Bills We Supported

HB 389 –

Regional Early Education System and Overpayment Fund |  Delegate Bulova

Status: Passed House of Delegates and Senate and signed into law.

Summary: Strengthens Virginia’s early childhood education system through more robust public-private regional infrastructure and improvements to the Child Care Subsidy Program.

HB 994 /SB 529 –

Child Care Subsidy Eligibility for Armed Forces |  Delegate Brewer; Senator Bryce Reeves

Status: Bills are amended to a study of future eligibility and have been approved by the relevant committees.

Summary: Extends the Child Care Subsidy Program eligibility to all members of the Armed Forces.

SB 574 –

Streamline Background Checks |  Senator Mason

Status: Approved by the Senate (40-0) but failed on the House floor. The state Department of Social Services was asked to look at ways to speed up the process to conduct background checks.

Summary: Improves the background check process in an effort to address ongoing child care staffing shortages while upholding safety.

HB 41 –

Optional VKRP Implementation |  Delegate Scott

Status: Tabled in the Early Education and Innovation subcommittee of House Education with a letter to DOE to review the time assessments take.

Summary: Would allow school divisions to opt out of administering the VA Kindergarten Readiness Project assessments.

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Budget Amendments We Supported

Improve financial assistance to afford child care by dedicating available federal funds to:

• Continue the eligibility for families with children under age five up to 85% of the state median income (Included in BOTH House and Senate proposed budgets).
• Allow a family to become eligible while looking for a job. (Protect introduced budget)
• Reduce the parent co-pays. (Protect introduced budget)
• Eliminate the 72-month time limit to receive assistance. (Protect introduced budget)

Reduce staff turnover in early childhood classrooms and recruit new professionals:

• Expand teacher incentives offered under the Early Childhood Educator Grant Program. ($5 million increase accepted from introduced budget)
• Support early childhood education degree programs and professional development. (House language delays “Grow Your Own” Educator Program.)
• Allow for provisional employment after an FBI background check is complete and before the Central Registry check is complete. (This would take effect as soon as budget is signed.)
• Require the State Based Health Exchange to target child care providers for enrollment and navigation services. (Budget amendment: Favola/Sickles)

Provide more access to preschool programs by strengthening and innovating the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) by:

• Increasing the per-pupil allocation to reflect the true cost of quality early education. (Protect introduced budget)
• Providing flexibility to serve more students with disabilities and 3 year-olds and 5 year-olds in VPI funded programs. (House reduces the funding available to expand to 3 year-olds by $20 million and $5.4 million in the 2nd year for additional flexible needs).
• Expanding public-private options for state-aligned preschool through the VECF mixed-delivery program. (House budget reduces proposed increase by $6.7 million).
• Directing $7 million per year to the United Way of Southwest Virginia from ARPA funds for a new child care initiative, Ready Southwest (Senate budget includes $3.5 million in ARPA)

Accommodate the increase in referrals to Part C Early Intervention Services:

• Provide a $2.9 million increase per year to the base allocation for Part C Services funded through DBHDS. (Senate Budget includes $2.9 million each year)