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House panel boosts early childhood funding, emphasizes infant/toddler care and workforce pay
Summary
Legislative analysts and the Early Childhood Education and Care Department described large increases in trust‑fund distributions and targeted investments for childcare assistance, pre‑K expansion, and workforce pay and career ladders.
House changes to the early childhood budget would raise distributions to the Early Childhood Education and Care Department and add one‑time and recurring investments targeted at infant/toddler care, pre‑K expansion and workforce supports, department leaders and legislative analysts told the committee.
Legislative Finance Committee analyst Kelly Clanton summarized the House Appropriations changes that produced a roughly $101.1 million increase above the LFC recommendation for the early childhood trust fund distribution. Notable increases in the House substitute included: a $56.1 million rise in child care assistance, $25 million for pre‑K expansion, $10 million for home‑visiting expansion and additional funding for food assistance, IT infrastructure and educator incentive programs.
Department Secretary McCurry told the committee the department aims to reach higher shares of eligible children with services and outlined performance and evaluation plans, noting a statewide Early Development Instrument baseline and an evaluation plan for the department's Grow funds. "We're about 84 percent of 4 year olds and a little over 50% of 3 year olds," Secretary McCurry said, describing current service levels and the department's goal to expand universal pre‑K coverage for threes and fours with the FY26 budget request.
Workforce was a recurring theme. Committee members raised concerns about capacity: whether new slots can be filled if centers cannot hire teachers and caregivers. Committee members and staff discussed pay pilots and parity programs: the department and LFC noted pilot wage supplements for infant/toddler workers funded through Grow and pre‑K parity money that the department said has helped retain staff in community‑based programs.
Senators asked for more detail about capacity building, including low‑interest loans to expand facilities and what the department is doing to ensure wage increases actually flow to classroom staff rather than to overhead or directors. The department said it is standing up a professional development information system to track the workforce, and that Grow‑fund pilots will be evaluated before decisions about larger recurring wage ladders.
The House substitute also includes a $10 million pilot and a $10 million proposal estimated for the wage scale and career lattice; department leaders said the $10 million reflected an initial implementation estimate and that a longer‑term cost could grow with broader professionalization of the workforce.
No formal committee vote on the early childhood line items was recorded in the hearing. Analysts said the House appropriation substitute reflects substantial increases compared with the current fiscal year and that implementation and evaluation details will be important as lawmakers decide recurring versus nonrecurring funding.
