Rep. Wood: A ‘deep dive’ into childcare, Pre-K
April 13, 2023 | By Rep. Theresa Wood The month of April will largely be devoted to working on the issue of affordable, accessible and high-quality early care and learning – a.k.a. childcare and Pre-K. The Senate passed bill S.56 which provides a path forward to achieve this goal and now it’s up to the House to further refine, amend, and consider the complicated issue outlined in the legislation.
My committee, House Human Services, is charged with doing a “deep dive” into all of the issues associated with childcare. In fact, this is the third time in the last five or so years that the Legislature has addressed this issue. What’s different this time? We have the experience of the pandemic to understand the impact of high-quality childcare and early learning on children, families, the workforce, employers and the state as a whole. In today’s world, if a family has two parents, both are generally working. If you are a single-parent family, you need childcare in order to even be in the workforce. Sometimes that care is provided by the family itself through juggling work schedules of parents, or through extended family/friends, as well as professionally provided childcare. And very often, it’s some combination of all of these the families cobble together to make it work.
Also, several years ago Vermont passed what is known as Act 166 – the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Act or UPK as it is often referred to. This act was intended to provide access to 10 hours per week of Pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds across the state in what is called a “mixed delivery system.” That essentially meant that parents would have access to 10 hours of free (paid for through the state Education Fund) Pre-K in either a public school setting or in a privately run Pre-K. That act placed a high degree of value on parental choice (it is not mandatory to attend) and essentially set up a voucher-type system for families.
You might think that something that is called “universal” is available to everyone who is eligible for it, right? Well, that was the idea, however, that is not the reality. Some families have access to full day/full week Pre-K, others to just the 10 hours, and still others to none at all. This creates a significant inequity in a system that is funded by public dollars. Another unintended consequence of this policy has been reduced access to infant and toddler care in the community. Ask any parent who is contemplating having a child and they will tell you they have been putting their names on waiting lists for months in the hopes that by the time they have a child and need to return to work, they will have a spot for their infant.
We don’t yet have solutions to all of these issues, but that is what we are working on. By the end of the session in May, we hope to have improved equitable access to this important resource for our youngest Vermonters and their families. Watch for more updates on this topic as the Legislative session comes to a close in May.
Chair of the House Human Services Committee, Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, represents the Washington-Chittenden legislative district that covers Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore. Email: twood@leg.state.vt.us.