Our commonwealth needs to make further investments and improve policies for the children and families served in the early care and education system. Read below for updates and information about Pennsylvania-focused policy and advocacy.

Summary of Governor Shapiro’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 Early Care and Education Budget Proposal by Line Item

Child Care
Child Care Services: $66.7 million in new state funding proposed to maintain subsidized child care access to 75,000 low-income working families and sustain Child Care Works reimbursements to meet or exceed rates at the 60th percentile of the market rate for child care facilities. Budget documents indicate this funding would replace federal dollars.

Child Care Assistance: Essentially level-funded; minor $5,000 state funding increase proposed, noted to “expand existing program to include four-year postsecondary institutions”.

Pre-K
Pre-K Counts: $30 million in new state funding proposed to increase rates by approximately $1,000 per child (full-time slot) / $500 per child (part-time slot). A full-time slot would increase to $11,000 and a part-time slot would increase to $5,500.

Head Start Supplemental Assistance: $2.7 million in new state funding proposed to increase the cost per child rate.

Early Intervention
Early Intervention Part C (DHS – infants/toddlers): $20.2 million in new state funding proposed. Budget documents indicate about 3,000 more children are expected to be served.

Early Intervention Part B (PDE – ages three-five): $10.4 million in new state funding proposed. Budget documents indicate about 2,000 more children are expected to be served.

Evidenced-based Home Visiting
Community-Based Family Centers: Level-funded. Nurse Family Partnership: Essentially level-funded; very minor adjustments made to state line item in relationship to federal funding.

Read the Early Learning PA statement: Governor Shapiro 23-24 Budget Proposal ELPA Statement DRAFT

 

Building a Financially-Stable, High-Quality Child Care System for Pennsylvania’s Children and Families: Improving Subsidized Child Care Rate Setting

PennAEYC, in collaboration with Start Strong PA, released a policy brief that recommends that Pennsylvania conduct cost modeling to determine the true cost of child care and adopt an alternative payment methodology for child care subsidy. The price of child care is high and a burden for most families, while child care programs operate on razor-thin margins and child care teachers and staff are paid poverty level wages. The current system fails our families, the teachers and staff and program owners and directors. Parents can’t afford to pay more, providers can’t afford to be paid less and teachers can't afford to stick around. Determining the true cost of care is critical to addressing the underfunding in the child care system. Creating a cost estimation model will outline revenue and expenses to identify what it actually costs to meet certification standards, accounting for program variations, and additional costs related to high-quality child care and appropriate compensation for the workforce.

 

Read the full report here Improving Subsidized Child Care Rate Setting - 2-2023 Web

Improving Subsidized Child Care Rate Setting Presentation February 2023

Cost Gap Charts 2023

Presentation Recording; Passcode: Z%ngF2T?

Recommendations for Infant and Toddler Contracts in Pennsylvania: A Model to Strengthen and Stabilize the Child Care System

PennAEYC, Children First, Trying Together and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children released recommendations for Pennsylvania related to infant and toddler contracted slots to expand and improve the program. Pennsylvania is well poised to expand contracts for infants and toddlers based on the Infant and Contracted Slots Pilot and can serve as a model for strengthening and stabilizing the child care system. These recommendations highlight the policy goals for the expansion of contract-based slots for infants and toddlers and offers well-researched financing and monitoring recommendations to ensure accountability for the system and use of public dollars. Lastly, the recommendations include ways to strengthen equity in a contracts-based model to ensure funding reaches all Early Learning Resource Center regions.

Read the full report here Recommendations for Infant and Toddler Contracts in Pennsylvania: A Model to Strengthen and Stabilize the Child Care System

 

Statewide Advocacy Agenda to Improve Part C Early Intervention Services for Pennsylvania

PennAEYC and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children released a comprehensive report, Statewide Advocacy Agenda to Improve Part C Early Intervention Services for Pennsylvania, which reviewed the data and current practices in Pennsylvania’s system. There are five core recommendations:

  • Serving all children who can benefit from Part C EI through outreach, referral, enrollment
  • Ensuring Part C EI services offer the quality needed to make a difference
  • Achieving equitable access in Part C EI
  • Addressing mental health needs of infants and toddlers in Part C EI
  • Partnering with Medicaid to improve Part C EI

Read the full report here Statewide Advocacy Agenda to Improve Part C Early Intervention Services for Pennsylvania - JUNE 2022 FINAL ONLINE

 

State Budget for Fiscal Year 2022-2023

The final FY2022-23 state budget provided the following investments in early childhood care and education:
 
Pre-K - The budget provides a total increase of $79 million for high-quality pre-k. This includes increases of $60 million for Pre-K Counts and $19 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, serving 2,300 additional children statewide and providing rate increases for programs. This investment continues our bipartisan tradition of expanding access to high-quality pre-k and will help to reach the more than 100,000 eligible three- and four-year-olds who currently do not have access to these programs. 
 
Child Care
One-Time Federal Stabilization Funds for Retention and Recruitment - The budget provides $90 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for the “Child Care Stabilization Program” to provide one-time recruitment and retention payments to qualified child care professionals. These payments may not exceed $2,500 per child care professional. The Department of Human Services (DHS) must begin to accept applications no later than January 1, 2023 and process them on a rolling basis. We will monitor progress on kicking off this program and be in touch as we learn more from DHS.
 
State Funding Update – The budget provides an increase of $25 million in the Child Care Services line item, allowing families enrolled in the child care subsidy program to continue receiving the benefit up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level or 85 percent of the State Median Income, whichever is lower. The current exit eligibility limit is 235 percent of the federal poverty level. DHS must determine copayment amounts for families in the new eligibility group. The Child Care Assistance line item was level-funded.
 
Child Care and Dependent Tax Credit - A new Child Care and Dependent Care tax credit was established equal to 30% of the federal credit to support working families.
 
Early Intervention
Infant/Toddler Early Intervention (Part C) received an increase of $9.3 million under the Department of Human Services (this figure also appears as $12.2 million when stimulus dollars are not included). Early Intervention (Part B) under the Department of Education for 3-5-year-olds received an increase of $10 million. 
 
Evidenced-Based Home Visiting
The Community-Based Family Centers line item received an increase of $15 million which allows an additional 3,800 pregnant women, young children and their families to receive evidence-based home visiting services. The Nurse-Family Partnership line received an increase of $1 million to serve nearly 200 more families.