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KinderCare Commends Recent State Investments in Child Care

KLC
  • California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, & Virginia have increased budget allocations to expand access to high-quality early childhood education & care.
  • KinderCare applauds these six states for prioritizing early learning programs that help thousands of children access affordable care & support working families.
  • California's 2026-2027 budget supports an additional 22,770 children through tuition assistance & early learning contracts.
  • Michigan allocated an extra $88 million for child care tuition assistance, over $27 million for early learning funds & teacher advancement, & made its Tri-Share cost-splitting program permanent.
  • New Hampshire enacted a law offering businesses a 50% tax credit for establishing or expanding employer-sponsored child care capacity.
  • New Jersey's 2026 budget includes $18 million to serve 2,500 more children via tuition assistance & $1.4 billion for pre-K programs across nearly 300 school districts.
  • Pennsylvania added $5 million to staff recruitment bonuses (raising the total to $30 million) & $3.75 million to the Pre-K Counts program (raising the total to $330 million).
  • Virginia expanded tuition assistance to enroll nearly 6,700 eligible children, cleared waitlists, & invested $25 million in an Employee Child Care Assistance Program to incentivize employer contributions.
  • These state investments follow similar historic ECE funding announcements from Indiana & New York earlier this year.
  • KinderCare's recent Confidence Index reports that 75% of working parents know someone who left the workforce due to child care issues, while 50% miss work from care disruptions.
  • KinderCare, the nation's leading ECE provider operating over 2,700 centers in 42 states & the District of Columbia, will collaborate with these states to implement these plans.