Fairfax County updates early childhood access plan, highlights subsidies, slots and upcoming capital projects

Keisha Dodson, deputy director at Neighborhood and Community Services, told the Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 4 that Fairfax County is expanding access to early childhood programs and tracking state and federal funding risks.

The presentation, given with Lisa Pilson, director of early childhood, grants and curriculum for Fairfax County Public Schools, summarized the county’s child-care network, statewide Ready Regions work and local program counts and capital projects. “We work together to coordinate services, programs, and resources ensuring that our youngest and most vulnerable and valuable residents, our children, have access to early childhood programs that effectively address their family's needs,” Pilson said.

Why it matters: County staff asked supervisors for continued direction on where to invest operations and capital dollars as state grants and federal pauses could change funding available locally. The committee heard both program-level details (subsidies and slots) and forward-looking capital proposals intended to increase physical capacity for child care.

The county presented counts and recent changes. Among figures shared: more than 400 community child-care centers, 132 pre-K classes in FCPS schools, and about 1,200 regulated family child-care homes; staff said the county currently serves over 9,000 children in publicly funded early childhood programming. County and regional Ready Regions activity produced 4,707 classroom observations in the past fiscal year across 794 programs, officials said, and the county was reawarded the Ready Regions grant for the Capital Area (Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church).

Staff described several program totals: 6,529 children currently receiving childcare subsidy that combines local and state funds (Fairfax County, Fairfax City and Falls Church), 110 mixed-delivery slots in the region (34 additional slots allocated specifically to Fairfax County), approximately 2,631 VPI (Virginia Preschool Initiative) slots (about 92% filled in late enrollment), and about 2,780 Head Start and Early Head Start slots across FCPS, community providers and family child-care homes.

Officials also listed upcoming capital projects and their anticipated child-care capacity: Kingstowne complex (78 slots), Mount Vernon High School Early Childhood Development Center (172 slots), Willard Sherwood Health and Community Center (24 slots), and Hybla Valley (approximately 86 slots). County staff said they are coordinating with FCPS and other agencies to identify sites and “braid” funding where possible.

Supervisors pressed for detail on geographic gaps and population categories. Chair and board members asked staff to return with maps showing where subsidy recipients and unserved families — the county’s ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) population and families at various percentages of federal poverty level — are concentrated so the county can target capital and program investments. “We have more and more data…that helps us see where our, quote-unquote, deserts are,” Dodson said; staff agreed to follow up with mapping and more detailed breakdowns of the subsidy caseload and slot types.

Funding and timing: Staff said the FY26 bond will be the first stand‑alone early childhood bond in the form originally intended pre‑COVID; the precise dollar amount and schedule are being calibrated to current fiscal realities and will be released as part of the manager’s budget and CIP presentation on Feb. 18. County staff acknowledged prior bond tranches in '22 and '24 and said amounts and timing were adjusted during the pandemic. “We were talking about 50, but we’re also looking at how that gets spread,” staff said; supervisors were told Brian (budget staff) will present details in February.

Staff described dependencies and next steps: ongoing Ready Regions grant work (state processes determine some slot allocations), data mapping for geographic deserts, and joint planning with FCPS on the FY26 bond and use of county facilities. Supervisors asked staff to return with more granular enrollment and financial-category breakdowns (e.g., which subsidy recipients are in which magisterial districts) and to model capacity if operational dollars were unlimited.

Ending: County and school staff said they will present additional data to the committee as part of the strategic planning process and upcoming budget/CIP briefings, and that the early childhood strategic plan remains under active development. The committee moved on after staff confirmed they would return with maps, slot-category breakdowns and updates tied to the bond timeline.