In June 2022, the San Carlos City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the San Carlos Municipal Code to charge developers a child care impact fee for any new commercial, industrial, or office projects in the city. The Childcare Development Impact Fee can range from $1.60 to $5 per square foot, depending on the type of project.  Fee revenue is used for capital projects including building new child care centers, acquiring land to be used for child care services, or providing grants to child care programs to upgrade or expand their spaces to serve more children.  Developers can avoid paying the impact fee by building a child care center on-site and contracting with a licensed child care provider to run it. On-site programs must meet state licensing requirements and local regulatory requirements.  learn more: childcare development impact fee Sources: City of San Carlos Finance Division. (2022, November 28). City of San Carlos Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. City of San Carlos. (2022). San Carlos Municipal Code, Chapter 8.52: Child Care Development Impact Fees.

In August 2020, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to pass the Childcare Near You ordinance, amending the city’s Land Use Code to allow child care centers to operate in all commercial and residential zones, including areas zoned for single-family housing.  Advocates for the ordinance hoped that it would remove regulatory barriers to creating new in-home child care businesses in Seattle by reducing the time and costs associated with the permitting process.  learn more: childcare near you ordinance Sources: Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections. (n.d.). Childcare Ordinance - What & Why. Peha, J. (2020, August 17). Councilmember Strauss’ Childcare Near You Ordinance Passes. Seattle City Council Blog. Bicknell Argerious, N. (2020, August 21). New Seattle Law Opens Door to Childcare within a 15-Minute Walk of Every Home. The Urbanist. Childcare Near You Ordinance (2020).

In 2016 and again in 2020, taxpayers in the Cincinnati Public School District approved a 5-year levy (for a total of 10 years) to expand access to high-quality preschool for the city’s three- and four-year-old children. The tax generates $15 million per year for this effort, and $33 million per year to strengthen K-12 education in the district.  The measure’s approval created Cincinnati Preschool Promise, a program that uses the levy’s revenue to help low-income families afford tuition, boost the wages of early childhood educators, and increase the quality of preschools operating in the city. As of 2023, Cincinnati Preschool Promise had provided tuition assistance to 9,878 three- and four-year-old children in both public preschool programs and preschool programs run by community providers. Most of the program’s funds have gone to expanding access to preschool, with over $53 million spent on tuition assistance. LEARN MORE: CINCINNATI PRESCHOOL PROMISE Sources: Cincinnati Preschool Promise. (n.d.). What We Do. Harris, R. (2022). Cincinnati Preschool Promise: "Where Every Kid Has Access to a High-Quality Preschool." Children's Funding Project. Cincinnati Preschool Promise. (2023). Impact Report.

In 2022, Mayor Michelle Wu announced the creation of the City of Boston Office of Early Childhood (OEC) to further the City’s commitment to universal, affordable, high-quality early education and care for all children under five, making OEC a key partner to the state Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and the Boston Universal Pre-K (UPK) program. The OEC aims to expand access to early education and child care programs, invest in Boston’s early education and care workforce, and serve as a central point of entry for residents looking for information on early education and child care programming and wraparound services for young children and their families. With the support of the OEC, Boston's UPK program plans to integrate family child care programs as approved providers during the 2023–24 school year. This expansion means Boston UPK’s mixed-delivery system will include three types of settings: Boston Public Schools (BPS) classrooms, community-based organizations, and family child care. BPS and OEC will partner with 20 family child care providers, members of the UPK Advisory Board, and other experts to design the new family child care UPK program. Learn more: Boston Universal Pre-K Source: City of Boston (2022). Office of Early Childhood Created to Prioritize Wellbeing of Young Children and Families.

In 2019, Jared Polis was elected governor of Colorado; his first term in office saw the passage of several significant pieces of early childhood legislation, including the creation of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. This new agency combined all early childhood programs previously housed in the departments of Human Services and Education. The Department Early Childhood and Universal Preschool Program (HB22-1295) bill created the new Department of Early Childhood responsible for implementing the state’s universal preschool program and included $13 million or key administrative functions. High-level political leadership and a cabinet-level position paired with authority and commitment from the executive and the legislature can elevate and strengthen early childhood outcomes across the state or city. While the creation of a new department will not automatically create better outcomes for children, it can provide the structure and coordination needed to improve early education quality and accessibility across a state or city (Kagan, 2015). Learn More: Early Childhood System | Colorado General Assembly Sources:Department Early Childhood And Universal Preschool Program | Colorado General AssemblyEarly Childhood Leadership Commission (n.d.). Statewide Listening Tour.Bipartisan Policy Center (2023). Integrated Efficient Early Care and Education SystemsConnors-Tadros, L., Northey, K., Frede, E., Hodges, K. & Jost, T. (2021). Effective State Offices of Early Learning: Structural Features, Enabling Conditions, and Key Functions in Four States. Research Report. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.Kagan, L. and Gomez, R. (Eds.). (2015) Early Childhood Governance: Choices and Consequences. Teachers College Press.

In 2020, Colorado voters approved Proposition EE, which more than tripled state taxes on cigarettes, tobacco, and vaping products, and established a dedicated funding stream for the state's universal pre-K program. Proposition EE generated $208 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2021-22, about $22 million more than was estimated. In 2023, a follow up proposition, Proposition II, was approved to allow the state to retain and use the $23 million excess revenue from increased and new taxes established by Proposition EE, instead of refunding it to distributors and wholesalers. In addition, Proposition II maintains the same tax rates as Proposition EE. Learn More/Source: Proposition EE, Nicotine Tax Measure for Universal Preschool, Cruises to Victory

In 2023, Colorado launched its Universal Preschool Program to provide free, high-quality preschool education to all four-year-olds in the state, with special provisions for three-year-olds from low-income families or those who meet other qualifying criteria. Overseen by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), the program uses a streamlined enrollment process to make quality preschool more accessible. It also includes a family matching system, which lets parents choose from a range of licensed preschool providers, including school-based, community-based, and home-based options. Licensed preschool providers can participate in the program by agreeing to uphold its quality standards. Learn More: Colorado Universal Preschool program Sources: Zelinger, M. (2023). Proposed rule change for Universal Pre-K could help Coloradans next year. 9News Denver. Colorado Department of Early Childhood. (n.d.). Universal Preschool Family Information.

In 2022, the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) established the Community College Tuition Partnership Program, which is funded by the San Diego Quality Preschool Initiative (SDQPI) and First 5 San Diego. SDCOE partners with community colleges across the county to offer free tuition for early childhood educators to attain their associate degree in child development. The program also covers costs associated with technology, books, and other necessary resources. Those eligible for tuition assistance include teachers, instructional aides, support staff, and administrators employed at sites that participate in SDQPI.  LEARN MORE: COMMUNITY COLLEGE TUITION PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM Sources: San Diego County Office of Education. (n.d.). Workforce Investment Program Tuition Assistance. San Diego County Office of Education. (2022). SDQPI and First 5 San Diego Partner to Provide Free Tuition to Early Education Providers.

First implemented as CARES 2.0 using funds from fiscal years 2017 and 2018, CARES 3.0 is the newest version of a stipend program designed to support more than 2,000 early educators working across San Francisco's city-funded center-based and family child care (FCC) programs. The city anticipates investing $60 million annually to support this program. To be eligible for stipends, educators must:

• Be employed by an Early Learning Scholarship (ELS; San Francisco’s subsidy system) or Preschool for All (PFA) program that has been deemed eligible by the Department of Early Childhood, and;
• Work directly with children for at least 20 hours per week

Awards are determined based on educator role, part-time or full-time status, education level and experience, and proportion of subsidy-eligible children served. Stipends begin at $4,000 and increase to $39,100 per educator or FCC owner per year; higher amounts are reserved for those with the highest educational attainment and percentage of subsidy-receiving children served. FCC owners are eligible for the highest stipend amounts.This program is paid for through a commercial rent tax passed in 2018 (Prop C, referred to as "Baby" Prop C, a Commercial Rent Tax for Childcare and Early Education). Learn More: CARES 3.0 Sources: San Francisco Office of Early Childhood. (2023). CARES 3.0. San Francisco Office of Early Childhood. (2023). CARES 3.0. Eligible Programs. San Francisco Office of Early Childhood. (2023). CARES 3.0 FAQs. San Francisco Office of Early Childhood. (2023). CARES 3.0 Stipend Amounts.

Announced in November 2022, New Mexico’s Competitive Pay for Professionals (CPP) program provides a $3-per-hour pay increase for all eligible child care employees, including educators, administrative staff, food services staff, and others with an active background clearance. Licensed centers and homes providing child care services, Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and Tribal Child Care and Development Block Grant funded programs are eligible to participate in the program, which will reach an estimated 16,000+ early education staff across the state. The program was initially funded using $77 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Learn More: Competitive Pay for ​Professionals Grant Opportunity Sources: New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department. (2022). Competitive Pay for ​Professionals (CPP) Grant Opportunity.

Launched in 2021 by the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Connecticut’s ECE Reporter is an integrated data system for internal use that replaced the state’s former Early Childhood Information System. The system acts as a warehouse of demographic, program, and individual data collected from state-funded early childhood programs. All program- and child-level data is private and accessible only to administrators from the Office of Early Childhood; program- and child-level data for individual programs is also accessible to the lead administrator at each program. Other agencies may receive aggregate, deidentified information, which may be linked to the Department of Education's statewide longitudinal data systems (e.g., Connecticut P-20). The data is used for program payment, public funding, reporting, and research on early care and education. Learn More: Connecticut ECE Reporter

In 2014, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed Smart Start into law, expanding preschool in public school buildings using funds from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Smart Start preschool classrooms must provide high-quality early education; at a minimum, they must be open the length of the school day and during the entire school year. For FY 2016–25, the program is funded at $10 million per year. Learn More/Source: Fourteen Communities Awarded Funding to Create 416 Additional Preschool Slots