In 2004, San Francisco voters approved the ballot measure Proposition H by 71%, establishing the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) as law within the City Charter. The PEEF supports the design and implementation of diverse educational programs for San Francisco’s youth, and is funded annually by the City of San Francisco’s discretionary General Fund. One-third of the PEEF—approximately $20 million per year—is allocated to expanding and supporting early care and education programs in San Francisco. In the years following Proposition H’s passage, funds were distributed to First 5 San Francisco to create Preschool for All (PFA), with the goal of ensuring that all San Francisco four-year-olds could attend high-quality preschool. In July 2015, administration of these funds was transferred from First 5 San Francisco to the city’s Office of Early Care and Education, which has used the funds to expand access to preschool for children between the ages of three and five years who are city residents.  The remaining two-thirds of the Public Education Enrichment Fund is allocated to the San Francisco Unified School District.  LEARN MORE: PUBLIC EDUCATION ENRICHMENT FUND (PEEF) Sources: San Francisco Unified School District. (n.d.). Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) City of San Francisco. (n.d.). Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF). San Francisco Human Services Agency. (2016). San Francisco Citywide Plan for Early Care and Education.

In August 2022, Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) opened a low-cost early learning center to serve children of district employees between the ages of 12 months and three years. The center was created with, and is now supported by, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding and a state subsidy for licensed child care providers.   The SFPS Early Childhood Center is licensed by the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department, and is located in a district elementary school. It is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., five days a week, and aligns with the SFPS school-year calendar for teachers. Forty-four seats are available, with 12 for 12-month-old children, 16 for two-year-olds, and 16 for three-year-olds. Students are selected through a lottery system.  Of the 44 available seats, 70% are offered to district teachers and 30% to district staff. Monthly costs range from $150 a month for educational support professionals to $250 a month for teachers, administrators, and district staff.  Program leaders hope that the SFPS Early Childhood Center will assist with employee retention across the district and demonstrate a firm commitment to staff well-being.  learn more: santa fe public schools early childhood center Sources: Dynarski, C. (2022, April 8). SFPS to Open SFPS Early Childhood Center for Employees’ Children. Santa Fe Public Schools. Santa Fe Public Schools. (n.d.). SFPS Early Childhood Center.

In February 2023, the Oregon State Legislature passed SB 599, requiring landlords to allow child care providers to operate in rental properties if tenants meet certain requirements. The bill drew bipartisan support and passed by a large margin. Legislators aimed to ameliorate the state’s shortage of child care options, particularly in rural areas. The law went into effect on January 1, 2024.   To operate in a rental property, tenants must be registered child care providers with the state. Tenants must also tell the landlord that they plan to use the rental unit for child care services.  SB 599 also restricts landlords from raising rent, terminating a tenancy, or taking other retaliatory actions against tenants who choose to operate a family child care program in their rental unit.  learn more: sb 599 Sources: Botkin, B. (2023, February 15). Senate passes bill that’s expected to expand child care options in the state. Oregon Capital Chronicle. S.B. 599, 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly. (2023).

In July 2021, Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) and King County’s Best Starts for Kids jointly commissioned a report to understand the true cost of child care in Seattle and King County, building on the statewide cost estimation model developed for Washington by Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies (P5FS).  DEEL and Best Starts for Kids adapted Washington’s model inputs to reflect local labor markets and cost of living by using current salary data from a local child care provider survey, and by applying MIT’s Living Wage Calculator data specific to King County and Seattle. The report affirmed prior findings that the cost of care is higher in Seattle and King County than in any other area of the state.  The resulting cost estimation model allows Seattle and King County to estimate costs under local conditions and to use those estimates to guide local subsidy policy and investment decisions.  learn more: seattle and king county cost estimation model Sources:Workman, S., & Capito, J. (2023). Understanding the true cost of child care in the City of Seattle and King County. Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies.

In 2018, Seattle instituted a 1.75 cents per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which benefits multiple municipal programs, including the Seattle Preschool Program. In FY2020, the fund produced almost $5 million to invest in early learning and child development programs. Learn More/Source: Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax

In December 2023, the Harris County Commissioners Court approved $17.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the Supportive, Healthy, Innovative, Nurturing Environments (SHINE CCFF) initiative. A collaboration between the Low Income Invest Fund (LIIF), Volunteers of America Texas, LiftFund, and the Harris County Commissioners Court, SHINE CCFF helps providers with construction, remodeling, and expansion projects for the spaces where they offer early learning and care.   SHINE CCFF awards grants to expand or rehabilitate both home and center-based early education facilities and offers free technical assistance to help providers assess a project’s feasibility and apply for the grant. Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to, physical facility and site renovation costs, equipment necessary for health and safety, playground equipment, security upgrades, and parking improvements. Eligible expenses also include improvements that increase a program’s ADA accessibility for children, parents, guardians, or staff with special physical or mental health needs. The maximum grant is $200,000 for centers licensed for up to fifty children, $400,000 for centers licensed for more than fifty children, and $40,000 for home-based providers.  The program prioritizes applicants with urgent needs, programs where at least 20% of enrolled children receive Child Care Services or scholarships from the Harris County Early REACH program, providers serving infants and toddlers, and programs in an area that has a Social Vulnerability Index score of .75 or above, among other factors. SHINE CCFF aims to award all grants by March 2025. All projects must be completed by September 2026.  learn more: shine child care facilities fund Sources: Harris County SHINE Child Care Facilities Fund. (n.d.). Program Overview. Harris County Office of County Administration. (n.d.). Shine Child Care Facilities Fund.

In 2025, the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Early Childhood launched the Smart Start Workforce Grants to increase wages for early educators and child care providers. Through Smart Start Workforce Grants, licensed center- and home-based early learning programs  can receive funds to invest in personnel. The grants are part of Governor JB Pritzker’s five-year Smart Start Illinois plan, which began in 2023.  Smart Start Workforce Grants give participating programs quarterly funding in advance—either $6,000 and $6,750, depending on the age of children the programs serve. Home-based providers are eligible for a base award of $2,250, and additional funding if they have an assistant. Participating programs are required to pay teachers, assistant teachers, and school staff at or above a wage floor, which ranges from $17.00 to $19.25 per hour, depending on the region. The National Women’s Law Center estimates that these changes result in a wage increase of about $2 to $4 per hour, on average.  To receive a grant, programs must be licensed and must offer at least eight consecutive hours of care per day, five days a week, 47 weeks per year.  The grants are funded by state general funds. For FY 2025, the Illinois General Assembly allocated $158.5 million to the Illinois Department of Human Services to fund both the Smart Start Workforce Grants and the Child Care Assistance Program.  learn more: smart start workforce grants Sources: Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Early Childhood. (n.d.). Smart Start Workforce Grants. Mondragón, M. (2024). A Pathway to Parity in Illinois. Start Early. Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Early Childhood. (2024). Smart Start Workforce Grant Community Engagement Report. Erikson Institute. (2024). General Assembly Passes Budget and Bills to Support Early Care and Education. Oppermann, H. (2024). Five Lessons from Illinois’ Investment in the Child Care Workforce. National Women's Law Center.

In 2014, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the City of Chicago partnered with the Goldman Sachs Social Impact Fund, the Northern Trust Company, and the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation to launch the Chicago Child-Parent Center Pay for Success Initiative funded by a Pay-for-Success contract. The contract allowed the City to expand high-quality pre-K services to more than 2,600 low-income 4-year-olds across eight schools. The funding partners provided nearly $17 million in upfront capital and included a 4-year service delivery term, and a 17-year evaluation and repayment term. In a pay-for-success model, lenders provide the upfront capital necessary to operate a program that produces long term avoided costs to the government. The government then uses those savings to repay the lenders. Learn More: Urban Institute

In November 2024, voters in Sonoma County, CA, approved Measure I, the Sonoma County Child Care & Children’s Health Initiative Fund, creating a 0.25% countywide sales tax as a dedicated funding stream for a broad range of children’s services. The tax will generate approximately $30 million each year; the county began distributing the funds in July 2025.  Sixty percent of the revenue generated through the sales tax is dedicated to strengthening the child care and early education sector by investing in the workforce, facilities, and wages. Specifically, funds are allocated to professional development for child care providers; upgraded and expanded early care and education facilities; and increased compensation.  To comply with Measure I, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors established a Community Advisory Council in January 2025. The council  develops policy and programmatic recommendations for allocating Measure I sales tax revenue. The First 5 Sonoma County Commission administers all programs, activities, and services paid for by the fund.   learn more: Sonoma County Child Care & Children’s Health Initiative Fund Sources: First 5 Sonoma County. (n.d.). Measure I – Sonoma County Child Care & Children’s Health Initiative. Measure I. (n.d.). First 5 Sonoma County. Bylaws of the Measure I (Sonoma County Child Care & Children’s Health Ordinance) Community Advisory Council. (n.d.). First 5 Sonoma County. Hsu, A. (2024, November 6). Here’s where voters approved a tax hike to help pay for child care. NPR.

In 2023, the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS) contracted with the national nonprofit organization Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies (P5FS) to estimate the true cost of meeting state early care and education licensing and quality standards. The work included conducting a cost study and developing a cost estimation model to guide child care subsidy policy and rate-setting.  P5FS helped SCDSS get feedback and guidance from partners across the state, convening  South Carolina Alternative Methodology Technical Workgroup that included child care providers and representatives from SCDSS, South Carolina Child Care Resource and Referral, the South Carolina Inclusion Collaborative, South Carolina Program for Infant/Toddler Care, the Early Childhood Advisory Committee, professional associations, higher education institutions, and South Carolina First Steps.  P5FS also helped SCDSS develop the cost model, set rates, and secure pre-approval from the federal Office of Child Care to use an alternative methodology. South Carolina received federal approval for its approach on January 8, 2024.  Shifting to a cost estimation model increased the weekly payment rate for family child care providers from $150 to $215, an increase of $65 per child per week. learn more: south carolina cost estimation model Sources:Amayun, C., Capito, J., Kenyon, K.F., Rhinehardt, K. & Workman, S. (2024). Understanding the true cost of child care in South Carolina: A cost estimation model to support alternative methodology for CCDF subsidy rate setting. Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies. First Five Years Fund. (2025, December 9). Cost Estimation Models: Increasing Child Care Stability Through More Accurate Provider Payment Rates.

The South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council's Data Governance Work Group has hosted the SC Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) since its creation in 2018. ECIDS currently linking data on early childhood programs and services provided to children under 6 in the state on two specific initiatives. First, the South Carolina Early Learning Extension is adding early childhood services data (e.g., Head Start Grantees, Child Development Education Pilot Program, Vouchers, etc.) from multiple agencies and programs (e.g., The Department of Social Services, Department of Education, First Steps, and Head Start) and the state’s K-12 Statewide Longitudinal Data System through unique identifiers. Second, using data from South Carolina’s Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, the Palmetto Drive to Five Data Dashboard is linking individual data on services for children and families (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Head Start, and First Steps) to create an unduplicated count of children across agencies. The ECIDS data linking system will eventually become a warehouse that stores consolidated data. The system was created by legislation in 2018 under §63-11-1725, and is funded by federal grants, including the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant and Preschool Development Grant–Birth Through 5 (PDG B-5). Learn More: SC Early Childhood Integrated Data System Sources:Justia US Law. (2018). South Carolina Code Section 63-11-1725 (2018) - Advisory council.New America. (2023). Early Childhood Integrated Data Systems: A South Carolina Case Study.

In 1984, South Carolina enacted the Education Improvement Act, which dedicates 1 percent of state sales taxes to education programs, including grants to its pre-K program for four-year-olds. In 2021, the state dedicated over $50 million from sales tax funds to expand pre-K services. learn more: south carolina encyclopedia Sources: South Carolina State House. (2019). Executive Budget State of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. Education Commission of the States. (2018). How States Fund Pre-K.