Special to IFN
RALEIGH — The N.C. Task Force on Child Care and Early Education, co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt and Sen. Jim Burgin, released its interim report outlining six recommendations to make high-quality child care more accessible, affordable, and sustainable in North Carolina.
“Investing in child care benefits everyone. When children grow up in a supportive and nurturing environment, it sets them on the trajectory to thrive as adults,” said Gov. Josh Stein. “We must come together to make child care more accessible and affordable so that we can secure a brighter future for North Carolina’s children.”
“North Carolina families are struggling to find quality child care while centers are closing their doors, making it harder for children to get the education they need and for parents to go to work without worry,” Hunt added. “This Task Force has brought together industry leaders and community partners to find real solutions. While our work will continue, I believe this report lays out a path forward to make child care more accessible and affordable.”
North Carolina’s child care system faces significant challenges associated with recruitment and retention of early childhood education professionals, and in turn availability and affordability of care. The average cost of infant care in North Carolina is more expensive than the cost of in-state college tuition. As such, many parents with young children are making difficult decisions to leave the workforce due to lack of care, costing the state over $5.65 billion in additional economic output in 2023.
The interim report outlines findings and six recommendations developed by Task Force members to explore the key factors impacting North Carolina’s child care landscape.
Task Force Recommendations
Recommendations include:
♦ Set a Statewide Child Care Subsidy Reimbursement Rate Floor: Child care subsidies reimburse child care providers for services they deliver to low-income families, helping low-income parents stay in the workforce, and strengthening our economy. A statewide floor for child care subsidy reimbursement rates would set a minimum subsidy rate in North Carolina, ensuring child care programs across all 100 counties receive a minimum child care subsidy reimbursement to help sustain child care programs that are currently struggling to break even.
♦ Develop Approaches to Offer Non-Salary Benefits for Child Care Professionals: Many child care providers are unable to offer non-salary benefits, such as health insurance or retirement, which makes it challenging to recruit and retain early childhood education professionals. The Task Force will explore whether early childhood professionals could be made eligible for non-salary benefits, such as the North Carolina State Health Plan, or offered other non-salary benefits like paid leave, loan forgiveness, and mental health support.
♦ Explore Partnerships with UNC System, Community Colleges and K-12 School Systems to Increase Access to Child Care for Public Employees and Students: The Task Force will explore options for increasing access to child care for public employees, including supporting subsidized child care for public sector employees. These partnerships could increase access to child care and support training for prospective child care employees by setting up child care centers on school and community college campuses.
♦ Explore Subsidized or Free Child Care for Early Childhood Educators: Child care as an employer benefit is a significant talent recruitment and retention tool across industries and could be particularly valuable to help grow and sustain the child care workforce. The Task Force will explore how child care workers could be made eligible for child care subsidies.
♦ Link Existing Workforce Compensation and Support Programs for Early Childhood Professionals: The Task Force will explore how current workforce training and compensation support programs for early childhood education professionals could be improved by expanding them statewide and linking programs sequentially along a career pathway. North Carolina currently has several programs aimed at improving recruitment and retention, including the Child Care WAGE$ Program, the Teach North Carolina Early Childhood Scholarship Program, the Building Bright Futures program, Child Care Academies, and the Family Child Care Home Pilot Program.
♦ Explore the Creation of a Child Care Endowment: A child care endowment leverages public and/or private dollars to set up an investment fund, the annual interest of which can be used for state child care needs. The Task Force will explore how a child care endowment could help address the current child care crisis in North Carolina by providing an ongoing source of supplemental child care funding for the state and maximizing child care funding through investment from private companies, philanthropy, and communities in partnership with the state.
Next Steps
In coming months, the Task Force will dive deeper into the recommendations outlined in this report, and work groups will examine additional challenges, opportunities, and innovations affecting our state’s child care and early education landscape. The Task Force will also produce an additional report and set of recommendations to submit to Governor Stein by the end of December 2025.
LEARN MORE
Read the Task Force’s full report HERE.