Philip Norman, western regional manager for Child Care Aware Virginia, told a joint Senate-House budget hearing that Virginia needs to invest in both child care subsidies for working parents and subsidy-based workforce incentives for child-care workers.

Norman said low wages make it difficult for centers and home-based providers to recruit and retain staff, which in turn can force programs to close classrooms and limit enrollment. “When child care programs can't fully staff their programs, that means they can't fully enroll children to their licensed capacity,” he said.

He asked the General Assembly to clear a waiting list for the Virginia Preschool Initiative mixed-delivery subsidy and to consider using subsidy access as a workforce benefit for staff with young children. Norman told lawmakers that, as of Dec. 1, nearly 13,000 children were on waiting lists for the VPI mixed-delivery subsidy and that the average annual price for center-based infant care statewide is over $16,000.

Norman recommended lawmakers invest in subsidy funding to both support parents and stabilize the child-care workforce. He submitted Child Care Aware Virginia's policy agenda for the hearing record and asked that it be included in committee files.

No committee votes were taken; the hearing collected public comment for the budget process.