On June 16, Vermont’s General Assembly officially adjourned and brought the 2025 legislative session to a close in Montpelier. Over the course of the session, Building Bright Futures (BBF) played a key role as the primary advisor to the Legislature on the state’s early childhood system. This advisement played out in a variety of ways, both formal and informal. Some of the ways in which BBF fulfilled its charge to advise the Legislature on the well-being of young children and their families in Vermont included:
- Updating key committees and caucuses on the implementation of Act 76 (Vermont’s historic child care law passed in 2023) and related indicators of progress through testimony and communications
- Delivering our annual report to the Legislature on Act 76 monitoring and impact
- Publishing the yearly State of Vermont’s Children report to provide the most up-to-date, high-quality data on the well-being of children and their families
- Providing testimony and expertise to legislators on other issues, including testimony to the House Committee on Education and the House Committee on Human Services on the Prekindergarten Education Implementation Committee, pre-K related data, and considerations related to policymaking
- Hosting over 250 team and one-on-one meetings over the course of the session with members of the Administration, legislators, and early childhood partners to advise on over 20 key policy issues (see more below)
When called to testify, the Building Bright Futures team reviewed available and relevant resources, data, and partner feedback and consulted with the Executive Committee of Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council (SAC) and other key partners in order to deliver the most effective, evidence-based information to lawmakers. Through this process, the BBF team prioritized elevating the voices of families and communities and ensuring that every level of the BBF Network—from Regional Councils to the State Advisory Council to the VECAP Committees—was represented.
Since Building Bright Futures and Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council do not specifically endorse or oppose any legislation, this advisement called attention to legislative proposals’ alignment (or in some cases, misalignment) with:
- Vermont’s Early Childhood Action Plan (VECAP)
- Available data on the early childhood system from Vermont’s Early Childhood Data & Policy Center
- Recent Policy Recommendations endorsed by the State Advisory Council
Monitoring and Accountability
Several pieces of legislation aligned with current and previous policy recommendations were passed during the 2025 legislature. More information about these and other bills considered this session can be found on BBF’s Quorum Legislative Tracker.
- H. 493, the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, included a 5% increase in the rate paid to providers for infant and toddler care through the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP).
- S. 53, an act relating to certification of community-based perinatal doulas, allows for Medicaid coverage of doula services.
- H. 461, an act relating to expanding employee access to unpaid leave, allows for more generous leave policies, including expanding the definition of family members to include a broader range of relationships.
- Governor Phil Scott vetoed H. 91, an act relating to the Vermont Homeless Emergency Assistance and Responsive Transition to Housing Program. The bill would have created a new program to support families facing homelessness administered by regional Community Action Agencies. It is unclear what the path forward for the state’s emergency housing policy will be. Until further legislative action is taken, the General Assistance Emergency Shelter program remains in effect.
FY25 Formal Written or Verbal Testimony
During the course of the 2025 legislative session, BBF provided formal written or verbal testimony to Vermont lawmakers, legislative staff, committees, caucuses, and the Administration five times.
- January 23, 2025: Introduction to BBF and Monitoring Act 76 to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development
- January 31, 2025: An overview of BBF and Vermont’s Early Childhood System to the House Committee on Human Services
- February 13, 2025: Universal Pre-K Education Implementation to the House Committee on Education and the House Committee on Human Services
- February 13, 2025: Building Bright Futures’ Budget Allocation to the the House and Senate Committees of Appropriations
- February 24, 2025: Equitable Access to Pre-K for Families and Children Living in Rural Communities
- March 14, 2025: Overview of Building Bright Futures and Vermont’s Early Childhood System to the Senate Committee on Education
FY25 General Advisement
Through trusted relationships, regular meetings, and opportunities to support and provide guidance to members of the Legislature, Administration, and other early childhood partners, Building Bright Futures advised on over 20 policy issues related to young children, families, and the early childhood system over the course of the session. These issues included:
- Head Start funding and strategic planning
- Federal funding monitoring and concerns
- Early childhood governance
- Children’s Integrated Services: data, value-based payments, funding
- Act 76: monitoring and indicator development, state-required reporting, CCFAP, rate caps, timing of implementation, pupil weighting
- Child welfare system quality improvement and data collection
- Building Bright Futures’ responsibilities in statute
- Discrepancies and missing data in the Bright Futures Information System
- State Advisory Council-endorsed Policy Recommendations
- Cross-agency partnerships and data integration
- Special Accommodations Grants
- Prekindergarten Education Implementation Committee
- Preschool Development Grant
- Universal Prekindergarten education data and monitoring
- Alignment between the Vermont Interagency Coordinating Council and the Families and Communities Committee
- Government accountability and data-driven policymaking
- System-wide response to school safety protocols and implementation
- Afterschool and out-of-school-time care
- Metrics for mental, emotional, and behavioral health conditions through national survey efforts
- Early childhood integration and alignment efforts
- Early intervention and referral systems quality improvement and funding sustainability
- State grantmaking practices
- Orientations and connections for agency leadership
