affected by October 9. 

The collected data will be instrumental in their efforts to urge state lawmakers to pass a budget that funds pre-k immediately, and data will be shared with lawmakers in real time. These first-hand accounts will help illustrate the urgent need to support early educators and the children and families who depend on these vital programs.

Take Action Now

We appreciate your support and collaboration year after year. Here are some other concrete ways you can help us elevate ECE as the budget impasse continues.

  1. Register for and attend the Working Together Webinar on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. focusing on a state budget update; advocating for early learning; the 2025 Market Rate Survey; and federal advocacy updates and opportunities
  2. Complete our current action alert and share with your networks
  3. Call your state lawmakers and urge them to include early childhood investments in the final deal. Use the SSPA Budget Impasse Fact Sheet to guide your conversation 
  4. Do you know a provider, family, or business who is feeling the impact of the state budget impasse? Maybe YOU have a story! Take a few minutes to record a quick video explaining how this hurts providers, families, and businesses. Please share with your networks. 

News

September 9, 2025

Trying Together’s Director of Public Policy Discusses Early Childhood Education Crisis on PCN Capitol Preview

Trying Together’s director of public policy appeared this week on The PCN Capitol Preview to discuss Pennsylvania’s ongoing early childhood education staffing and funding crisis.

Learn More

Emily Neff, Trying Together’s director of public policy, appeared on the program on Tuesday, Sept. 8 to discuss what Trying Together does to support early childhood development as well as the state’s teacher shortage and budget impasse.

“We are in a crisis,” Neff said. “The system is not working for everyone. Early childhood educators are woefully underpaid for the amazing work they do for our children. Families are paying as much for their rent or mortgage as they do for child care – and that’s if they can find it.”

Neff said many parents – including herself – are on long waiting lists to get their children into a program. Often, she added, programs have classrooms that are closed that could serve more children, but cannot due to the state’s staffing crisis. She said that one program she knows of recently closed its toddler class, while another said it would shut down if it lost another teacher. 

Neff cited Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $55 million child care teacher recruitment and retention line item as an opportunity to address the state’s early education crisis.

“It’s a great opportunity for Pennsylvania to put itself on the map,” she said. “It would be a $1,000 payment to teachers, but we don’t know what’s going to happen with that right now.”

She said that the state’s budget impasse – during which the state Legislature has not passed a budget more than two months past the deadline, resulting public schools not receiving state funding that educators say is critical to keep them operating – has led some programs to lay off teachers, while parents have been left to find care elsewhere.

“We need more investments to make sure that programs have what they need, teachers are being paid better, and families have access – and it’s not costing families more than what they’ve already been paying,” Neff said.

The PCN Capitol Preview is available on YouTube.