Sponsors of child care meal program urge $182,000 state appropriation to sustain federal drawdown
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Summary
Hunger Free Vermont and sponsor organizations asked the Senate Education Committee for $182,000 in state funding to stabilize sponsor capacity for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), arguing the appropriation enables roughly $1.2 million in federal reimbursements and prevents sponsor attrition.
Representatives of Hunger Free Vermont and CACFP sponsor organizations told the Senate Committee on Education they are seeking $182,000 in state support to shore up sponsoring organizations that administer the Child and Adult Care Food Program for family child care homes.
Autumn Moen (S7), legislative policy lead at Hunger Free Vermont, outlined that last year the committee’s budget letter helped secure $150,000 in FY26 appropriations (the House later included $182,000), which sponsors said was critical to preserve program operations. Moen said CACFP provides federal reimbursements for meals and snacks and is administered at the state level by the Agency of Education; she estimated family childcare homes participating in CACFP draw down roughly $1.2 million in federal dollars annually.
"This appropriation of $150,000 in FY26 was really critical to ensuring that this program — which gives meals and snacks to kids in childcare — really ensured that this program was able to stay alive," Moen said, and requested $182,000 this year to stabilize and expand sponsor capacity so additional family childcare homes can enroll.
Amy Fleming (S8), nutrition and education department manager at Brock Community Action and a CACFP sponsor, told the committee sponsors currently cover the whole state with only three organizations, creating an administrative burden: "We currently have 3 and a half individuals conducting 609 site visits," she said, and described a roughly $40,000 funding gap in recent years that was previously subsidized with other grants. Fleming reported Brock drew $265,805 in direct USDA reimbursement dollars in FY24–25 for 39 providers who served 142,641 meals in her three counties.
Committee members asked whether the federal drawdown can be traced directly to last year’s state appropriation; Moen said the most recent federal participation data predates the appropriation so direct causality cannot be confirmed, but emphasized that sponsor capacity is required to enable federal reimbursements and that losing sponsors would jeopardize the federal drawdown.
Speakers described barriers to family child care participation (misconceptions about paperwork and oversight, coordination across licensing and Agency of Education, and geography). They said the $182,000 request would fund administrative supports that allow sponsors to onboard more homes and retain existing providers.
