Calling All Child Care Voters!
The primaries and recounts are over (see all primary results here), and now we are gearing up for November to elect champions for early learning! As child care voters, our greatest priority is voting for candidates—regardless of party—that commit to expanding access to high-quality pre-k and invest and expand access to infant and toddler care. With the general election only 4 months away, the countdown to save child care as we know it starts today!
The Pennsylvania state budget just passed, and early learning was able to secure important investments:
- 79 million for Pre-K and Head Start Expansion
- 90 million in one-time funds to help child care programs afford and retain staff and rebuild the supply of available child care
- 25 million to increase eligibility for families to qualify for child care subsidies, now up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Line (approximately $69,000 for a three-person household)
So, you might be asking why we need to save child care in the 2022 elections? The answer is simple: these investments stabilize early learning for now, but it can all go away! Especially for the child care investments, a large portion of those were made with one-time, federal American Rescue Plan dollars. This means that when the next legislature does their budget a year from now, we’re back to square one for child care.
As we begin our countdown to save child care for good, we need to make sure that candidates cannot ignore these vital issues for early learning! The first step is to make sure you and all of your friends are in the Child Care Voter Facebook group, following us on Instagram, or signed up for our email alerts. Together, we’ll make sure that Harrisburg sees early learning as a permanent investment in our future!
Onward!
Kyle McMillen, M.A., M.A. (he/him/his)
Early Childhood Education Civic Engagement Coordinator
Children First (formally PCCY)
