As Pandemic Funds Expire, Child-Care Centers Struggle to Survive

Providers seek state solutions and funding to avoid closures

By Megan Tagami, Wall Street Journal
Aug. 29, 2023

States are scrambling to find ways to keep child-care centers afloat after billions in Covid-relief funding run out next month, amid worries that the facility closures could affect workforce participation and limit children’s access to early education.

Under the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government appropriated almost $39 billion for child-care providers struggling to keep their doors open during the pandemic. The deadline to spend what remains of the first $24 billion of these funds is Sept. 30.

A June report from the Century Foundation, a nonprofit think tank, estimates that the end of federal funds will likely lead to the closure of 70,000 child-care programs, with 3.2 million children, primarily those five years old and younger, losing their seats at child-care centers, family child-care homes, preschools and other early-learning settings.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal