{"id":31909,"date":"2022-12-12T09:57:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T18:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging2.threadalaska.org\/thread-copy\/policy-and-research-copy\/public-policy-copy-copy-2\/"},"modified":"2023-06-12T09:48:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T17:48:15","slug":"sustainable-funding","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/thread\/policy-and-research\/legislative-agenda\/sustainable-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy Brief: Sustainable Funding for Child Care in a Mixed-Delivery System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Policy Brief<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Design a Sustainable Child Care Funding Model<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

thread supports Alaska designing a funding model that will provide consistent funding to help rebuild the child care market, focusing on innovation, partnerships, and quality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Background<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Families are struggling to find and afford high-quality child care. Low wages and lack of benefits are causing many early childhood educators to leave the field. Child care businesses, already struggling to stay open, can\u2019t afford to pay their staff higher wages. Families, many of whom are already paying as much for child care as they are for housing, can\u2019t afford to be charged more for child care. The child care system is broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impacts of this broken system are widespread. Parents lose out on work opportunities, businesses can\u2019t find workers to hire, children miss out on critical developmental experiences, and communities face poor economic outlooks. The impacts of federal relief money demonstrate that investment in child care does make a difference – for parents, children, businesses, and early educators. Sustainable funding is needed if the child care sector is going to survive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Policy Solutions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

States across the country use a variety of fiscal mechanisms to support sustainable funding for child care and early education. Some of these include trust funds, endowments, and dedicated funds. Regardless of the type of fund or funding source, there are a handful of best practices for designing these funding sources. Child care and early childhood funding should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n