When “Build Back Better” failed to pass with robust child care investment in 2021, many early care and education advocates saw it as the end of a long, winding road to provide a more universal system of child care in which families could access high quality care and educators were paid wages commensurate with K-12 teachers. But even as the federal landscape has shifted away from providing more support for the sector, states have continued to innovate early child care and education policy by making policy, tax, and spending decisions designed to support early educators and families.

Several such states are attracting national attention for their solutions, as advocates and educators seek out successful models that are replicable elsewhere. The stories highlighted below feature state-level innovations in early child care and education policy, improvements and policy changes in early care and education.

Vermont’s landmark bill, Act 76, designed to bring near-universal child care to the state, passed in 2023 — and it’s already offering a notable financial boost for many child care providers. It brought changes to various areas of child care and early childhood education, including significant updates to the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP), which distributes subsidy payments to providers for children from eligible families. Under CCFAP, providers now get a significantly higher rate per child than what they typically charge. For Chelsea Chase, a family child care provider who is featured in the story, this change nearly doubled the amount of money she brings in weekly for each child. That increase led her to expand her program to serve more children. The additional subsidies have made a substantive difference in the lives of many family child care providers across the state, though only those serving qualified families can access it.

An apprenticeship program for early childhood educators is boosting the number of qualified professionals in the space, demonstrating innovation in early child care and education policy. Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, sought ways to increase the pipeline of early child educators in a field that’s notoriously underpaid and struggling to retain staff. In 2024, the first cohort graduated with a Registered Apprenticeship in Early Childhood Administrator/Director (ECAD) through the state Department of Labor, as part of the Neighborhood Villages’ Early Childhood Emerging Leaders program.

Read the full article about early child care and education policy by Rebecca Gale at The 74.