This month, we’re sharing a piece we think is especially timely: our analysis of why child care affordability headlines often don’t reflect what families are actually paying. As debates about legislative decisions like Early Childhood Educator Licensure (S.206) intensify, and as some voices argue that regulation is what’s driving costs up, we think it’s worth grounding that conversation in what the data actually shows.
What families pay and what child care actually costs are two very different numbers. National affordability analyses typically compare market prices to family income, but in Vermont, many families don’t pay the market price. The Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) significantly lowers out-of-pocket costs for families across the income spectrum. And when Vermont’s prices do look higher than other states, that often reflects a deliberate policy choice: reimbursement rates that move closer to the true cost of providing quality care, rather than asking programs to absorb the difference through poverty-level wages.
Child care is expensive because it is relationship-driven work. The quality of a program is determined, above all else, by what’s happening between adults and children every day. Warm, responsive, developmentally appropriate care and education happen when staff are well-qualified, well-supported, and well-compensated and when the people doing this work can afford to, and genuinely want to, stay in it. The cost drivers in child care aren’t inefficiencies to be engineered away. They reflect what it actually takes to do this work well.
We don’t want child care to be cheap. We want it to be sustainable—for the families who depend on it and for the educators whose expertise and dedication make it what it is. For decades, early childhood educators have sought formal recognition of that expertise. That recognition, and the accountability and clarity that come with it, is central to the system Vermont is trying to build.
What is The Vermont Early Ed Bulletin?
Welcome to The Vermont Early Ed Bulletin, your source for current data and resources related to Act 76 and early childhood education policy.
Building Bright Futures (BBF) is responsible for monitoring Act 76, Vermont’s landmark child care law passed in 2023. BBF tracks the effects of the law’s changes to and investments in Vermont’s early childhood education system and submits a report to the Legislature each January.
As part of this work, BBF regularly shares this bulletin to deliver accessible updates about Act 76 implementation and the broader early childhood policy landscape.
If you have questions, ideas, or resources you’d like us to include in future editions, I’d love to hear from you: [email protected]
Data Direct
Current data direct to your inbox
Act 76 Data Portal: The Act 76 Data Portal is a tool for policymakers and early childhood partners to access high-quality, up-to-date data on Vermont’s historic child care investments and policy changes. Data is visualized in a straightforward way with the ability to download full datasets for additional analysis.
New data on Vermont’s Universal Pre-K Shared with House Human Services:
- Read the blog summarizing BBF’s testimony or view the new interactive data tools now available in the Act 76 portal:
New brief from Child Trends: “Vermont’s Child Care Subsidy Program Expands Access and Reduces Cost.”
Ready Resources
From VT and across the nation
- For more information about the impact of Act 76 on Vermont’s child care system, watch an interview with BBF’s Policy Director on WCAX’s You Can Quote Me, February 1 broadcast.
- Carpools, Commutes and Child Care: First Children’s Finance Podcast: This podcast makes time for free-ranging conversations with people in Vermont’s child care space. In this podcast, hear from First Children’s Finance Vermont Director Erin Roche as she connects with Vermont’s early childhood education (ECE) professionals, thought leaders, and pioneers about all things ECE and other joyful, fun life topics.
- First Children’s Finance: 2026 Vermont Cost Modeling Report: A report to the Department for Children and Families on the cost of providing child care in Vermont.
- The Child Development Division (CDD) has created new tools to help families navigate Vermont’s child care system. The Licensed Child Care Programs Map visually displays a map of all licensed child care programs in Vermont. Families can filter based on certain criteria to see which programs are located within their designated search zone. Community partners and research organizations can use this data to support the analysis of particular licensed programs across Vermont or in specific regions of the state. The Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) Eligibility Screener helps families determine if they may be eligible for help paying for some or all of the costs for child care, preschool, and afterschool care.
Open Opportunities
Connect to current and upcoming early childhood system happenings
Early Childhood Grand Rounds on Data Privacy
April 27, noon–1:30 p.m.
This online session features leading Vermont voices on data privacy legislation and state data systems. It is grounded in Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council Network’s 2026 policy recommendation to protect Vermonter’s data, as well as Vermont’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan goals for data systems that are agile, compatible, equitable, and secure.
Vermont’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan Summit
May 18, 9:30 a.m.–noon, Zenbarn in Waterbury, VT
During this interactive session, participants will work together in large and small groups to reflect on progress over the past year and identify priorities for the year ahead. Your input will help shape policy and systems changes that support Vermont’s children and families.
If you’re not able to join us in person in Waterbury for the Strategic Plan Summit, we hope you can join one of our virtual Strategic Plan sessions, held during Regional Council meetings in April–May 2026.
