Vermont’s Child Care Campaign Announces 2025 Policy Priorities to Continue Progress on Child Care: Affordability, Access, Strengthening the Workforce

(Montpelier) – Today, Vermont’s Child Care Campaign announced its policy priorities for 2025, focused on building on progress from Act 76, Vermont’s new child care law. As part of its 2025 Child Care Agenda, the campaign will work to increase child care affordability and access for families and strengthen the early childhood educator (ECE) workforce so programs are better able to hire staff and grow capacity. Results from the first year of Act 76 have been positive for both families and businesses across Vermont, bringing the state closer to fully solving the child care crisis. Today’s agenda makes clear, more work is needed to create a child care system that works for everyone.

Continuing Progress from Act 76

Act 76, which started rolling out in 2023, includes over $100 million of long-term, sustainable public investment in Vermont’s child care system, and the first year has proven to be a success. Since implementation began, new public funding has created 1,000 child care spaces, 90 new child care programs have opened, compensation for early childhood educators has increased, and compared with this time last year, over 1,600 families have accessed reduced child care costs through expansions to the state’s tuition assistance program. This year, the Child Care Campaign will work to ensure the public investment created by Act 76 continues at its current level to lower costs for more families, help more programs open and grow to meet the ongoing demand, and support businesses who need more available workers.

Aly Richards, CEO of Let’s Grow Kids, said: “As we enter the 2025 legislative session, it’s clear that our state is facing many challenges, from property taxes to housing and health care. Access to affordable, quality child care is foundational to making Vermont a more affordable place for working families – because it ensures our children are ready for school, allows parents to work, and strengthens our economy. Public investment in child care through Act 76 is working, and this year we are committed to building on the progress we’ve made together as a state.”

Increasing Affordability and Access for Families

Since Act 76 expanded eligibility for child care tuition assistance, first in April 2024 and again in October, enrollment in the state’s assistance program (CCFAP) has increased by 28% in the last year. In 2025, the Child Care Campaign is committed to further expanding access to the state’s child care tuition assistance program to lower costs for more families. The campaign will also work to increase funding for child care programs, so that they can continue to improve quality and grow their capacity by recruiting and retaining more educators and staff.

Thousands of parents from all over the state have been impacted by new public investment in Vermont’s child care system. Rebecca D., a mother of two from Burlington, shared: “Before Act 76, my family was paying $45,000/year for child care for our two kids. With the tuition assistance eligibility expansion, we’re now paying $17,000. Our roof is leaking, and now we have the money to fix it – it’s such a relief. Gaining access to more affordable child care is making it possible for my partner and I to stay in the workforce, stay in our house, and stay in Vermont. We can’t talk about affordability without talking about child care.”

Strengthening the Early Childhood Educator Workforce

This year, the Child Care Campaign will work with partner organizations, including the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC), to support the establishment of a professional state license to practice for early childhood educators. This will lead to improved resources, training, and accountability for early childhood educators, to support the growth of a diverse, well-prepared, well-supported workforce. Recruiting and retaining a strong ECE workforce will ensure programs can continue growing capacity and improving quality in the child care system.

“Vermont’s child care system depends on the essential work of early childhood educators, and our state is now poised to recognize the profession of early childhood educator – something we have been working toward for many years,” said Laura Butler, a family child care home owner and longtime early childhood educator and advocate from Milton. “Professional recognition will support the growth of a well-prepared workforce to meet the needs of our communities and ensure our children get the best possible early education.”

2025 is Let’s Grow Kids’ final year before the organization sunsets. As it enters its last year, the organization will be focused on empowering partners and advocates across the state to carry the campaign forward and continue building a child care system that prepares our youngest children for school and makes Vermont more affordable for families.

Learn more about the 2025 Child Care Agenda here..

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About Let’s Grow Kids and Vermont's Child Care Campaign

Vermont's Child Care Campaign is led by Let’s Grow Kids, a nonprofit organization on a mission to ensure affordable access to quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025. With nearly 40,000 supporters, Let’s Grow Kids, in partnership with Let’s Grow Kids Action Network, is empowering Vermonters to advocate for sustainable child care policy change. Learn more at www.letsgrowkids.org.