Overview
We thank Speaker Shekarchi, Senate President Ruggerio, and Governor McKee for promising to take another look at the FY2024 State Budget Proposal and to add additional resources for child care and early learning, beyond the $8 million included to prevent closure of RI Pre-K classrooms for four-year-olds.
Despite a good revenue year and $4 million in new federal funding for child care in RI, the FY 2024 State Budget passed out of House Finance last Friday contains no NEW money to help families access affordable, quality child care, to reopen closed Early Head Start and Head Start classrooms, or to address the ongoing staffing crisis in child care.
Without new state investments, RI Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms will remain closed, child care programs will be understaffed and have long waiting lists, and RI families will continue to struggle to find and pay for quality child care.
Fix #1: Reopen Head Start & Early Head Start Classrooms
Allocate at least $3 million in state general revenue to Head Start and Early Head Start programs to help these proven programs provide competitive compensation to teachers and staff so they can reopen at least some of the classrooms that were closed in 2022-2023 (28% of classrooms were closed). Without new funding these high-quality preschool and infant-toddler classrooms will not open in September despite long waiting lists of children with very high needs.
Fix #2: Help More RI Families Afford Quality Child Care
Allocate at least $2 million in federal or state funds to raise the family income limit for the RI Child Care Assistance Program from 200% to 225% of the federal poverty level. Currently, Rhode Island has the lowest family income cut off in New England @ $49, 720 for a family of three. Lifting the income limit to 225% of the federal poverty level will bring us back to the family income eligibility level we had in place before drastic cuts in 2007. Access to affordable, quality child care is the engine that helps parents work in essential jobs (health care, education, human services are all experiencing severe staffing shortages) and to contribute to RI’s economy.
Fix #3: Address the Child Care Staffing Crisis
Allocate $1.5 million in federal or state funds to address the severe staffing crisis in child care by funding the Child Care WAGE$ program included in the Early Educator Investment Act. At least 15 states offer wage supplements designed to improve retention of highly skilled, effective educators so they can keep providing safe, nurturing, and enriching care in child care centers and family child care homes. It is time to stop the brain drain and improve the compensation for our early educators. Child Care WAGE$ is a national model program we need to fund now and to continue into the future as a core piece of infrastructure to keep our child care system up and running and maintain access to quality care.
