State officials outline rollout, spending and remaining requests from House Bill 1540 to expand early childhood care

Kaye Larson, Early Childhood Section director for the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, briefed the Appropriations — Human Resources Division committee on implementation of House Bill 1540 and related early childhood work, saying the department has used legislative and federal funds to add licensed child care capacity, deliver facility improvements and expand quality supports.

“By this grant round we have 720 newly available child care spots and 468 of those spots are in programs that are located in underserved areas,” Larson told the committee during the department’s presentation. She said the department tracks underserved counties by a threshold of “3 or more children for every licensed child care slot.”

The department said its early childhood portfolio combines state general funds, federal Preschool Development Grant (PDG) and other federal funds and contracts with several statewide vendors. Larsson described a mixed-delivery system that deploys licensing specialists, contracted coaches and assessment vendors, and programs such as Waterford Upstart and Best in Class to target readiness for children ages 0–5.

Why it matters: legislators pressed for details on how the department defined grant eligibility, how dollars were targeted and how progress will be measured. Committee members repeatedly asked for trend lines, age breakdowns of licensed capacity and documentation of grant demand before the panel considers additional appropriations.

Key details and current results presented by HHS: - Licensed programs and capacity: the department reported 1,183 licensed and self-declared child care programs with a licensed capacity of 38,957 slots statewide (providers in every…