KinderCare Commends Recent State Investments in Child Care

California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all make strides toward increasing family access to high-quality early childhood education and care

Key takeaways:

• KinderCare applauds California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia for prioritizing early childhood education and care in their latest budgets.
• KinderCare helps deliver publicly funded early learning programs through its programs in these states, making high-quality child care more accessible to working families.
• Each state’s investments in child care assistance and early learning programs will help thousands of children access high-quality education and care.
• KinderCare supports policies that increase child care affordability, strengthen workforce participation and expand access to high-quality early childhood education.
• KinderCare is the nation’s leading provider of early childhood education and care, serving families through a nationwide network of high-quality child care centers.

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. (NYSE: KLC) (“KinderCare”), the nation’s leading provider of high-quality early childhood education and care, applauds the governors and state legislators in California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia for their focus on and dedication to investing in their respective state’s early childhood education programs, ensuring that thousands of children across these five states have access to affordable, high-quality child care.

“Strong, sustained investments in public early childhood education programs like these demonstrate how child care remains a top issue for state leaders,” said Tom Wyatt, Chairman and CEO of KinderCare Learning Companies. “We applaud these states for their continued commitment to supporting working families and their youngest children. We look forward to working with each state to bring these plans to life by giving more families the ability to choose the child care option that works for them.”

The following states’ investments in child care and early learning strengthen families’ ability to access child care.

• California
  • Fiscal year 2026-2027 budget includes support for additional 22,770 children with state-sponsored child care tuition assistance and early learning contracts.

• Michigan
  • A per-pupil funding for the state’s public prekindergarten program (Great Start Readiness Program)
  • An additional $88 million for state-sponsored child care tuition assistance,
  • More than $27 million for the creation of early childhood and early learning funds to help families access affordable child care and to support early learning teachers with career advancement, and
  • Made permanent their unique Tri-Share program that splits the cost of child care between employers, employees, and the state.

• New Hampshire
  • Created a new law providing businesses with a tax credit equal to 50% of eligible expenditures to establish new child care capacity or expand existing employer-sponsored child care benefits.

• New Jersey
  • Fiscal year 2026 budget includes an additional $18 million to support 2,500 more children through the state’s child care tuition assistance program, and
  • $1.4 billion in total funding for the state’s preschool education aid, supporting almost 300 school districts as they provide free pre-k programs to eligible families.

• Pennsylvania
  • $5 million in additional funding for the Child Care Staff Recruitment and Retention Program ($30 million total), which is paid as bonuses boosting pay for early learning teachers, and
  • $3.75 million in additional funding for the Pre-K Counts program ($330 million total).

• Virginia
  • Expanded access to their state-sponsored child care tuition assistance program in its 2026-2026 biennium budget; the funds will help enroll nearly 6,700 eligible children and will clear the waitlist, and
  • A $25 million investment to create the Employee Child Care Assistance Program, a cost-sharing initiative designed to incentivize employers to contribute to the child care costs of their employees.

Earlier this year, Indiana and New York announced historic public investments in ECE programs, highlighting robust, bipartisan support for child care and support for working families.

These investments come as working families continue to struggle with child care accessibility, which has a direct impact on their ability to work and on the nation’s economy. According to KinderCare’s recent Confidence Index, 75% of working parents know someone who has left the workforce because of child care issues, while half of working parents report missing work because of disruptions in child care arrangements.

KinderCare supports these efforts to improve families’ access to care and will continue to work with policymakers, families, and communities in California, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to help families access affordable, high-quality child care, as well as before- and after-school care through each state’s child care support programs.

About KinderCare Learning Companies™

KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. (NYSE: KLC) is a leading private provider of early childhood and school-age education and care. KinderCare builds confidence for life in children and families from all backgrounds. KinderCare supports hardworking families in 42 states and the District of Columbia with differentiated flexible child care solutions through its portfolio of brands and services:

• KinderCare^® Learning Centers: early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old;
• The Crème School^®: a premium early education experience using a variety of enrichment classrooms;
• Champions^®: before- and after-school programs in local schools, and
• Customized child care benefits in partnership with employers, including child care on or near the site where their parents work, as well as tuition benefits and backup care across all our programs.

Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,700 early learning centers and sites.

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