Witness urges $182,000 for CACFP sponsors to keep meals available to Vermont family child care homes

Keeley Egan, the early childhood nutrition manager at Hunger Free Vermont, told the Vermont House Education Committee that appropriating $182,000 to the Agency of Education would help Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) sponsor organizations remain viable so family child care homes across the state can continue to serve federally funded meals.

Egan said the appropriation would be distributed by the Agency of Education to CACFP sponsor organizations as an incentive to participate. "Without CACFP sponsors, many children in Vermont would not be able to access nutrition in their early childhood education programs," she said.

The request came during the committee's discussion of the state's budget adjustment act. Egan and Hunger Free Vermont urged the committee to follow a recommendation from the advocacy group Let’s Grow Kids that would preserve childcare-related funds the administration had proposed to sweep; that proposal would move $26,000,000 from the general fund and the Childcare Contributions Special Fund, according to materials Egan cited. Let's Grow Kids also recommended several funding uses to strengthen Act 76, the 2023 childcare law; Hunger Free Vermont singled out the $182,000 appropriation to support sponsor organizations.

Under federal rules Egan described, family child care homes cannot participate in the CACFP without a sponsoring organization. She said two sponsoring organizations dropped the work in 2024 because the administrative payments they received from the federal program did not cover the costs of sponsorship, leaving Vermont with three sponsors: Brock Community Action Agency, Capstone Community Action, and the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development.

Egan said the loss of sponsor capacity has both financial and operational consequences: sponsoring organizations must visit participating family child care homes several times a year to meet federal requirements, and the remaining sponsors are now responsible for larger geographic areas. She said family child care homes serve roughly 35,100 children in Vermont and that without adequate sponsorship many of those homes would be ineligible to provide federally reimbursed meals.

A member of the House Education Committee asked clarifying questions about how the funding would flow and whether the Agency of Education would administer home-based sponsorship directly. Egan explained that the Agency of Education is the state sponsor for center-based programs, but family child care homes must be enrolled and served by local sponsoring organizations; the proposed funds would flow through the Agency of Education to those sponsoring organizations rather than shifting inspection or home-visit duties to the Agency.

Egan asked the committee to include the appropriation in the committee's budget adjustment memo to the Appropriations Committee and to recommend that available general funds for childcare be used to support the CACFP sponsor organizations. A committee member said the issue was complex and that the committee would give the proposal further consideration as the budget adjustment act moves through the process.

Hunger Free Vermont left committee members a handout and said staff are available for follow-up questions about the federal program and the request.